What would you like your daycare to provide that isn't being provided?

[5 Little Monkeys]

If you are set on caring for a specific age group, have you considered applying to daycare centres and working in the baby rooms?

[Smartbaby]

If you are set on caring for a specific age group, have you considered applying to daycare centres and working in the baby rooms?

Good question except at his point I'm choosing this a business for myself because I have a large renovated house downtown, I love babies, there is a need for quality child care and I am in a transition phase where I want out of academia to pursue more fulfilling options. Working at someone else's daycare is not something I would be considering at this point in the game.

I think the points I can distill from this discussion are from the providers side and in summation:

-it may be hard to focus on infants as parents may find the near eventuality of finding new care insurmountable
-focusing on infants potentially breaks strong or developing bonds made with the child when they have to leave
-focusing on infants means breaking a stream of income and being in perpetual transition

All good points

The research I have done informally suggests that there is a serious shortage of infant care in toronto and that many parents are frustrated already that their children may be split up due to the fact that many centres can't accept all siblings if one is under the age req. Further the caregiver infant ratio is higher and driving cost up making the acceptance of infants less appealing to providers.

Hence it would seem that if possible, a partnership of sorts with a provider that caters to over 18 months would make a nice dynamic service allowing both them and myself to focus on certain age groups but causing less transitional headaches...after all as kids and adults we graduate to new schools and different programs all the time.

Anyway, the discussion has caused much reflection. I appreciate all the input and think most likely I will be accepting infants and then gauge the needs of the group as we grow and limits of my service as they appear.