So Much to Think about...

[wolfpup]

Hi ladies!
I am a private day home provider in a small Alberta town. There are not many of us in this town that I know of, but just watched 13 children walk into one home... what would you guys do??
Also what do each of you figure is a fair price for our services?? I recently lost a child because of raising my price when he started before and after school as opposed to just after school... I added an extra $5/day taking it from $400 to $500 a month. I provide snacks and they bring cereal for breakfasts... if there is no school there is an additional charge of $15/day for the extra time as well as lunch being provided... is that normal or should I be including that in the monthly charge?? just a flat rate rather than extra for full days?
and lastly...Does anyone know if we wanted to name our day home would we have to register the name or no?
Trying to decide if I want to stick with this or not!

[Inspired by Reggio]

I am not familiar with the rules in Alberta .... in Ontario you would have to register your 'business' name if you are calling your business anything other than your full legal name when you advertize -which most of us do not want to do!

As for the watching someone have 13 kids go into a house -what are the ratios for Alberta - do they allow private home daycares to have more than one adult and therefore more children? In Ontario we are only allowed FIVE regardless of how many adults in a 'home setting' so that would be a definitely NO NO ... I myself have called on 'warehousers' as they are called here and reported to the Ministry in charge of regulations around childcare however these people often do 'flex care' which means somedays they ARE in ratio and somedays everyone wants care so they are WAY over and it seems to be t hat whenever the Ministry comes to 'inspect' it is a low day and they just get a 'warning' cause they are not directly CAUGHT ... Murphy's Law!

My new cellphone takes both photo and video now and I tell ya I am tempted to snap a photo of the one lady out for a walk with her as many as 9 tiny two year olds not to mention a video of the ladies at the park on March Break with 17 children in tow and they were smoking and cursing in front of the children - seriously unprofessional

Again hopefully someone from your area can weigh in on pricing ... it is normal here with school age care to have a fee for am care only, a fee for Pm care only, a fee for both and than additional full day rates apply to any Pd, March break and summer care.

[Momof4]

Ooooh, I agree with Reggio. Can you call CAS or the Ministry as she said and report her anonymously? She is endangering all those children and breaking the law.

[mom-in-alberta]

<------ I am in Alberta too!
I can only speak for my area, which is just north of Calgary. (Just barely north, that should tell you where I am!) $500 for B/A seems a little steep, especially if you are charging extra for full days. BUT, it really depends on what the "norm" is where you are!! And it is totally normal for B/A pricing to be dependant on whether it's just before, just after, both, whether you provide breakfast, snacks, transport, full day care, etc.
If the provider is licensed, then he/she is definitely breaking some rules having that many children under their care. The challenge in Alberta is that there are NO clear rules on UN-licensed care. We have had this debate before on this forum, as to what the regulations are. I can only tell you what I learned, when I called the government of Alberta. TECHNICALLY, I was told, there are no rules on private home daycares. Unlicensed providers do not have to follow the same rules for ratios, etc. It is the parents responsibility to determine whether a private provider is offering a safe and secure environment. However, if you feel that the children are in a dangerous situation and you can clearly define some problem areas (ie; you have seen the provider abusing the children, or you have seen them playing dangerously, or unsupervised, etc) then you can report them to the local "child services" department.
I use a business name, but only informally. I still file my taxes as an individual, and all financial info is under me, not my daycare name. Cheques are made out to me, my bank account is a personal one, not business, and so on.

[Momof4]

Wow mominalberta, there are no rules!!!!!?????? That is just scary!

[Skysue]

Hi ladies!
I am a private day home provider in a small Alberta town. There are not many of us in this town that I know of, but just watched 13 children walk into one home... what would you guys do??
Also what do each of you figure is a fair price for our services?? I recently lost a child because of raising my price when he started before and after school as opposed to just after school... I added an extra $5/day taking it from $400 to $500 a month. I provide snacks and they bring cereal for breakfasts... if there is no school there is an additional charge of $15/day for the extra time as well as lunch being provided... is that normal or should I be including that in the monthly charge?? just a flat rate rather than extra for full days?
and lastly...Does anyone know if we wanted to name our day home would we have to register the name or no?
Trying to decide if I want to stick with this or not!

I think calling on someone before you know all the facts is WRONG!

[Inspired by Reggio]

I think calling on someone before you know all the facts is WRONG!

Agreed - I would need to know they are in the business of offering childcare - cause what if they are not doing business and it was 'birthday party' or something ... however if there are no RULES in Alberta around how many kids you can have before licensing that is just scary

[parentof1]

I recently did this (reported) and though I do not live in AB--you call and report and I KNOW all complaints are taken annonomusly but that being said I HAD ALL MY DUCKS IN A ROW before calling--sorry for my spelling

[mom-in-alberta]

Absolutely agreed.... I honestly don't think that I would report a daycare provider if my only concern is that she "MIGHT" be over in numbers. Heck, even if I knew she was. I don't know if that person has an assistant, or if they have a college aged son or daughter there to work with them, or any of the particulars really.
As I said, the ONLY reason I would report a fellow caregiver is if I KNEW beyond a doubt that the children in that person's care were in a clear and present danger. If there was even a bit of a maybe, I would be snooping like you wouldn't believe to get my facts straight.

[wolfpup]

Thanks for all the comments. I know it wasnt just a birthday party as she has them EVERYDAY. She is a bit older and her children are teens. Thursdays seem to be her "excess" days where she sometimes has even more than 13, but she still has too many small ones for what I was told by child services for our province.
Myself and a friend who also runs a day home both kind of decided that the kids seem happy, the parents dont seem to care and it is her sanity not ours so... whatever! I dont know if her kids help out after school or what goes on in the home, but I have never seen anyone else come or go from that house who is an adult. I have watched her leave the small kids in the front room watching her and she has run across the street to get kids from kindergarten on cold or rainy days... the kids all stay in the window and she turns and looks at them about every 30 seconds... I thought "WOW LADY" but... again I cant say for sure that there isnt someone else that is an adult in the home. I have never ever seen one, she takes the kids out on her own, etc.
I dont think I will report her unless the kids seem to become unhappy. I have seen parents pick their kids up and they dont seem to care that there are 13 kids there so... thats their choice I guess!