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  1. #1
    Shy
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    Caring for a child overnight for shiftworkers???

    Hello, this is my first post. I am graduating from the ECE program in april 2013 and am opening up my home daycare for the end of april 2013. I am wondering what others people's thoughts are on overnight care for shift workers? I was thinking of also providing this for 1 or 2 children to boost my income a bit. What is the going rate to charge for this type of service. The hours for this would typically be from 6pm-8am and would include an evening snack and breakfast in the morning.
    Thanks

  2. #2
    Outgoing
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    Overnight kids are hard to find. Parents want this service really cheap. If they are state funded they will normally find a friend or relative to do it and then want them to keep the kid way into the morning so the parent can go home and sleep. Often the overnight kid turns into a two shift kid if the kid is not in school during the day.

    First question to parent is who will care for the kid once they get picked up. If the parent gives you the "I'll sleep when he sleeps" it's a huge red flag. The second hurdle is when does the kid go to bed. Parents who come home at wee hours of the morning want lil Johnny to stay up really late so he will sleep in when they get home. If it's a baby the baby will have slept most of the day and have their days and nights upside down.

    Don't agree to them getting off of work at two/three a.m. and just coming in the morning to get the kid. You will end up with a kid into your day shift if you allow that. The parents will often just turn off their phones and not contact you until they wake up which is often at nap time. Have them come get the kid right when they get off of work no matter what. You run the risk of the parent going out after work and then going home and passing out or the parent just sleeping in and coming up with a bunch of excuses of why he/she couldn't be reached. It means getting up to let the kid out the door but it's easier than having them on your day shift.

    You are also going to run into them wanting you to do supper and jammies with those hours. They will bring take out food for you to serve. An evening snack most likely won't cut it. You will have kids that haven't eaten arriving.

    If the parent feeds the kid, gets them as ready as possible for bed, the kid goes to bed reasonably earlly and the parent comes at seven or so in the morning... then this would be a REALLY easy way to make money. Problem with that is that if it's easy they aren't going to pay much for it. It's easy to get people to do easy free in the regular life. The only situations that come your way are mostly hard evening shift deals like combination overnight/day shift or parents who want their kids UP really late into the night.

    It's a tough shift to make money on.
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  3. #3
    Euphoric !
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    Years ago I did over nights for shift workers (casino) and they would bring the kids just after dinner and not pick up the next day till after lunch cause they needed to sleep. They would take the kid home and pit them down for a nap so they could go back to sleep so I really had the kid for about 20 hours of a 24 hour period several days in a row. Never pays enough and you'll burn out cause your always "on". If your not full and these kids fill up some daytime space too then if you charged enough it might be worth it .... I would charge $75 per shift. ...... But that being said I would never do it cause not only would I be tied to the house during the day with the regular daycare kids now I would be stuck at home at night unless I wanted to cart another kid around and my kids have swimming and hockey at night..... No thanks !
    Last edited by Crayola kiddies; 01-02-2013 at 06:50 AM.

  4. #4
    Shy
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    yeah... i was just curious to see what othrs thought about this.
    Thanks

  5. #5
    Euphoric ! Inspired by Reggio's Avatar
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    Not sure which province you are in but you'd also want to check into the legality of 'overnight care' and the additional rules and regulations that apply to that industry because it may be different than 'normal childcare' regulations ... for example off the top of my head things I would look into if it were ME considering this is that in Ontario while the childcare industry is exempt from charging/collecting GST/HST to clients this is not true of all industries ~ so if the childcare program is open 7 days a week or 24 hours a day than they are no longer considered 'childcare' industry but 'institutional care' industry and than they would be required to charge and collect this tax under that designation as well as there are additional rules on 'sleeping arrangements' and staffing that must be followed to due this now being considered 'institutional care' and so forth .... and even working in what is termed 'unregulated' business there are still 'regulations' that are required to be followed.

    Personally I would not do it cause there is just way too much liability involved with overnight care!
    Children construct their own intelligence. The adult must provide activities and context, but most of all must be able to listen. Children need proof that adults believe in them. Their three great desires are to be listened to, to understand, and to demonstrate that they are exactly what we expect."
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  6. #6
    Shy
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    I am in Ottawa, Ontario. The more I think about it, I don't want to pursue it. It was just a thought more than anything else.
    Thanks

  7. #7
    Euphoric !
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    One of the issues is the overlap. People who need day shift won't be leaving till 4-6 pm and people needing evening shift would need care starting at 2 till midnight. Those wanting third shift would need care to start between 10-11 and not be available for pick up till 7-8 am.

    If you are interested in doing the longer shifts what you could offer is care for those doing 12-14 hour shifts such as nurses. Generally they work 7am - 7pm needing care from 6 am till 8 pm. This would provide a valuable service but still allow you to have a full night's sleep. As far as fee goes they generally only work about 3 days a week but are working teh equivalent of a full week of hours so each day would be about 1 1/2 times the regular rate considering you will be feeding 2 maybe all 3 meals.

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