Accepted Ages

[BigLittleHomeDaycare]

I've been posting a lot! Sorry just getting ready to open.

What are the age ranges do you care for? I got an inquiry for an 8 year old boy but my program is geared towards older toddlers. :confused: I don't mind like a first grader during summer once in a while.

I want the business since I am starting out but I'm thinking this will not work with my program.

If you have huge age differences, how do you handle them?

[Blackcat31]

I accept 1 yr to 5 yrs (or day BEFORE Kindergarten entry).

I will take an infant born to a currently enrolled family.

NO school agers. Ever.

[craftymissbeth]

I don't do well with big differences in ages so I only take 0-3. They graduate out of my program the summer after they turn 3.

I have a 7 yo ds and he's about all I can handle as far as older dck's go.

[Second Home]

I have a 3 , 4 ,4 , 6 , 9, 10 . It is hard during with a big age difference . I only have the 3 older kids before and after school and random times during the summer .

The hardest part is keeping the older kids quiet and entertained during nap .

I would rather have all pre school age kids but sometimes when starting out you may end up taking school age kids to have some income . I had to do this when I moved , the only clients I had right away was parents needing before and after care , so that is what I did until I got some word of mouth from the curent parents .

[LysesKids]

I would say if you are setting up/geared towards toddlers then have a cut-off age of 5 years old (believe me we all understand start up and it can take months to fill spots).

If you get one kid way out of age range from your others that child will never be happy & neither will you because some of what they need or want to do, you might not be able to do with littler ones. I stopped doing SA by my 2nd year of childcare. I dropped to under 5's, then under 3's and now stick to under 2's only (since 2005).

[LadyK8]

0-4. I will only ever have one infant in my care. I'd rather the rest be toddler to preschool age.

[Chellieleanne]

I have a 7yo and 11yo on rare occasion. I haven't had them at the same time but they push my limits on what I can handle especially the 11yo since I can't make her take a nap like the 2yo:: I only take them though because they are siblings of the younger kids and it is very rare I have them since the 7yo is in school and after school programs. The 11yo lives with her mom in another state so it is only when she is on vacation and doesn't want to help her dad at work.

Would I ever take a school age with no younger siblings? Nope. My limit will be 5 or until enrolled in kinder. No before/after school. Older siblings only when school is on vacation and parents are working. Even then I don't know if I will unless I really like the family and the kid is well behaved!

[jenboo]

I currently have a 4 month old as the youngest and a 5 year old (missed kindergarten cut off) as the oldest.
I a couple weeks, the oldest kids i have will be 2.

[mim]

I have 18m-6yrs. As well as my own 7&9. It's the first day of summer break and man I'm thinking no more SA and have them aging out at kindergarten. But question for those of you that do. What do the parents do if they have younger kids too? Do they pull all the kids or find a dc for their SA or what? I am just afraid to lose all the siblings that still would have a few years left here.

[Tdhmom]

For the summer, I have 3 year old dctwins, my 3 year old daughter and have my 5 and 7 year old sons but in august when school starts back up I'll only have four 3 year olds! That's the age I love! I don't do well with babies or school agers. Both of my sons push my limits quite often.

[jenboo]

I have 18m-6yrs. As well as my own 7&9. It's the first day of summer break and man I'm thinking no more SA and have them aging out at kindergarten. But question for those of you that do. What do the parents do if they have younger kids too? Do they pull all the kids or find a dc for their SA or what? I am just afraid to lose all the siblings that still would have a few years left here.

No personal experience but we have a lot of cheap summer camps here for school agers. They get to do lots of fun things (swimming, games with other children their age, etc). Its much for fun than being at a daycare and a lot cheaper too!

[Crazy8]

I will go up to about age 4, not a big fan of school age kids!

[melilley]

I am licensed to take children from 0 to 5 years, but prefer take children that are 2 months to 5 years, not yet in Kindergarten. I prefer the 4 and under age group though. My home is geared more towards the infant/toddler age groups and I think schoolagers would be bored here. Plus I have a SA dd and really don't want to have more than one here...

[cheerfuldom]

I take ONE child under 12 months at a time.

then the other three spots are for 1 to 4 year olds that are still napping. I lose a lot of four year olds because either they go to preschool or stop napping.

I don't take school agers, especially not boys (sorry, I know that sounds bad!)

If you haven't been around school age boys, I suggest not trying to take an 8 year old right now when you have younger kids and are just getting started. School age boys and girls are hard but for me, the boys have WAY too much energy for my group. There are always exceptions of course but generally the boys are way too rough with crawlers and toddlers and just climb and wrestle all the time. A typcial home daycare program is not going to be the right fit for the vast majority of school age boys.

[nothingwithoutjoy]

My main group is 2-5 year-olds. I take school-agers on snow days, school vacations, and summers, but only those kids that I have had as preschoolers (and I've had most of them since they were infants or young toddlers). My oldest is 10. I like it when they're here, but it's exhausting. I definitely wouldn't want such a broad age range every day.