Welcome to the forum Spenc and I have some experience with what you're talking about. I worked outside the home all my life and for the last 10 years I hated the people I worked with but I liked my job. It was with mixed emotions that I left and a complete bolt of lightning that gave me the idea to open a home daycare. The fact that you are researching and planning is going to give you a leg up on being successful much quicker.

It's great to be self-employed and so many perks for working at home, but it's also a frightening business because you are surprised now and then when a family makes a change unexpectedly. It's really nice when you can take in babies who will stay until they go off to school after 3-4 years so you have low turnover but that doesn't happen every time.

We all figure out our best routines with practice and we have to keep our receipts and bookwork up to date all the time but that falls into place pretty naturally for most of us over time. If you read a lot of the threads on this site you will notice that choosing good clients is key so that you garner respect and co-operation and appreciation from the parents. Then the issues that arise with the children are easier to handle if the parents are working with you to solve the problems. I make sure parents are aware at the interview stage that I will honest with them on a daily basis and I'll ask their advice on how we can get through all the phases that their child will go through.

As far as the laws in your province, can you search online to find information? Check out the Daycare Nurseries Act and the bylaws for your city.

As far as the challenge of the social aspects that you mentioned, I take my daycare children to the library once a week and the librarians know us well. That gives us a big playdate out with other people and about 9 months out of the year I meet with another caregiver or two at a local park for a playdate once or twice a week. We watch our children carefully but at least we have a few hours of adult conversation out together. Then there are the forums of course, where it's great to reach out to others for support and advice and friendships.

I wish you the best of luck.