****Y First Month Of Being Opened! :(

[christinaskids]

Anyway, back to the original post. It took me about 6 months to really build up my business. I took kids and still do for 24 hours a day during the week and I also took on part time kids until my business got going better. I also relied on my husbands income to really pay the bills until I got going better. I did not start my business until he had a good income or we had enough money saved to pay bills for about 6 months. I would suggest to take the part time kids until you get more fulltime kids. I advertised for both, then when I started filling up, I advertised for fulltime kids only. U gotta do what you gotta do to get going until your business finally starts going. Just make sure your daycare is marketable, you are presenting yourself as trustworthy, u are licensed and you have lots of toys and activities available for kids. My daycare parents really like that I take my daycare kids out for trips often.

And yes lady, I do it for the money to provide for my 3 children. I also do it to watch my son grow up and mostly to be an available parent to my 2 stepchildren who had a mother that abandoned them many times. I felt it was important for them to have a parent around often to help 'heal' from their abandonment. I really don't know anyone that works for free.

[DBug]

Should we make daycare.com tshirts....."DC providers do it for money" hee hee

I'll buy one!!::::

[laundrymom]

Believe me,... I'm glad you are here! The more people you send here will educate even MORE people that we are HUMAN, this is our JOB! , we do it to earn INCOME. We use that income to pay BILLS. We don't invite people into our homes and work very hard for 10-13 hours a day for our HEALTH, or because we are nice people. This is how we feed our families. If you have such a problem with people expecting payment then maybe you should open a free service for parents in your community, so not only will your own grandkids get you for a provider, but the rest of your community can have such a giving person to care for them too! FOR FREE! how wonderful would that be?! I can guarantee you will have people lining up on your waiting list for an opening. Good luck with that!!!!

I wish I'd never stumbled on this forum this a.m. I am sick to my stomach reading all the posts about the MONEY MONEY MONEY!!!

I am now a grandma, and I used daycare as a mother of 4 children, but I never realized what drives providers!! I have been COMPLETELY naive about why people do childcare.

I want you to all know that you have cleared up that naivety for me. I will NEVER allow my grandkids to be cared for in a child care setting EVER again. I am going to refer this forum to every young mother I know starting with my own daughters. Mothers need to read and know the comments on here and just how sooo many providers feel about issues involving their children!!!

[lil angels]

Just because you stumbled on this forum this morning it didn't mean that you need to post anything!!!!! What a great personality you must have I bet people love to spend their time with you.

[Unregistered]

Regarding daycare

I opened my daycare home on June 11th, so it's been a month now. So far I've had

one full time 5yr old boy from the beginning
2 part time girls (they've came 2x now) 6 and 8yrs old
2 full time kids for 2 weeks (2nd grade boy and 5th grade girl)
my 3month old daughter
my assistant's 3 kids (3, 9, and 11).

We made $440 in 4 weeks. $400 of that was the 5 yr old boy and then $40 was the 2 girls. The 2nd grade boy and 5th grade girl hasn't paid because their dad is doing some construction work on the house that we traded for. I told my assistant that she could have her 3yr old boy there for free since we can't pay her a lot, and then her 9 and 11 yr old girls are there while schools out, but they are so much help I'm not charging for them either.

After paying my assistant $320, that leaves $120 left to pay the house payment, utilities, food, other supplies, oh and myself and my mom (we co-own it)....this ****S!!! We need more kids bad! I have 2 babies and a 3 yr old that will start within the next month, but I need more than that!

Any suggestions on how to get more kids, or how to save money on things?

Hi! A little advise for the assistance with the 3yr old. I'm not sure what her financial situation is, but i know that there is a program called 4c's that is a government program that helps pay for daycare for working moms. Maybe threw that program she can get funds to pay the daycare for her sons tuition .

I also am opening a small daycare in my town in New Jersey. I am renting a building in a strip mall that holds 15 kids and am hoping for the best. Good luck!!!

Jennifer

[mrsking14]

I agree with everyone else. This is exactly why I will not take part time or drop in children. Strictly full time, and they are to pay me the weekly fee whether they are here 5 days or 1 day. Parents are fine with that because they understand it is MY income and I have a family too.

[SilverSabre25]

Ya know what? I think I'd be concerned about a provider that didn't seem to be in it "for the money" or seemed too happy to provide cheap/free care. What's happening during the day? What is the provider getting out of it? Why is it worth it if they aren't getting paid? Unfortunately I can think of all too many possibilities why someone would be happy to keep kids for nothing but still be getting something out of it...

OP, I'm sorry you had such a rough first month. Def. look at some of this advice that the, um, "on topic" posters have provided and see where you can make some changes. No one can fault you for needing to make more, really.