Does Anyone Specialize In Infant - 2 ?

[blandino]

In our area we primarily get calls for infants. I have had one call for an over 2 year old since August - and they had am older sibling.

This Fall we will have 4, 3/4 year olds going to Pre-K. Leaving us with one 3.5 year old (whose mom is considering preschool - because he will be the oldest), 2 just turned 3 year olds, 3 2 year olds , and the rest under 2.

Age wise, we really prefer younger children. We already don't take them past 4, and honestly at 3 I start to dislike a lot of behaviors.

With this big change coming, we were thinking that it might be a good time to cap off at 3. It would mean giving the 2 just turned 3 year olds notice (not the biggest deal to us).

Ideally we would like to say 0-3, but if we are going to cap off at 3 we might as well say 0- potty trained. We hate dealing with potty training and parents, so not dealing with that is a huge plus.

Does anyone do this ? Is saying we stop at potty training bizarre ? I would probably word it as "We care for childres ages 0-3" and "due to the ages of children in our care, we don't practice any form of toilet training." - just so it doesn't sound so crass.

Thoughts ??

[daycarediva]

I have a local provider friend that does this. She is ALWAYS full, and says she 'specializes in infants and young toddlers.' She calls it nursery school, has her space devoted to babies, wooden toys, lots of soft areas, indoor foam climbing mats, ballerina bar with mirror at baby height, etc. She can legally have 2 under 2. She keeps 2 under 2 and 2-3 under 3. I LOVE the idea of connecting it to potty training readiness.

wording maybe? "Infants and pre-toileted trained toddlers"

add something to contract and/or handbook that covers not toilet training, for sure.

[Patches]

This is exactly what I want to do! I'm kind of in the same boat. I will be losing both of my over 2 kids soon-ish. One for sure in May and the other probably around the same time. I have 6 under 2, and my own 2yo (3 in May) so maybe I'll just enroll one more under 2 and keep my ratio at 8 (I think that's right)
Once both my kids are in school and a little older, I will most likely stop taking 3 and over

[blandino]

add something to contract and/or handbook that covers not toilet training, for sure.

Yes, I am thinking that would send the message ! Just have a simple statement that we don't deal with toilet training due to the ages of children in care, in our handbook would cover everything !

Ahhhhhh. To delete the entire page over toilet training and replace it with one sentence. I would be overjoyed !

[blandino]

This is exactly what I want to do! I'm kind of in the same boat. I will be losing both of my over 2 kids soon-ish. One for sure in May and the other probably around the same time. I have 6 under 2, and my own 2yo (3 in May) so maybe I'll just enroll one more under 2 and keep my ratio at 8 (I think that's right)
Once both my kids are in school and a little older, I will most likely stop taking 3 and over

We have talked about doing it forever, but it always meant giving notice to ine f our favorite kids - and we kept saying "its only a few months until they g to school, we cant term now". As much as I love teaching the preschool curriculum - I am so over the constant correction that comes along with them. I think these boys have done me in.

Yes, 8 is the number. You can have 12 (8 under 2, 4 over), but with 3 people, which financially doesn't make much sense. We did the 8 under 2 once before, and it was heaven. Then they grew

[Rachel]

Yes, I am thinking that would send the message ! Just have a simple statement that we don't deal with toilet training due to the ages of children in care, in our handbook would cover everything !

Ahhhhhh. To delete the entire page over toilet training and replace it with one sentence. I would be overjoyed !

Your business and you can run it how you like, but all 4 of my older kids were totally trained between 2 & 2.5. If you are you talking about not taking children out of diapers you are going to limit yourself IMO. Here we do things a bit differently (by school year), so it's not such an issue, but I know there most people look for daycare for longer than a year. This year my group started at 6-16 months, but next year I hope to have slightly older (and continue with the 2 youngest). Still, by the end of the year I would expect some of the kids 2+ might be ready for training. I would never tell a parent they have to wait until 3. I say pick an age group and keep the toilet training policy in place.

[coolconfidentme]

I talked about this too & pretty much live it now. When a child left, I filled the sort with a child under 12 months old. It sure beats dealing with a bunch of age groups with different activity agendas.

[daycarediva]

Your business and you can run it how you like, but all 4 of my older kids were totally trained between 2 & 2.5. If you are you talking about not taking children out of diapers you are going to limit yourself IMO. Here we do things a bit differently (by school year), so it's not such an issue, but I know there most people look for daycare for longer than a year. This year my group started at 6-16 months, but next year I hope to have slightly older (and continue with the 2 youngest). Still, by the end of the year I would expect some of the kids 2+ might be ready for training. I would never tell a parent they have to wait until 3. I say pick an age group and keep the toilet training policy in place.

Based on the infant calls they are getting, I don't think they would have a hard time keeping their spaces filled. If a child was ready to toilet train at 2, it simply means they have outgrown her program (just like a non napping child here).

[blandino]

Based on the infant calls they are getting, I don't think they would have a hard time keeping their spaces filled. If a child was ready to toilet train at 2, it simply means they have outgrown her program (just like a non napping child here).

I was going to type almost the same thing in response. So thank you .

They would be looking for daycare for longer than a year. Most of our kids start at 3 months (even most of my current preschoolers have been here since maternity leave ended). So they would be looking for someplace for 2ish years. Right now, my average age for toilet training is 31 months. I think you misunderstood about the "3" thing, I am not saying they have to wait until 3, the age cap would be 3/ or toilet training. There are a decent amount of preschools in the area that take children starting at 3/potty trained - so that lines up pretty well actually. I personally, don't think it would limit us. I think parents of infants would like having somewhere for their infants to go that is free of bigger kids. If they stay at a nursery school type place until they are ready for a preschool - I think that is a really easy and logical transition. I think the benefits of not having any big kids around, will (to parents) outweigh the benefits of having to look for a preschool in 2.5 years. To me it would be more specialized care, and I think a parent of an infant would like specialized care. Does that make more sense ? Or do you still disagree ?

If we are going to limit ourselves to only younger kids, there is NO WAY I am dealing with toilet training. The number of parents we have had issues with on toilet training is enough to make me hate it. From thinking their 18 month old, who can't walk or speak is ready, to wanting their children brought to the toilet every 15 minutes, to parents who have no problem letting their kids have accidents everywhere. Now, we have expansive policies in place to avoid all those issues - but enforcing them is exhausting. I cringe when it comes to toilet training, because it is always an exhausting between parents and us. So to me that is one of the biggest benefits to cutting off at 2.5/3.

[melilley]

I don't "specialize" in that age group, but all my dck's are 2.5 and under, with the exception of one 3 yo. who started when she was 2. Most kids in my area go to a formal preschool when they are 3 anyways and it's really hard to get anyone who is 3 and up. Here, we can only have 4 under 30 mo. and 2 of the 4 can be under 18 mo. So in essence I have all 3 and under. I wouldn't necessarily stop at 3 just because I need those other 1-2 kids to be 30 mo. +, but it would be nice to do so!