I am in the planning stages of opening my own home daycare (would like to open the beginning of July) and have a few questions.

First, a bit of background: I am a mother of two (9 and 6) and recently divorced. This will be my main source of income (I do receive some Child support to help out). I know having this as my main source of income will be challenging, but I believe with proper budgeting and planning I can do it. I have always wanted to do this and now I have decided I am going to take the leap and do it. My mother has her own in home daycare (and has since I was a baby), so I grew up in the home daycare environment.

My questions:

- I understand the new ratio rules under Bill 10 (or at least I think I do), but does that include my Foster child(ren)? I am open to receiving 1-2 school age Foster children, so they would be here before and after school. Will that affect my ratios, or will they be included as my own children (and not affect my ratios if over the age of 6?)

- There are a lot of "under the table" babysitters in my area (small town), and I want to stay competitive with them, but offer the added benefits of being a business and issuing tax receipts, proper contracts, etc. I am thinking of charging $2 or $3/day more (they charge $25/day, so I would charge $27 or 28/day) in order to cover the taxes I'll have to pay. Does that seem reasonable? Or will I have issues finding families?

- Do you usually offer family discounts? My mother only charges half price for additional children in the same family, and is just something she has always done, but I think that will be a big hit to my income if I only get families. What do you do? I was thinking of a smaller discount, but not half price. (maybe $5/day off for fulltimers)

- Are there any other benefits to registering as a business rather than just using the BIN instead of SIN on receipts? Or should I start as unregistered and then maybe next year register a business name? I am fine with just running it under my personal name.

- Do you HAVE to have a playroom? We live in a one-floor 3bedroom/2bath ranch-style home and do not have the space for a separate play room. We have always used the living room as our play area (and kept the majority of the toys in bedrooms). One day when I can afford it I would like to finish our basement, but right now it is an unfinished cement cold land down there. Is that okay? (I do have a large fenced in backyard that will be used often).

- Other than Registering a Business name if you choose to, is there anything else to Register for? Or can you just start issuing tax receipts under your own name without registering anything (and just submit this as income on your taxes)?


Thank you!!