Looking into opening a day home for shift workers

[t_sconnolly]

Hi ladies,

I am brand new here, so let me introduce myself. I am an RN by trade and my hubby is a cook, so due to having two shift workers we have had some major child care challenges. We have 2 boys ages 5 and 2. As if life is not busy enough I a now looking into opening a day home privately that will cater to shift workers and families that need extended care. I need some tips and tricks and works of advice. I am only looking at taking in 2 kids, maybe 3 at the most. The few families that I have spoken to already work days (some work 12 hours shifts), nights and evenings. I am also stumped on how to price a 12-14 hour day…same foes for the nights? Advice? Any words of advice or encouragement would be most appreciated!

[rainbowcupcake]

Most daycares/dayhomes are built on a strict mon-friday typical business like hours. The reason behind this is to not get pushed over by parents. By opening flex hours, parents have the choice to to choose hours not you. What may work for one parent, may not work for another.you could be working 24/hours for three different parents shifts. You would get burnt out and you need time to clean and prep for the children. Remember thst you need personal family time too or else you burn out.

Most dayhomes dont do this type of flex hours because parents can easily control your business if your not strict enough. You need a strict hours set. If someone gets off work at 11pm-12 am how will this affect your household? Its very hard to be strict but flexible to parents needs. This is best to hire a nanny for this type of childcare.

However if you stick to your hours...
You can do a standard flat rate for evenings and overnight and charge more because it is harder to get.

I have seen overnight drop in care from 80-120 a night.
Evening care is usually 50 dollers or so.

For me personally I plan to extend hours after my regular hours as a drop in care basis. I can choose what type i want to work from and what type i need parents to come pick up. My evening/ overnight care is only provided when my husband is not home ( miltary training) so I do not disrupt him when his home.

Its all about deciding what works best for you and your family. I think its a wonderful idea to do, with some careful planning it could work out well

[t_sconnolly]

Thanks rainbowcupcake for the reply. I get that parents can and will walk all over you, but on the other had I've also walked the road of not being able to afford a nanny, but also not had accommodating childcare either. Hence why I'm thinking of doing this. I know what a shift workers schedule looks like already, so I've got a pretty good idea of what our hours might look like. But thanks for the pricing that you've seen, I don't want to over charge…but yet I also don't want to short change myself.Thanks!

[blackcomb]

Hi there, I am an RN too! and like you doing this now, starting out, though I did do it when my son was a baby by taking him with me to others homes, didn't own my own house then.

Like you it wasn't easy finding good child care for my child while working shifts and unfair to him too.. now I am doing agency (as I always did on the side or as a 2nd back up job, and when between jobs) I will probably stick to 2 nights a week max with this agency and do day care in the week, I did think of doing shift workers but now am going to do days, and the occasional over night (when I am not working nights and hopefully the child sleeps through) but then I am doing age 3-6 and if anything the age group will go up as my son ages. Before and after school care I am going to do to my son's school (so it fits in with us too that way).

I did consider shift workers but due to the fact I am going to possibly stick to my 2 nights a week max nursing days in the week for day care will work better for me personally speaking. That said, I am grateful to my child minder (and ones I have as back up) for having my son from 7.30pm at night until the same time in the morning (my night starts at 11pm but I don't want his sleep routine affected), and my main minder is having him for the one off early shift I am doing this week, and has had him when I've done late shifts, so she's pretty flexible and does what you are considering doing, and she's not the only one, my back ups do too! And have their regular ones in the day time, she does check her diary as she ensures she gets her breaks too, evenings out with her hubby for example, so rarely she can't do it for me but that's why I have a back up. Oh! and my minder charges $25 for having him for 12 hrs overnight.. yet $30 for having him for 9 when I've done an evening shift and collected him at midnight to take to bed (a short disturbance in his sleep, which I don't really like) but that's why I'll be routinely doing night shifts x 2 a week max most of the time.

I take my child to her all ready for bed, having had dinner, showered, and brushed his teeth, and take his sleeping bag too, he sleeps through the night without issues too, then I collect him and take him home for his breakfast and his wash and teeth to be cleaned, sometimes he has his cereal there if he's asked for it and up already.