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I have an almost 3 year old, and soon a newborn. I will be opening hopefully in January. What are some things I can do to prepare my ODS for the changes to come? He has never been to DC and we have a pretty flexible home routine. What would everyone suggest to make the transition as smooth as possible?
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One of the best pieces of advice I ever got from a season provider - keep your child's toys and games separate from the dc. The child already has to share their parent and their home.Comment
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When my kids were old enough to understand, I expressed to them how much I needed their help with all the babies/children, and that they would be "mommy's little helper".
Making a child feel important and needed, goes a long, long way.Comment
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All of the above advice is good.
I've just recently opened my family child care home, so I just went through all of this. Your kids are a little young for this, but something to remember for the future, is I thought it was important to let the children know that as we pitch in together as a family in running this new business, it means everyone benefits, including our kids. In our family, that means my kids now get an allowance that they didn't get before. We made a routine of cleaning chores that need to happen outside of dc hours. These are the same chores my kids have been doing before. But now, they get a small allowance for completing the chores.
I know there are lots of thoughts on allowance. Previously, we were in the "kids do chores to help out because that's what the family does" camp because we just didn't have extra money for allowance. Now, with my dc income, my kids can reap a benefit of helping Mom out with this business.
Just a nice, tangible way for kids to take "ownership" in the dc business and help work toward its success and earn a little something for themselves. I'm hoping this will help prevent the dc business from being a negative to my kids since they'll be directly profiting from it.
Just an idea.Comment
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I suggest thinking about what type of program you want to have whether it be a flexible routine or more structured. If you choose a flexible program then I still suggest that you have a schedule for meals/snacks and for nap. Having a routine for at least two things will help out tremendously. If you want a more structured program then figure out your routine for the day. Either way start practicing these routines with your own children so that once you get your first daycare child they don't get a huge shock. Obviously your infant won't follow the routine/schedule but as your infant grows I suggest getting him/her more acclimated to the schedule (after 1yo).
Also think about taking on one new client at a time so that your toddler can adjust to having other children in your home. Start with one and then depending on how well your toddler adjusts add another and so on. This will also help you acclimate to having to care for other children in addition to your own.
One thing that helped and continues to help me now is having private space for my children that is only dedicated to them. During daycare hours my children play with MY toys that I have for daycare and share the part of my home that I use for daycare with the other children. They follow the same rules that the daycare children have to follow and follow the same routine. Once daycare is over they can play in their rooms which is private and no daycare children can play in THEIR rooms or play with THEIR toys unless my children choose to invite the daycare children and if they decide to share their personal toys. This has helped out tremendously because no matter what my children still have a part of our home that they do not have to share and that the daycare children don't impose on. I also set aside time to spend with my children (both one on one and individually) playing games and doing activities that the daycare children don't get to do with me. This way they feel like they get special time with THEIR mommy and they don't have to share all my time with other children.
Some providers even wait to eat and feed lunch to their own children until after the daycare children have gone to sleep so that they can sit down to have lunch with their own children to have some special time during daycare hours. Providers with older school age children even allow their children to choose whether they want to interact with the daycare children or not and are allowed to play by themselves in their own rooms without the daycare children intruding etc. Basically just think of ways that your own children can feel like they have some time and space that is their own.Comment
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If you have them do some of the 'daycare specific' chores jobs you can pay them, deduct it, and they don't have to pay taxes if it's under a certain amount. It also allows you to open up a Roth IRA which I'm doing for my daughter this year, as they have 'earned income'.Comment
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Wow, this is some really awesome information! Thank you all! I was wondering what to do about the toy situation and that really solves my problem. DS's toys will be only his and in his room. (Well in the playroom only for our kids) The DC toys can be MY toys that I share with all children during DC hours. This is all awesome stuff!Comment
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My DH grew up in daycare. His mom also had 5 boys of her own.
She ran a 24/7 child care in the 70-80'ies. His experiences are unique to the situation but there are some "hidden elements" to his words that I feel are useful to any mom providing care in her home to other children.
Here are his thoughts on growing up in his mom's child care if you are interested in reading.
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