Advice needed about pricing, simple or complex

[Mike]

If anyone is curious how complicated my pricing is now, check the page on my site, (on my profile), but it won't be there long. I'm going to change it later today.

[Busy ECE mommy]

I'm in Halton area in Ontario, and many in my neighbourhood place a higher premium on children under 2 yrs, as the lowest licensed centre rates are about $60+ a day for infants, and $50-$55 for toddlers around here. I charge $5 more a day until they are 2.5(preschool age) and no parent has ever questioned that, given the high expense at centres. All of my preschoolers have been with me since infant/toddler age, and they are very self sufficient with following directions/tidy up/dressing in outdoor wear/climbing and running and walking in the neighbourhood/eating / scraping their dishes/are potty trained/have consistent nap routines/and I am not lifting and carrying them. I guess it depends how many little ones you have, and I have always stuck to the "2 under 2 yrs" rule even though I didn't need to. I have found a definite difference in the hyper-vigilance you need when supervising the under 2 years crowd, so I do charge more. I guess every provider's experience is different depending on the group you have at the time. And yes I know that there are preschoolers that are "handfuls" with behaviour too! The best guide is to search daycare bear with your postal code and average out the rate.

[Mike]

I'm in Halton area in Ontario, and many in my neighbourhood place a higher premium on children under 2 yrs, as the lowest licensed centre rates are about $60+ a day for infants, and $50-$55 for toddlers around here.
...
and I have always stuck to the "2 under 2 yrs" rule even though I didn't need to. I have found a definite difference in the hyper-vigilance you need when supervising the under 2 years crowd, so I do charge more.
...
The best guide is to search daycare bear with your postal code and average out the rate.

That's what's making it so much fun deciding on a final price. I searched daycare bear and local yellow pages and kijiji ads and found most of the daycares with websites had prices based on ages. With daycare centers, it's obviously because of the limits. In business, that's supply and demand. I also plan on sticking with the daycare rules, or at least keeping close to them, in case I do decide later to go registered, or we are forced to. If I make prices the same for all ages, it would have an effect on what age ranges I would get.

I am going to simplify my pricing, but not overdo it.

[Crayola kiddies]

I read your homepage .... Wow !!!! You made the statement that "women often do child care because its all they know how to do or it's their only option". " some don't even like looking after kids and often do a poor job of raising their own children" .....
I think where your home page is concerned less is more !

[Mike]

Again, sorry, from personal knowledge, I know several that fit those descriptions, but I guess I only know those people, not the ones who count. I'm going to do some rewording there.

[5 Little Monkeys]

Ummm, yes maybe some re-wording is needed! I do childcare because I actually enjoy it and have always wanted to own my own business. This is not my only option but the option that best worked for me.

When trying to raise yourself up don't knock down others I'm sure you didn't mean to offend with that statement but trust me, you will offend many unintentionally!

[Mike]

Yes. Since I have no real daycare experience or contacts, and only know 3 people who do "daycare", I was assuming they were the norm. They don't actually do daycare. They just let others drop off their kids and charge for it.

[Mike]

I'm going to quit now for a while and do some changes on my site.

[5 Little Monkeys]

Just another thing that I thought about when reading your site. Will you accept children who are not in disposable diapers? When I was reading it, I sorta got the feeling that you look down on disposable and I think if I were a parent reading it, I would feel judged if I had a child in disposables. Just a thought...

[Mike]

I will have to take a look at that and reword it. I have nothing against disposables, just believe that overall cloth is usually better.