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As far as advertising more than one space the down side to only posting one opening at a time is that you lose out on people with siblings which goes a long way to filling you up quicker.
I am going to be in the situation of having three spaces to fill over the summer as children leave for school or move out of town. What I am planning to do is list the spaces individually putting the start date with each.
It is nice to start each child gradually so what you could do on daycarebear is list each space but for the start date make one May, one June, one July. Then it looks like you could have three children leaving care. That might get a few more calls but truthfully it is supply and demand and sometimes for no apparant reason there is little demand. If people are truly looking they will look at all ads.
One thing I have noticed is the tense used in some ads. Those that say I do this vice I will do this, I will provide this is a true giveaway that the person is new and making what could turn out to be empty promises once they get into the reality of daycare.
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I am the same way Playfelt ... I have almost my entire program heading off to school in September and am advertising two September start dates staggered ideally but can be same for siblings and the wil spread the others out over few months - have 3- 4 newbies on same day or week not my cup of tea ... prefer 3 weeks to transition one before adding another.
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I have been in a real panic for the last couple months because of things up in the air. My military family is moving for sure but had they not been the older one would have gone to school just as mom would finish mat leave and the baby would have taken his place - problem solved. Now of course they will be done early July.
My other one heading to school has a sibling here too and many around here won't take a jk kid unless they come with a sibling to help fill spaces and money which I think is weird but then I don't take jk so it is never an issue for me. Mom has always said no matter what the baby was staying with me but we all know in the end if the price,location or convenience factor is there we are likely to be on the losing end of it all. Child was #50 on the wait list for the school program - only half day school here. So mom found him a place at a local place that takes jk then takes them to school. Care for the sibling would have been $1200 a month. Needless to say she was saying no. Now turns out after all that she got a call this week child is into the school program. So not sure what happened to suddenly move her up that many places but she is taking it for sure so little one is with me for two more years till she starts school and then as a sibling gets first crack at spaces. At one point the past couple months I was afraid I was going to be down 4 kids by Sept. Other space is a shared part time space and both halves will open over the summer one end of June (teacher's child) and other over the summer date to be confirmed.
Spreading them out makes a huge difference when they start at 12 months beause even having the first of the three be 14 months seems to help. If nothing else you are both familiar with routine and expectations.
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I moved a little over 2 weeks ago and set up a new daycare. The only difference- old place to new- was that i changed from an apartment to a house. I could never get children in the apartment.
After I posted pictures (in the house), I suddenly had 6 interviews in one week (Kanata). 2 spots filled and maybe more. I had an ad posted without pics and did not get any response. Same text.
Are your pictures of various areas good- e.g. crafts, dramatic play etc.?
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I think what pictures do is prove to the parents some sort of reality check that you really are a caregiver prepared to accept their child. If they can picture their child playing in the space or note that you have the same favourite stacking toy that starts to make the connection already for them. This is alwo where a website comes in since pictures and additional information can be posted there.
A new website is the next thing on my list of things to do too. We are headed down to Fredericton next week for son's graduation and then I can start to focus on replacing kids that will leave this summer. I have lost the how to get into the website I made years ago so while it is still there and all but the ages of my own kids etc. the info still works.
