Opening a new daycare in Ancaster

Hi all,

I'm a new mommy and a new member who is beginning to finalize the preparations for opening my daycare, but with the new regulations, I'm a little nervous.

My husband and I purchased a pre-build in Ancaster 2 years ago with a walk out basement and a premium lot with the intention of starting a family and running a home daycare after my maternity leave ran out. I had to continue working in my field (high school teacher) to help build up some savings and ensure that I received decent maternity benefits.

While on maternity leave, I've been taking classes at Mohawk College to learn about home renovations so I can do most of the labour to finish the basement and keep our start up costs low.

But, now I'm getting nervous. My leave is up in July and I am planning on opening for back to school in September. Initially I had planned on doing full-day care, but now am really contemplating before and after only – I realize there are before and after school programs, but I can offer curriculum extensions and tutoring thanks to my extensive list of teaching qualifications.

I certainly could go back to teaching, but my siblings and I were raised by nannies, and really suffered at their hands, and from the little time we got with our parents. I can't bear the thought of leaving my little guy in the hands of someone else and had really hoped to have a home based business that allowed for socialization, time to spend with my own children and capitalized on my education – especially since I want to home-school when the time comes.

For those in the Ancaster area, am I crazy to do this? What advice would you give me?

My advice would be to share this story with your local MPP and other MPP's throughout the province. It is a perfect example of a mom wanting to stay home with her child who is qualified for the role of being a provider yet is hesitant due to pending changes to the Day Nurseries Act. Moms like you who are reluctant to start up a new daycare because of the changes is just another example of how the changes will make daycare even more scarce because new ones may not be starting up.

I think a before and after program with your experience would be an amazing service that parents would jump at but then you have to consider the factor of pick up and drop off at possibly multiple schools so there is the question of vehicle and insurance. Also the competition of existing and soon to be onsite before and after care, which eliminates the need for someone else to drive around their child which some parents just do not like. There is however right now generally a shortage of B&A care in schools so depending on when the new bill is enforced you may be able to fill up and get a great reputation along with some good marketing and advertising to get your program known.

If however you are primarily looking to socialize your own young child then I would be hesitant to plan on a rich educational B&A program since meeting the needs of your own little one and then a group of older ones will be difficult and will not present your 1 year old with the social interaction they need or you desire.

I would start with some extensive market research on what daycares are available in your area as well as their vacancies to see how much of a demand their is right now for regular full and part time daycare. Then look into Preschool programs and B&A care. Check for private centres, regional centres, onsite B&A programs which are quite often run by the YMCA and then private B&A programs run in home daycares or by pick up and drop off services at programs like karate etc. This should give you a really good idea as to what is available and where you may fit into the market.

While your educational background should be a huge factor in getting children, you must still remember there are parents who just don't care. They want cheap and convenient and that's their main priority so you can't just rely on your educational background and programming as those who don't share your values will go with the lady down the road who charges less. Right now I do not care to have those kind of parents using my service, but once this new bill comes in we may not have the luxury of waiting it out for the right family as it will be much more difficult to fill our spots in all age groups.

Good Luck, don't panic, it's just a matter of working things out and firing off questions on here for words of advice and different perspectives.

Thank you so much for your responses!

I have to agree that my education, experience and general knowledge is better suited for B&A care and I've started to develop programming for it.

Fortunately, 2 schools have bus stops right in front of my house, so that should alleviate the need for transporting kids.

The socialization aspect is so crucial, but I'm thinking with b
&a, I can spend the day with my little guy and take him to various age appropriate activities.

Here's hoping there's some clarity on age restrictions (still over 10?) soon!

I really appreciate your the time you took to respond, thank you!

You might be able to find families that have a young child that would be at the house all day as well as a school age child that would go on the bus so you would have just enough during the day for a playmate situation but the full gang before/after.