Possibly opening in home child care

[Spenc]

Hi,
I am new to this site and hopeful that I may get some advice from others in regards to opening an in home daycare. I am a mother of 2 young children...presently on maternity leave with my baby. My husband and I have been highly considering opening a large daycare center. This is our long term goal (5-8 years). So in the mean time I am thinking about leaving my job to care for children in our home. I love children and have lots of experience working with them...also have a psychology degree specializing in child psychology. So my questions are. One- I am so nervous about leaving my job. I do feel that I need to take this step to get to our long term goal, and I am very excited about it, but like I said nervous/scared. Its a big decision to leave your job. I am also nervous about missing the social aspect of my job as well. Anyone else struggle with this before they took the leap? If so any tips on how you came to the decision? My other question is licensed vs not licensed. I live in New Brunswick. Is there a website that would provide me with the requirements for a in home licensed day care? Thank you in advance for your time.

[Momof4]

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.

[Spenc]

Thank you Momof4 for taking the time to answer my questions. You have provided me with some great information.

[mimi]

Hi Spenc and welcome. I worked outside the home for many years and then was laid off. A friend of mine suggested I start a home daycare, but only if I was serious about starting as a small business. She mentored me and I have been loving my job, my dck's and being my own boss for the last 7 years.
I went through several inspections when I registered with a daycare referral (at their request). I had a fire inspection, health and safety inspection, police check, child first aid/cpr and a children's aid report that there has never been a report filed against me.
I show these reports to parents in the interview process so they know I am serious about my business and the care of their child.
The first year can be slow so I suggest having some funds saved up to fall back on. You never know though, depending on your area and with your credentials you may fill up fast.
Do your research, figure out how you are going to get your name out there (never say you are new) and see if you can find another caregiver to see her set up and ask for advise. Remember, your business is only as strong as your contract so have a good one as well as a parents handbook with all your policies. You can also come and post here of course and we will help you what ever way we can. Good luck!