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Hi,
I had the same issues twice actually.Moving to a different city it took me about a year to build a business..I had only two dck for a long long time,for a year!One was full time and the other part time,but it went on and gradually more came in.i was lucky because parents never complained about it,but I felt horrible.. Some parents even like if there are no many kids at dc so theirs can get all the attention-which works sometimes:)You just have to be patient and hope,it will come.
It is hard because there is no money and your days are not so exiting as if you have 4-5 dck.
Some parents have a hard time putting their little once in a dc if there are no other dck,it's not always a trust issue,but more like 'their child will not have anybody to play with'..which is strange in my opinion,if everybody would think like that we would never fill the spots in our dc.You have to start somewhere.
I would stay patient and wait,don't get desperate and take everyone in your care,it might take some time,but you might get better clients too.it is better to wait for better once then take quickly any body just to feel the space and soon regret for your fast decision.
Good luck!
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I'm with wee watch. I'll echo the others- you're only allowed 2 under 2, 3 under 3 and 5 total including your own, so if your own combination of kids exceeds that they won't be able to help. From personal experience they mostly only have babies coming into care, so unless you have just one under 2 and 2 under 3 already it probably won't be worth your time. I also get a lot of calls for part timers or weird hours. the pay is crummy and you have to jump through a lot of hoops- police record checks for you + all adults in household, CPR cert, cleaning procedures (toys cleaned weekly with bleach solution, high chairs and change pads after each use), weekly meal plans that must include 4 food groups at lunch and 2 at each of snack, monthly program plan, monthly unannounced visits, end of month form to fill out and activity book to complete, vaccine records for you, husband and all kids, pet's vaccination records, fire extinguisher and CO2 detector (though they do partially reimburse you for all the costs of getting started). The good news, is that wee watch guarantees your pay even if the parents stiff *them* so you don't have to worry about that. And if you are having problems with parents they mediate, often on your behalf. (my parents are wonderful but my wee watch provider MIL has told me this). they also have backup care, so you can take days for appointments and vacations and it doesn't put anyone out. And they lend you things if you need them like highchairs and strollers and playpens.
If I could do it again I'd probably have gone it alone but I liked the idea of not needing to deal with parents and pay and liability stuff. But they really don't send me much business at all. Right now I'm pregnant so I'm fine with having just one DCK and coasting along until my baby is 6 months or so, but after that what I do depends on whether the new bill passes or not.
IMO you'll do better if you look for a part timer instead. 4 days of your regular rate would probably equal a week of wee watch pay anyhow ;)
