A little tip for any newbie out there!

[apples and bananas]

Great tip! It's so important that we always have our "business" hat on too and make sure that we are planning for the future. Planning months and years in advance. When we take on a new child we have to make sure they don't only fit with us and the group, but with our business plan as well.

[Cadillac]

I'm coming up on the same thing. Fortunately, it worked out for me that two go to school next year and two the year after. I had been thinking about that a lot since the kids started getting older. I'll be asking parents well in advance weather they will be staying with me and transferring schools or trying to find replacements.

[kidlove]

Glad to know I'm not the only one right now.

[playfelt]

I lost three to school in September too. Have filled two of the spaces but yes thought about that school issue and my ad now says open now but will hold for a family looking for January - ie would put them in the following school year to the ones I just started. If a child fell into my laps I would take them and take the risks since the ones I did have happened just because of some going on mat leave and some staying/some leaving so I ended up not losing the the families I thought I would allowing me to spread things out. Having said that when you only do 0-3 you are at the mercy of maternity leaves for sure. Right now I know 2 of my families are done having kids so that helps a bit since I can plot their leaving for school well ahead of time.

On a side note remember I posted about the family that was looking to move caregivers due to severe issues and we were talking about notice due etc. - they came for the interview, nice family but they went on and on about how severe things were including several dangerous issues by anyone's standards but their child was still in care there, etc. and they seemed in no rush afterall to make a decision..... red flagged them for that and a few other issues so hoping they don't call back.