Thanks Rachael, I saw that! I am still confused, though - what happens if I do only school-agers, but my own kids are 6,5, and 2? Does my 2-year-old count as one, because she's mine? Or am I not allowed to take that many school-agers until all of mine are in school? Does it matter if she's 2, if all my daycare kids are over age 6?

Thanks so much for the responses!
The Maritime's are great at making a seemingly simple situation overly complicated :-)

Both your 6.5 year old and your 2 year old will be included until they have their 12th birthdays. So straight away, regardless of the ages of your children, regardless of the age group you choose to care for, your own two children will reduce any day care children by two places.

What you will need to check, is if the age limits apply to your day care kids even if not registered.

What I mean by that is here, in NS, the limits are 6 (inc our own if under 12) even if one of those 6 is not old enough for school. If we deal purely with school age children, we may have 8 (in our own if under 12). However, further restrictions regarding the ages of those 6 only apply if registered.

Here, we can't have any more than 3 of our 6 younger than 3 years old, and out of those we are further restricted to no more than 2 under two.

So, if I was you with a 6.5 year old and a two year old, then I may only take 4 day care children. But from those 4, since my own child is under 3 years old but had had their 2nd birthday, I would be able to have 2 under the age of 2.

2 day care children under age 2 (no more than 2 under age 2 rule) + your own who is 2 years = no more than 3 under 3 rule. + your own 6.5 year old means that the two remaining day care children must be age 3 or older. See?

However - the 2 under 2 rule and the 3 under 3 rules only applies to registered carers. Unregistered carers still are limited have no age based restrictions within the ratios.

So - max of 6 including your own until their 12th birthday, or max of 8 if all school age inc your own until their 12 birthday - this applies to every single in home carer/babysitter/what ever they call themselves it doesn't matter - registered/approved/licensed - there is no escape these limits.

Being registered means abiding by extra rules about the ages within the limits.


In NB, your 2 years old and your 6.5 year old occupy one of the spaces, until they are 12. But even if you did school age children only, your limit would be five children because of your own 2 year old not being school age herself.

So 5 children is your max in NB with a two-year old. From those 5, you lose two places because your own children are counted in the Maritimes. So now you are allowed 3 day care children. Presuming like NS, the further restrictions only apply if registered, then you would be able to take any age child for those 3 places you have. If however the limits apply when you aren't registered too, then not only have you only got 3 places but you must only take children over age 2. If NB applies these limits to all their carers, then an infant who was a client, would be the youngest and determine the rations, and so one infant means no more than 3 max and your own two take 2 places meaning that one infant is all you personally could have. Make sense?

what happens if I do only school-agers, but my own kids are 6,5, and 2?
Because your 2 year old is too young for school and counted as being in your care, your limit will be 5 minus two places for your own children until they are 12 years old, meaning you may have a MAX of three day care children. Once your 2 year old goes to school, then you really will only have school-ages in your care so your limit would be 9 - 2 places for your own children, permitting 7 client children. Once your oldest turns 12, then you would not count him/her and only count your younger child meaning up to 8 other school age day care clients. See..?

Does my 2-year-old count as one, because she's mine?
Yes - and your 6.5 year old does too even though she's not there during the day.

Does it matter if she's 2, if all my daycare kids are over age 6?
Yes. It matters. A two year old typically requires more attention that a school age child. Regardless of who the parents are, if she's in your care, she is counted and the numbers you make take are affected by her age.

I know - it sucks. There's no loop hole.