Opening a Daycare

I currently babysit my neice who is 23 months old. I want to take in two more kids. I have two boys who are 11 and 9. What do I need to do. I am so overwhelmed. I am thinking at the moment of only taking small kids as my boys take a bus and get dropped off at the front door but they because they go to two different schools it is two different drop offs so it would be easier for me not to take school age children.

I am only using my main floor and my cats will be put in the basement during the day. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Well, I started from nothing and you're ahead of the game because you already have toys in your house. First of all advertise on this site. Spread the word to all of your family and friends to try to obtain interviews with families. Interviewing is it's own special pain, but the more you do it the better you get at it.

You will need booster seats and plan your menu, playpens for sleeping, but you can ask the parents to provide the bedding. Tell the parents that you want their beds to smell like home. That's one of my policies with newly transitioning children, and I send the bedding home for laundering every weekend so it retains the smell of home for about a month.

You can pick up a lot of toys, riding toys, musical toys and the like on kijiji and at yard sales for cheap. Then disinfect them well. I bought receipt books at the dollar store and log books for each child. I started logging a daily routine including food eaten, diaper changes, naps, etc. for the children for my benefit so I could see what they would eat and what they refused, their naptime hours so I could make adjustments as needed. You need a good contract and then make sure you have your receipts made up every time you are paid and declare all of your income on your taxes. Keep every receipt for expenses and document the things you buy from kijiji or yard sales too.

Then you need a lot of patience and trial and error to see what routines work best for you and the group of children in your care. The most important thing is to let the parents know that you are a businesswoman with a contract (some of us I'm sure would be happy to help you with that) and don't let anybody push you around. Over the next year or two you will find out how to manage circle times, routines for playing outside & inside, nap scheduling, meal scheduling. It is not easy and it is not for everyone. But keep coming back to this forum for great advice and hopefully we can help you stay in business. Luck!