Good to know all this. Its interesting how different industries tend to run. In my industry contractors charge 10~15% more per hour than their counterpart employees are typically paid, so that's how we make up for not having paid days off. I never thought about your income being 'capped'. I also think as a group daycare providers seem to under sell yourselves, in my area there is a pretty significant gap between what home daycare charges and what a centre charges. Its too bad really, for all the work you gals do you should make more per day.