New to this

[natjovane]

Hi there,

I am just starting out, I am looking to start my home daycare because I love kids and I have two beautiful daughters of my own that I want to stay home and raise at the same time. I just have a few questions.

1- how does this website work? How do you know when or if parents are interested in meeting with you?

2- Is there any special licensing I should know about? I live in Ontario

3- Except for updated criminal check, CPR and first aid is there anything else I should look in to obtaining?

4- Can anyone tell me how else they advertised their business?

5- Is it beneficial to go through an agency or can you be just as successful opening your daycare on your own?

Please help I need any advice that you can give me

[sunnydays]

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your new daycare! If parents are interested in your ad on Daycare Bear, they will email or call you (you will have added your contact info). Kijiji is also another great source of advertising. If oyu are in Ottawa, the CCPRN is another great organization for finding families and also for taking workshops, finding resources, etc. You should also obtain daycare insurance in case anything happens to one of the kids in your care. For me, I did not find it worth it to go through an agency as they take a portion of your pay and I had no trouble finding clients on my own. However, some people do like to start out with an agency as they bring you clients and they also provide you with equipment like playpens, strollers, etc. You can also then accept families with subsidies, whereas if you are private you cannot. Depending on the ages of your own kids, you may find it tough to find enough kids of the right ages if you are with an agency. Their rule is 5 kids inlcuding your own kids under 6. You can only have 3 under three and 2 under two. If you are private, you are allowed 5 daycare kids plus your own kids and it doesn't matter what ages you take. This forum is a huge source of information and support. Have a look through some of the threads and you will find a wealth of info. Best of luck to you!

[Momof4]

Do you advertise on this site? If not, go to the Members section and place your ad. I also advertise with Godaycare.com and I ask friends who work for large companies, the hospital, university, etc. to place my ads. These types of places have internal systems and you can reach so many people that way. Make sure you ask family and friends to spread the word and be on the lookout for you for their friends and family who are looking for daycare. I have had the best clients sent to me by referrals from friends or even past clients.

This is the best advice people gave me when I started. Make yourself a website, mine is with freewebs.com and it never costs anything. But there is a contact page so that once parents read my website they can contact me directly without leaving my website. Put your website link in big, coloured letters on all your ads.