Before/After School Care -- is it worth providing?

I am thinking of providing before/after school care, in addition to the full day childcare I provide. I am a 10-minute walk from the school in our neighbourhood. Come September, I will have a 2 1/2 year old, a 14-mth-old and a 12-mth-old.

I'm thinking that the twice daily walks in the winter are going to be hell. I will have the two youngest in a double stroller, and the sidewalks are not always plowed that early in the morning. Also walks in the rain will not be fun. At least right now, we don't have to go anywhere if the weather is crappy, but with b/a care it won't be optional.

For those of you who have done b/a care, are there any good experiences you could share? Or is it as bad as I think it will be?

The two reasons I am considering this are 1) my finances need a boost as I'm having trouble filling full time spots, and 2) I have a school-age child myself who I think would enjoy the company.

I'm also wondering what people would pay for it. The going rate around here is $15/day, which seems insanely low to me, considering all the extra work it is going to be!

I do not provide BASC for the reasons stated. I will only provide it to the kids who have already been with me and will start school in the future

Also, I did provide it but BASC pick up and drop offs were tough... AS well most of the kids ate waaay more than the fee covered, and the attitude, holy cow :(

I don't have before or after care but have had to take my own children to and from school. Rain or shine I had to be there with my daycare kids in tow. The kids were protected with guards from the weather and snuggled up but I was soaked, cold and it's hard pulling or pushing through snow.
It was nice to get out every day regardless of the weather and otherwise I might have been a bit more lazy to get the kids out on a snow day. We were out ~ rain or shine :) Great way to get some extra money for sure
I currently have a full crew and it's too much for me personally due to rain and show but many providers do it with rain jacket and snow boots!!

Personally unless like Jec I HAD to be doing it anyway because MY kids needed to be escorted back and forth to the school and having 'less kids' during the day was something I aspired for NO it would not be worth it too me!

A) I do not like being ruled by a 'clock' during the day ... school age care pick up and drop off times almost always result in the young children having their naps cut short because anyone having a morning nap has to be up and dressed and en route to the school for 8:30 am and in the pm same thing to be at the school for 3 pm let outs ~ tired grumpy children = more work!
B) Inclement weather and physical RISK to having to take your other children outside in weather ~ walking in the heat in fall or spring no big deal, walking in cold and show that has been plowed is not so bad but that is not the only issue there is thunderstorms, ICE on the roads and well the fact that plowing is done inconsistent so some areas there is nice clean areas and others that are not shoveled and therefore uneven bumpy slipping tripping mess for young children ~ so if you are pushing or they are walking it is hazardous = more STRESS worrying about this :(
C) the larger the age range of children you have in your program the more challenging it gets to program for them ~ not that it CANT be done just that it is more WORK to provide it.
D) Having materials that span age group 0-12 will cost more $$ and take up more space in your home for storage of things to rotate or if you do not have that space than you have to make do with the 'same' materials and equipment which means more WORK at keeping kids of that age range engaged.
E) Finally before and after school children take up a space in your program in Ontario ~ however parents do not want to pay more than $10-15 a day for the service because from their point of view they are in school 'most' of the day and only getting a few hours of care so their fees should be reduced 'accordingly' but from MY point of view I would loose money offering this service cause a space is a space and why would I want to loose money doing something that costs me more $, more stress and more WORK???

Honestly unless ALL your children were school age and you were going to do this as a niche service so you could be 'off work' from 8:30 - 2:30 to do your own things with either your babe as a 'parental one on one leave' type or your housework and chores or another side business / hobby thing WHY would anyone want to have to work a 12 hour day tied to their home and clock and LOOSE money doing it????

The sad fact remains that care for this age group is in high demand because the service is not VALUED by parents in order to make it worthwhile for businesses to provide it ~ most parents would prefer to leave this age group at home as 'latch key kids' than to INVEST in the fees it would cost to ensure that they could find suitable care .... programs in the school boards have HUGE waiting lists for this service ~ WHY?

The schools have the SPACE to offer it so there should be no issue in opening up more rooms if there is such a demand for this service ~ however challenge is they cannot find enough employees to staff B&A programs staff turnover in the ones that are out there is constant because most people aspire for FULL TIME hours not some nasty split ass shift where you are working 3 hours first thing in the morning and 3 hours at the end of the day with 6 free hours in the middle where you do not have time to get too much done cause you are being ruled by that clock to get 'back' to work!

In Ontario the 'school boards' were being pressured to provide seamless days for Kindergarten / School age children if the 'demand warranted' it .... when they did their math to figure out how to offer this service, paying employees a wage that would ATTRACT/RETAIN people to want to do it and meeting the Union contract obligations the cost to parents was going to be over $35 a day for a normal school day and parents would still have to find PD / March and Summer care .... and basically that is just administration / staff wages and so forth because school boards already HAVE the space that is being heated/cooled/light basically 24 hours a day, they have the toys and materials and equipment and so forth .... and parents despite the demand for this service all BALKED at the reality of these fees and did not sign up for the programs ~ therefore school boards claimed to the Province that they do not need to offer the service cause there is 'no demand' for it ;)

Society has to open its eyes and realize that this is a PREMIUM service because no one wants to OFFER IT ... so either pay MORE for it instead of less or continue to have your children be latch key children watching themselves before and after school!

I charge $25 for before and after and $15 for one or the other ..... But I only take one child and they have to go to my child's school..... The reason is because I have a special bus that comes right to my door and I don't want to lose that privilege by loading it up with dcks. Plus I don't want to have to hold a spot for summer for school age kids. So I have taken on one that has been with me since Jan. But for me it's purely profit because parents provide breakfast at my dayhome and the parent will be picking up the child 10 minutes after the school bus at the end of the day so I will have no cost output for this particular child. I think if we were allowed to have as many b/a as we want that would make things a little more profitable for us and help with the overload of school aged children needing care, as 90% of the calls I'm getting right now are for school aged children...... To bad those who make the rules don't see this !

Its the attitude that scares me. Especially the kids who are too young to be home alone but too old for a daycare center.

I've done it but primarily because the hours were good, and the pay is a nice extra! The bus stop is now at the end of my laneway for one school, but only a 2-5 min walk (depending on who I have that day) for the other school. Hours for me are 8:40 a.m. and 4 p.m., so I don't have to worry about naps at all.

I charge $20/day/child OR $15 for either morn or afternoon/child/day. I have the kid for 2 hours max.

One other thing you'll have to consider: Do you want these kids on P.D.Days/summer, etc? I don't provide full day care at the moment.