How big of a deal is distance?

[Samantha33]

I have people who drive from 1 minute up to 35 min. I live in a small town. It takes 20 min. from one end to the other. Some parents feel 10 min. is to long to drive if there is a closer provider, and other's feel there's no time limit if they really feel good about the care their child receives. I guess what I'm saying is it's the parents who decide. Personally I feel being in the city is better and the parents do the drive. There would be more clientele in the city.

[nschildcare]

Some of my clients live nearby. They have a 30 minute drive to work, sometimes 45 in rush hour. I have another that drives 30 minutes to get to me (comes from the city) and then only has another 15 to get to work just past me. My location is not far from the highway (about 5 mins) which makes it convenient for my parents.

When I lived in the "city" here (as opposed to suburbia), my hours were shorter due to shorter commute distances. I did have an awesome yard, was close to many great parks, could take advantage of the transit and have field trips, etc. I never had a problem filling my spots.

Now in suburbia, I have to be more flexible with my hours, which are now longer. I still have a super awesome yard, am close to parks, don't have transit (well not good) and am not within walking distance of any decent field trips. I haven't nec. had a hard time filling spots (esp. when I talk to other providers who have had a hard time lately) but I have had to be willing to be flexible (hours, part time vs full time, that kind of thing).

I love not being in the city anymore, personally, but business-wise it was definitely better there. Having said that, I could have probably found a location that was a little more daycare-friendly here but I wasn't thinking of daycare when we bought. I still would have ran into issues of longer days due to commute times, etc.