Do You Have A Separate Space For You Daycare?

[Soccermom]

I ask because I am considering having an addition added to my home, upstairs off my kitchen in order to have a seperate space for daycare.

I am not a fan of parents walking through my home to pick up their children anymore. The other day I had two DCMs upstairs in my kitchen, sitting at my table chatting about a playdate for the weekend!!

It also drives my kids bananas when they are trying to get ready for the bus and their stuff is everywhere in the entrance or there are daycare kids coming in. I would put a seperate entrance for daycare in the addition.

Also there are days when I stress more about tidying the house then I do on childcare because I know DCPs will be trampling through my house in an hour to pick up their kids.

Right now I use the downstairs family room for the play are and the kitchen is upstairs. I can't see what the kids are doing downstairs when I am upstairs preparing meals or cleaning.

I am on the edge about it though because I am not sure if I love this job enough to merit building an addition onto my house for the purpose of it. I wonder daily if a seperate space would make me love it more...but I can't say for sure that it would help.

What is your set up like and what do you love or hate about it?

[Annalee]

I ask because I am considering having an addition added to my home, upstairs off my kitchen in order to have a seperate space for daycare.

I am not a fan of parents walking through my home to pick up their children anymore. The other day I had two DCMs upstairs in my kitchen, sitting at my table chatting about a playdate for the weekend!!

It also drives my kids bananas when they are trying to get ready for the bus and their stuff is everywhere in the entrance or there are daycare kids coming in. I would put a seperate entrance for daycare in the addition.

Also there are days when I stress more about tidying the house then I do on childcare because I know DCPs will be trampling through my house in an hour to pick up their kids.

Right now I use the downstairs family room for the play are and the kitchen is upstairs. I can't see what the kids are doing downstairs when I am upstairs preparing meals or cleaning.

I am on the edge about it though because I am not sure if I love this job enough to merit building an addition onto my house for the purpose of it. I wonder daily if a seperate space would make me love it more...but I can't say for sure that it would help.

What is your set up like and what do you love or hate about it?

I have a 24 x 32 room with bath/kitchen so NO parent has to enter my house. Been there too many years. This room has been a dream come true. At least with a separate room, you can SHUT the door and leave it. ::

[Maria2013]

My daycare is completely separate from the rest of the house, it has it's own entrance and own bathroom...I do cook in my kitchen but kids and parents don't need to be there

I don't think I would have a Daycare if I didn't have a separate area

[Maria2013]

. At least with a separate room, you can SHUT the door and leave it. ::

::::

[MCC]

I have a classic 70's style split foyer home. You walk in the front door and there are stairs leading up, and stairs leading down. The daycare is down, and my house is up. I know that, for me, I could not run a daycare in my living space. I know a lot of providers do it, but I can not.

Having it separate does several things for me:

1) allows me to come upstairs with my DD various times during the day. ( I have staff that can run the downstairs)

2) Means my kitchen doesn't have to be spotless at all times, I don't have to worry about parents snooping etc.

3) The mess stays down stairs. My house is always in the same condition I left it in the morning.

4) I leave the daycare at 5pm, and don't see it again until 8am. I love that I can come upstairs at the end of the day and not look at the daycare area, toys, etc. My DD's toys are mostly in her room, or blend with my decor, so when I'm relaxing, I feel like an adult, in an adult space.

The only thing I don't like about my set up is that I don't have a walk-out to the back yard for outside play. I am seriously considering having one put in, so we don't have to drag the kids up the steps and deal with the awkward entryway that my house has.

I know for me, that having it separate makes it, rather than breaks it. YKWIM?

[blandino]

We have a 700 square foot sunroom on the back of the house, and it had it's own entrance. We use that combined with the old master bedroom, attached to the sunroom by French doors, for the daycare space. So it is essentially a big "L" shape. So we have our own entrance, and they can get to the bathroom through the master.

We used to not use the old master, and had a lot of problems with bathroom trips. So it's a lot nicer this way.

If at all possible I would definitely suggest having a bathroom located where the parents/children won't have to go through your personal living space. And having the entrance is perfect too. I think as long as it's all separate, you won't have issues. We have even put up gates at the end of the daycare space, just in case a wandering parent or child makes their way in there.

[Cradle2crayons]

Currently we have a 5 bedroom house... One large room on the kids side is daycare... And they have a bathroom.... And my bonus room off the master is just a nap room they don't have other access. I share the kitchen and living room with the daycare.

But... We are about halfway done with a huge new master suite on the back of the house... And we are giving up our current entire master side of the house to the daycare. They will have their own bathroom also. The bonus room will be their eating and craft area... And the master suite will be the dedicated daycare space. Then the current daycare room will be my new huge sewing room!!

So I'll get my living room back and kitchen/dining. I will still prepare meals in my kitchen but they will be served in the new eating and craft area.

We are going to make their own entrance also.

Hopefully well be done In a few more months.

[cheerfuldom]

honestly, sharing a daycare space was SOOOO stressful on my family. we finally moved to a bigger house with a dedicated playspace, bathroom and napping room in the basement. there is no way I would go back to sharing a living room with the daycare toys. sounds like a recipe for a divorce. have you thought about moving the playroom upstairs and moving the family living room downstairs? it really doesnt sound safe to be out of sight (and sound?) when preparing meals and such plus the parents constantly walking through the house, ugh, sounds like a nightmare. that wont fix the entrance issue but at least you can be right there for pickups and dropoffs and parents dont need to come in at all plus you can cook within site of the kids.

[melilley]

I wish!
We do have a family room and a living room and I my living room is the main dc area and is set up just for dc, but I also have to use the rest of my house. Parents rarely go past the family room, but if we are outside, they have to walk through the whole house to get to the outside door.

I would love to have a separate dc area with everything in it so parents don't have to step foot into my living spaces!

[Heidi]

I do not currently, but it was way better when I did!

The best scenario, for me, was when I had a separate room right next to the kitchen. It was huge (21x40) and had a half-glass door.

So, I could see what was going on in there, make lunch, bring the kiddos into the kitchen to wash up and eat (bathroom was right there, too), and then put them down for nap. During nap, I could clean up the kitchen. I didn't have 2 kitchens to keep clean, which was nice because at the time, I had toddlers of my own.

A peek into the door during nap time let me know if everyone was where they were supposed to be, but I didn't have to open the door and risk waking them. Of course, now-a-days one could just get a camera, but back then those were pricey.

Oh, and they entered through my garage, which was really big, so I sectioned off part as a cubby area, put a rug down, a bench, and the parent bulletin board. Parent dealt with transition behaviors (yeah), and I didn't have to see it. They could also read the bulletin board before walking in and having kids bombard them, so it got read more.

[Little Buttons]

I am still in the process of becoming licensed, but when i am my daycare space will be seperate. We have a classic cape cod style home so the rooms are rather tiny. However, our walk out basement is huge! We just finished it ourselves. It is an L shaped area with a small eat in/arts and crafts area, large 25'x15' playroom. It has its own entrance and windows so it doesnt feel so much like a basement! The first thing i will be saving my pennies for once i open is to put a half bath down there! I know myself enough to know that there is no way i could share my living space with daycare space. I just need a mental break otherwise i get overwhelmed and burnt out! Plus i like that my children and husband can have their home be theirs and not daycare space.

[Christina72684]

We built our home in 2012 specifically for the daycare. The bottom floor has a 24x32 room, a cubby room, bathroom (double sinks and toilet), and its own entrance for daycare. Off to the side of it is the kitchen that I use for daycare and personally. Then on the other side of the kitchen is a door that leads to a separate part that has a staircase upstairs, a large storage room, and a door to the outside that is my personal door. Altogether there is 1,500 square feet on each level. I live upstairs and have a laundry room, living room, 3 bedrooms, office, and bathroom.

[TwinKristi]

I don't, I have a toddler myself so it's not a lot different than if I didn't have a daycare. I have a couple extra booster seats that we remove on the weekend and the nap mats & PNP get folded away on the weekends.
I definitely have to keep our house tidy and that does stress me out sometimes but I would have to clean the daycare space as well. I don't know... Ideally we would love a bigger house with a dedicated daycare area, but housing prices are NUTS where we live and we're lucky to be where we are at the price we are.
Having a custom built house is awesome, but just not possible in my area. Haha.

[spinnymarie]

I'm currently waiting for our separate area to be finished, can't WAIT. We're finishing the basement to have a small kitchen, full bath, nap room and large play room. Can't wait until I can hold interviews down there instead of cleaning up my entire house just to have someone sit on the couch and we decide we don't like each other (not that that has happened often) We did most of the work ourselves so the cost has been minimal, I don't know if I'd be ready to purchase a whole addition!

[midaycare]

We use the basement, which is on ground level. It has a separate entrance and those rooms are entirely daycare only. The only bad thing is the bathroom and kitchen are upstairs. But at least parents never have to go through my house.