Hi there and welcome to the forum!

If you're thinking of opening a daycare, I'm feeling that you should familiarize yourself with the Day Nurseries Act and know it well. Personally, opening a centre, for me would be an overwhelming project. You must hire staff and pay them reasonably well if you don't want a high turnover. Of course, the location and preparing that space to be up to code for daycare, in itself will be an odyssey. Be very, very sure that's what you want to do before you make any moves. Understand the business from all angles. It is definitely not a snap decision. And make sure you really want to do it, because if you don't love this job, it's very stressful.

I think, from your nanny's perspective, that opening a daycare then paying her to run it would be not be a terribly good deal, unless you were prepared to pay her very, very well. This is not a big money industry. Depending on where you live, it may not be worth it financially. I live in a large town about 45 mins north of Toronto and can command between $40 and $45 per day/child. Right now, my income tops out around $40,000. Not big bucks. And, though being a nanny in itself requires a specific skill with children of all ages, it's very different than caring for up to 5 children, usually within a specific range of age. In home daycare, while some do take on school age, many, like myself, only take on infants, toddlers and preschoolers and they are the only ones who bring in full time fees. Cut that in half for school age. Taking care of 5 little ones ranging from 1 to 4 years can be challenging. Unfortunately, the liability will be with you and your home if the daycare is there, even with someone else running it.

Home daycare is a lovely job. I enjoy it very much and have been doing it for a long time. I was well prepared with my ECE background and explored other options such as nanny positions and work in proper daycare centres. Honestly, it is the lowest stress job I've ever had, but I've got years and years of experience and it took time to get to this point.

I'm not a fan of Wee Watch or any other agency. You have to work within the Day Nurseries Act ratio and age restrictions. While we can only have 5 kids in care, without agencies, they can be any age. I set my own, logical rule, that I won't have more than 2 non-walkers at any time. With agencies, you can have 1 child under 1, 2 under 2, 3 under 3. Basically, unless you bring in school age kids, you can really only have up to 3 children. If you take in school age, then you have the joys of school drop offs and pick ups....ew! Think hard about that....it's winter and you've got 3 little ones to bundle up and walk or drive to the school to pick up the others. No thank you. Then the agency (bless them) will skim up to 35% off the top off the fees that they set to begin with.

No, you cannot hire staff in your home daycare in order to bring in more children. 5 children (in Ontario). That's it.

I think a centre is a lovely idea, despite my comments above. BUT, it's a big undertaking and you must be absolutely sure you know what you're doing. I would imagine, if one doesn't have any experience in the field of childcare, it's a challenge....not one that couldn't be overcome, but be sure it's something you want.

Inspired By Reggio will have some good advice for you, and I'm sure you'll hear from her soon. She knows her stuff so have a good read once she posts