Pros And Cons Of Having More Kids + Assistants

[Mom2Two]

I am licensed for eight, but with the part-timers I have, my income is about equal to having four full-time preschool kids.

I am thinking about having eight kids here and having some high school kids as assistants from 2:30 til 5:30.

I use three main floor rooms for my daycare, so I could have my assistant in one room and me in another so that we can divide the kids if they get too wild (my biggest concern about having eight children).

Right now I have six children enrolled, 1 x 2 yo, 1 x 3 yo, 3 x 4 yo, 1 x 6 yo plus my 6 yo. When all six children are here, it gets really wild, but when just four + DD are here, it's much more under control. My biggest fear is that I'll hate having so many people in my house.

[Mom2Two]

I posted this twice somehow. Can someone delete this one?

[ColorfulSunburst]

In my state, an assistance must be 18yo and up.

[Mom2Two]

I need to check that I'm using the right word, but I'm allowed to employ a 16 yo as long as I'm on the premises (pretty sure that's how it goes.) I think I'm allowed to be on a different level of the house.

[daycare]

I have 4 employees and I can tell you the pros and cons from my perspective.

Pros:
you have help
someone to talk to and vent when needed
gives the child another adult to love (if you don't connect with the child well, perhaps your assistant might)
shared knowledge from another
help you organize things
keep up on your cleaning duties
extra set of eyes and ears
can give you a break when needed.


cons:
having to train someone, it's costly and this business is not that easy to get down. Especially if you are a participating of QRIS.
trusting the person to show up, be reliable and to work when they are here.
stress of when employees don't do the work you expected them to do.
employee not showing up to work
having to purchase more insurance
If you leave, it may cost you more money than if you just stayed.
communication break down with the parents
employees not having enough education to work with young kids.
they don't do anything about child's behavior good or bad, which leaves you to always have to do it, so when you leave, an issue always takes place.
asking for a raise when we don't get anymore money if they work hard or not.
you need to always be FULL at your capacity to be able to turn a profit, otherwise you are loosing money because you have to keep an employee to be within ratios.

I could think of more, but for now that is all I could think of

[Mom2Two]

I have 4 employees and I can tell you the pros and cons from my perspective.

Pros:
you have help
someone to talk to and vent when needed
gives the child another adult to love (if you don't connect with the child well, perhaps your assistant might)
shared knowledge from another
help you organize things
keep up on your cleaning duties
extra set of eyes and ears
can give you a break when needed.


cons:
having to train someone, it's costly and this business is not that easy to get down. Especially if you are a participating of QRIS.
trusting the person to show up, be reliable and to work when they are here.
stress of when employees don't do the work you expected them to do.
employee not showing up to work
having to purchase more insurance
If you leave, it may cost you more money than if you just stayed.
communication break down with the parents
employees not having enough education to work with young kids.
they don't do anything about child's behavior good or bad, which leaves you to always have to do it, so when you leave, an issue always takes place.
asking for a raise when we don't get anymore money if they work hard or not.
you need to always be FULL at your capacity to be able to turn a profit, otherwise you are loosing money because you have to keep an employee to be within ratios.

I could think of more, but for now that is all I could think of

THANK YOU for some practical advice. I'll keep thinking about it. I asked DS when he got home from school and he wasn't enthusiastic.

[Mike]

I have 4 employees and I can tell you the pros and cons from my perspective.

Pros:
you have help
someone to talk to and vent when needed
gives the child another adult to love (if you don't connect with the child well, perhaps your assistant might)
shared knowledge from another
help you organize things
keep up on your cleaning duties
extra set of eyes and ears
can give you a break when needed.


cons:
having to train someone, it's costly and this business is not that easy to get down. Especially if you are a participating of QRIS.
trusting the person to show up, be reliable and to work when they are here.
stress of when employees don't do the work you expected them to do.
employee not showing up to work
having to purchase more insurance
If you leave, it may cost you more money than if you just stayed.
communication break down with the parents
employees not having enough education to work with young kids.
they don't do anything about child's behavior good or bad, which leaves you to always have to do it, so when you leave, an issue always takes place.
asking for a raise when we don't get anymore money if they work hard or not.
you need to always be FULL at your capacity to be able to turn a profit, otherwise you are loosing money because you have to keep an employee to be within ratios.

I could think of more, but for now that is all I could think of

That reminds me of when my father was a truck driver. For several years, he drove his own transport, then he bought a 2nd one and hired a driver, and later a 3rd one. The first driver he hired liked money, so he drove all he could and that meant my father made some extra profit, but the 2nd driver kept taking a day off here and there. When the driver took one day off, my father had pretty much 0 income from that truck. When he took 2 days off, he was losing money. He ended up letting that driver go, and that cost him even more money. The first driver ended up having to quit after a couple years, and over the next 3 years he had so much trouble finding other drivers like him and ended up having to shut down and declare bankruptcy.

I think in most businesses, employees is like gambling. More employees could have the potential for more income, but also have the risk of more problems, including possible loss of income. The joys of running a business. ::

[Mom2Two]

Daycare: What kinds of duties do you ask them to do? I was thinking of just having the teens (or whoever) (1) watch the kids in free play (i.e make sure they don't break stuff/hit each other etc), (2) run pm snack time (hand wash, place mats serve drinks and snacks) (3) take the kids outside (outdoor shoes on, active watching, take water/back pack outside, shoes & socks off coming indoors, wash hands). (4) Maybe run an activity like playdough or something else.

Also ongoing training (from me) would be important. I want them to learn good guidance and safety/licensing stuff (choking hazards etc).

Do you have them do more than that? I would plan on being here when they were here.

[daycare]

depends on the time that they are working. I have two shifts.

morning time we run a preschool, so I have preschool teachers in the morning. In the afternoon I have college students working through ECE, they do most of our cleaning and setting up for snack time.

I think the only issue with young employees is that they don't understand how to work with a larger group of kids, they don't know how to manage expectations for safety and they don't have a good eye when it comes to looking out for what is safe and what is not safe. they don't know how to implement conflict resolution with the kids, so you end up babysitting the employee and the kids.

I would only hire someone with experience. It's really hard having employees, I am not going to make it sound like I get all these breaks. I don't. I work longer hours with employees, because I have to constantly train them and also over look them too. It's one more thing that I have to do. I have 4, so it's really difficult when I have to manage their schedules, especially when they conflict with the daycare schedule.

If I were in your shoes, I would hire someone with experience only. Worst case, if it doesn't work out, you can always go back to being a small childcare.

[thrivingchildcarecom]

After about two years, I realized I needed some help. I have had at least one assistant at all times ever since. It really helps for when you need to prepare meals, change a diaper, run to the store or even when nature calls. Those extra pair of eyes are extremely helpful.

TIP: Try the community college child development programs for students wishing to intern. That way you can try out the situation before committing to actually hiring someone.

[daycarediva]

I have my dd help in summer, I pay her with "gifts" so she is technically not an employee. "Thank you for helping this week, here is $200."

Anyway, I have been doing this since she was 13. She is AWESOME with kids, they adore her, and it was great to have her outside with SA all day, where littles need to come in more, etc. She planned SA activities for rest time and kept them entertained. I no longer do SA care for summer breaks because even with dd, it's impossible to manage. I had to stay on sight and maintain ratios, paying someone hourly or having insurance (comp, unemployment, payroll taxes) would make it not worthwhile unless I DOUBLED the kids in care.

[Mom2Two]

depends on the time that they are working. I have two shifts.

morning time we run a preschool, so I have preschool teachers in the morning. In the afternoon I have college students working through ECE, they do most of our cleaning and setting up for snack time.

I think the only issue with young employees is that they don't understand how to work with a larger group of kids, they don't know how to manage expectations for safety and they don't have a good eye when it comes to looking out for what is safe and what is not safe. they don't know how to implement conflict resolution with the kids, so you end up babysitting the employee and the kids.

I would only hire someone with experience. It's really hard having employees, I am not going to make it sound like I get all these breaks. I don't. I work longer hours with employees, because I have to constantly train them and also over look them too. It's one more thing that I have to do. I have 4, so it's really difficult when I have to manage their schedules, especially when they conflict with the daycare schedule.

If I were in your shoes, I would hire someone with experience only. Worst case, if it doesn't work out, you can always go back to being a small childcare.

Sounds like managing DH when he's "helping" in daycare ::

I'm thinking of trying high school kids who have taken the child development class at the nearby high school. As the director (who also teaches CCr&R class) says, they start out thinking they will love it, but after a while in the preschool lab, some of them realize they don't like it at all.

I actually (tried) to teach some teens child development in conjunction with the preschool class I teach at DD's homeschool co-op. The four teen girls all "love" children. But what they really wanted to do was cuddle them and play with them. They didn't want to know that I didn't want them to build a model of the art project when it was supposed to be process art. They didn't want to read about good guidance etc etc.

I was hoping that *if* I did this, I would try to get kids who've worked in the lab at the high school.

But really...this morning I'm thinking that with 4-6 kids it's so much easier to keep them all playing together and therefore easier to watch...and easier to have a bit of a life while they're here and get a few things done.

Just not sure yet...and I'm sleep deprived so my brain is not functioning well today. :-(

[daycare]

I think that is the issue with young staff or people who have no education in working in mixed age group or group care in general is that they don't understand that you can't sit and play with one kid where there are several other children in the room. At no time can one child demand all of your attention. You need to become an observer and learn to talk to them as a group and observe them as a group as well.

It's not easy to teach this. I still to this day have issues where my staff is catching the kids climbing on unsafe things or when they display unwanted behavior the staff doesn' know how to stop it. they wait until it explodes or i jump in to stop it. and my staff are all adults. when i had teens, they just reacted to every little thing instead of being proactive. I think a lot of it is just experience and the ability to practice doing the right thing.

[Mom2Two]

I think that is the issue with young staff or people who have no education in working in mixed age group or group care in general is that they don't understand that you can't sit and play with one kid where there are several other children in the room. At no time can one child demand all of your attention. You need to become an observer and learn to talk to them as a group and observe them as a group as well.

It's not easy to teach this. I still to this day have issues where my staff is catching the kids climbing on unsafe things or when they display unwanted behavior the staff doesn' know how to stop it. they wait until it explodes or i jump in to stop it. and my staff are all adults. when i had teens, they just reacted to every little thing instead of being proactive. I think a lot of it is just experience and the ability to practice doing the right thing.

Yes! I had never really put it into words like that but that is exactly what helpers do: they zero in on one kid. I've seen it at nursery group at church and I see it even when I have adult TAs in my co-op preschool group. Good to note.

Us who do group care all the time know that we have to arrange things so that the kids are as self-sufficient as possible. In a way, we are constantly doing that--constantly problem-solving. And it makes all the difference.