Thinking Of Opening In The Fall?

[Swankskttn]

I am currently finishing my Associates in Early Childhood Education this semester. I have a 3 year old daughter and am expecting my second in August.

DH is active duty military so I will probably go through the military and their training to become an FCC provider (free!).

My biggest unanswered questions are:
1) Does anyone travel with their DC kids? My daughter would be attending PreK in the fall so I'd want to drop her off and pick her up. I'd also like to go to storytimes and activities at the library and around town.

2) Anyone done DC just after having a baby? Should I wait 6 months? I'm thinking it'd be nice if I could find another infant and another preschooler. Keeping it kind of small.

3) Our house is kind of crowded. It's 1600 sqft, large living room, but bedrooms will be full after we have this baby, so I'm not sure about opening up just my living room and kitchen to day care space? Should I consider converting the garage or saving the baby's room for day care space instead?

Thanks in advance! I look forward to getting some insight!

[Little People]

I travel everyday with 2 dck's to go pick up my husband from work. I have a signed statements from all my parents to travel with dck's. I also have it in my handbook.

[ninosqueridos]

I am currently finishing my Associates in Early Childhood Education this semester. I have a 3 year old daughter and am expecting my second in August.

DH is active duty military so I will probably go through the military and their training to become an FCC provider (free!).

My biggest unanswered questions are:
1) Does anyone travel with their DC kids? My daughter would be attending PreK in the fall so I'd want to drop her off and pick her up. I'd also like to go to storytimes and activities at the library and around town.

2) Anyone done DC just after having a baby? Should I wait 6 months? I'm thinking it'd be nice if I could find another infant and another preschooler. Keeping it kind of small.

3) Our house is kind of crowded. It's 1600 sqft, large living room, but bedrooms will be full after we have this baby, so I'm not sure about opening up just my living room and kitchen to day care space? Should I consider converting the garage or saving the baby's room for day care space instead?

Thanks in advance! I look forward to getting some insight!

I do not travel with the kids. Check into auto insurance and how they would handle that liability.

I would want some time to get adjusted to my own new baby (and the dynamic of having a preschooler AND an infant) before taking dcks.....but that's just me.

I wouldn't invest in a garage conversion.......I'd probably set up the living room/kitchen in a way where you could put away/hide most things at the end of the day.....and then take it from there.

Good luck!

[AnythingsPossible]

I do not travel with daycare kids. I find it to stressfull!! I know many providers do, but it's just a personal choice for me. A lot of my families have chosen me because I don't transport kids.

I would take atleast 2 months after having the baby. Especially since you will be new at it!

My home is also 1600 sq ft. I pretty much exclusively use my living room for daycare space. I have a utility room that can be used, but I find we all just stay in the living room. I try to store things in closets or in the garage and rotate things out. Since you have younger children it wouldn't be so bad to have a lot of the daycare stuff out all the time. My youngest is 9, so it gets old having toddler toys around, but it's what we are used to. I am considering converting our garage, but worry about resale.

[SandeeAR]

I have around 1500 sq ft. My den is for our use and daycare. Meals are done in the kitchen. I have 3 bedrooms and one is totally for naps. If you can afford to be off for at least about 3 months with your little one, I would. Just because you would enjoy the bonding time. If not, wait at least a month. I would try for kids the ages of your own too.

I don't transport, b/c I own a mustang convertible and have 4 kids.

[Swankskttn]

Thank you everyone for the insight!! I'm sure I'll have more questions as it gets closer to me opening up.

I think I will take a full 90 days after my baby is born and then try to just take in one other infant.

I think I would have to do very little if I just used my living room, kitchen and possibly dining room for daycare. I could even move my dining table into the kitchen and use the dining room as a play area. So many ideas! Thanks again.

[Unregistered]

Starting Daycare

Congratulations on starting daycare. You will love being home with your own children and spending your day with them. I do travel with my daycare kids or we take the community bus if I have more than my car holds. We like to take trips to the public library, field trips and parks. I went through a car seat training in order to transport children. That is required in MN in order to transport children.
I took 6 weeks off when I had my baby.
I use most of my house for daycare. The basement is where we have the majority of the toys and activities.