Hard to Stay Open

[Unregistered]

I wish I could say I am doing this for me, but I am not. It is hard to manage the unstable income or lack ther of.

I am sure at one time someone has been in this boat unless they are versed and experienced in business management.

I love the job though and I do love all of the children.

[Play Care]

I wish I could say I am doing this for me, but I am not. It is hard to manage the unstable income or lack ther of.

I am sure at one time someone has been in this boat unless they are versed and experienced in business management.

I love the job though and I do love all of the children.

Bolded and underlined my point. I think some people start day care thinking this will be a nice way to make a few bucks. But day care is a BUSINESS. I was lucky because there was a huge need when I was starting out. But often people do not look into starting a day care the way they would if it were another business. They wind up struggling because they didn't vet it seriously. I can't think of any other business that you can just say "I'm going to open a __________!" without tons of research being put into it.
*If you live in an area with a lot of daycares and preschools, you will not make money doing day care.
*if you live in an area with a lot of fancy early childhood "schools" (ie: day care by another name ) you will not make a living starting day care
*If you live in a lower cost of living area, you may not be able to charge what you need to to make ends meet.

You might be able to offer nontraditional hours or something but then the concern is burn out (I did service coordination at a group home and worked 3-11 some times to make sure folks got to later appointments and such - it really took a toll and that was still working days)

But really, if you can make more money working PT outside the home around a spouses schedule that might be more ideal than trying to compete for dck's.

[Blackcat31]

Bolded and underlined my point. I think some people start day care thinking this will be a nice way to make a few bucks. But day care is a BUSINESS. I was lucky because there was a huge need when I was starting out. But often people do not look into starting a day care the way they would if it were another business. They wind up struggling because they didn't vet it seriously. I can't think of any other business that you can just say "I'm going to open a __________!" without tons of research being put into it.
*If you live in an area with a lot of daycares and preschools, you will not make money doing day care.
*if you live in an area with a lot of fancy early childhood "schools" (ie: day care by another name ) you will not make a living starting day care
*If you live in a lower cost of living area, you may not be able to charge what you need to to make ends meet.

You might be able to offer nontraditional hours or something but then the concern is burn out (I did service coordination at a group home and worked 3-11 some times to make sure folks got to later appointments and such - it really took a toll and that was still working days)

But really, if you can make more money working PT outside the home around a spouses schedule that might be more ideal than trying to compete for dck's.

THIS ^^^

Ive always felt out of place in the child care world because the standard answer to why you opened a daycare in the first place is always some similar to "Because I just love working with kids" or "I wanted to stay home with my own children" but for me the answer is because it is/was a money making opportunity for me.

One that solved some issues with my own kids but I definitely did NOT get into this business because I've known since I was 9 that I wanted to work with kids...

NOT disrespecting that concept/idea but it just doesn't fit me.

I believe 99% of the issues providers have are due to the fact that they tried to help a family out and it didn't turn out the way it was ideally suppose to.... kwim?

Providers are always nice, loving and willing to help out another family but a lot of times that niceness is taken advantage of without a thought and the provider is left feeling used, disrespected and resentful.

This is a business FIRST and foremost for me.

Doesn't mean I am not willing to help out, go the extra mile or just outright do something really nice just because....

...it just means I won't do any of that if it costs me and/or my family financially, emotionally or mentally.

[TaylorTots]

Yep! I do not do this job for the kids.

I do this job because it is more profitable than me working and paying childcare for my own children. That's it. If at some point it becomes more profitable for me to work outside the home, I will without hesitation.

[Unregistered]

thank you for your replies

I work in an area were there is competition and people are competitive. I am not competitive. I genuinely do love children but I am not competitive.

What got me down was that there was a training I went to and the trainer was a center director and a trainer. She had a pretty big and confident head on her shoulders. Confidence is good but when she told some stories.

I was sad because it seems that the more I look at family childcare and center childcare, I sometimes wonder if we are a dying breed of people.

Dying for one reason or another but mostly because we don't have a great deal of supports to keep us going and also that people don't always see the value developmentally that some if not most of us are too children.

We teach them, we love them, we provide shelter from harms way, we teach families, we listen to families like psychologists do at times.

Sometimes we do all the research in the world and give it a try and somehow some way we still fall short some years.


The requirements for us are getting more and more (for good reason) with infant care. I can honestly say that I don't know if I could handle a very young infant. I cannot handle the needing to be held and the 15 min. checks and the constant worry from new parents when I have other age groups.

I feel that waling infants and multi age childcare is not a good fit unless somehow there needs can be met constantly. I feel the state should really look into the infant care issue and that people should not be taking on more than they can handle. I am not one for crying it out or wailing it out. I prefer the ones who cry over the more silent ones.

Baby devices are becoming a no no and licensors are timing people for all of these rules. That is why I don't have infants because it is too stressful with all the time limits, all the new worried parents, and all the pressure that is put on us. I am a fixer by nature too and I have a very quick response time to anything that comes up with toddlers and or preschool age children. I like to problem solve and switching my brain back and forth between the age groups to remedy problems would be utterly exhausting.

With infants it is more troubleshooting and trial and error and with children that are older they are moldable sort of speak.

I feel so bad for moms struggling but I just cannot see it working out unless they are 8 or 9 months old starting childcare.

I will have to look into a second job in my area......I have been and it is a tough market out there and hard to get used to going to interviews.

[Unregistered]

I started out and did well in family child care for years for the money AND because I love working with preschool age kids. I did it for both reasons and it worked out well.

One reason child care enrollment has become a problem where I live is free, public all day 4k five days a week, and now a half day program for threes, also free. So that's another consideration.

[LD14]

Yep! I do not do this job for the kids.

I do this job because it is more profitable than me working and paying childcare for my own children. That's it. If at some point it becomes more profitable for me to work outside the home, I will without hesitation.

This! I do love children want to help them learn and grow, but I would not be doing this if it wasn't bringing in an income. I'm lucky enough to be in an area where providers are needed. I don't have to advertise much. If I wasn't lucky I'd be advertising all over the place.

[AmyKidsCo]

...the standard answer to why you opened a daycare in the first place is always some similar to "Because I just love working with kids" or "I wanted to stay home with my own children" ...

I love Lisa Murphy's (the Ooey Gooey Lady) response to this: "Then you haven't met enough of them yet!"

SO true! You need more than a love of children to succeed in family child care. Business sense, communication skills, organizational skills, etc, etc, etc. The good thing is that all of these things can be acquired through education and experience.