Rates question

[Momof4]

No kidlove, maybe it's just me, but I feel exactly the opposite. You don't have to craft with babies and take them places and entertain them. I call it 'assembly line daycare' when I have all 5 children under age 2. Feed them, change them, let them play, let them sleep and that's all done in 2 rooms so not much work. I find it kind of boring, but I like to take children in as babies so they learn my daycare rules and routines as they grow. They learn etiquette at the table and naptime routines and what I expect in their behaviour.

Last year I had my favourite group, all ages 3 & 4 and we had so much fun in my home and wherever we went. I'll admit that. I find 2 and up to be much harder work. I do find it more interesting, but harder work. I teach them and let them craft and create and take them lots of places which I LOVE, but so many times I'm cooking or cleaning up after the meal and they are standing in the doorway looking at me instead of playing. I'm not here to entertain them all the time, you know? All children have different personalities and as the groups change this problem changes of course. But crafting and travelling costs money too.

So I still think I make more profit with babies, but it would most likely depend on how you run your daycare.

[Inspired by Reggio]

.... I call it 'assembly line daycare' when I have all 5 children under age 2....

But this is why you can set your budget to pay for the space regardless of age and not charge 'extra' because you are able and willing to have ALL your kids be this age group and fill an open space with any age child that comes along and you are not 'feeding' that age group and so forth. I agree that I would not charge 'different' fees if this was the case in my program either cause I would not have an 'argument' for it when discussing fees with clients in this model.

Premium space aside ~ my program I do not 'save' money serving infants because I feed them still cause I do not want to deal with parents sending 'jarred foods' well past when I think solids are acceptable and so forth and they often eat as much or more than preschoolers cause 'pureed' food tends to take more to get a 'serving' ~ takes me 3 apples to get 2 servings of pureed applesauce but not many preschoolers eat 1 and a 1/2 apples each at a snack and 5 oz chicken purees down into 1 serving meat but most 'preschoolers' you'd be lucky to get in 2 oz of solid chicken cause they are too busy to chew that long ... another reason why I like to make my own food because I can get them quickly OFF pureed food and onto solids verses dealing with 'jarred foods' being sent at 18 months!

Also my infants still get to do creative explorations, sensory and all the things that cost $$ that older kids do so I am not saving money on the 'program' expenses here the budget is the same for program supplies regardless of age plus maintaining their strollers, highchairs, pack n plays and so forth are major expenses where as a kid over 2 can eat at the table, can walk, they can rest on a mat on the floor or a couch if need be their only equipment expense is the 'some toys' which cost way less than highchairs / strollers / cribs and so forth cause my older crew seems to have the most fun with recycling verses 'toys'?

Ultimately like anything in your fees setting it is what you feel you can 'justify' to your client set ~ just like some people charge more for their service over all because they serve an all organic menu or they charge more because they choose to never have more than 3 kids in care regardless of their 'age' and so forth .... we all have varied reasons for why we charge what we charge and it is the clients job to 'research' and find out what they are 'getting' or 'not getting' depending on your point of view for the fee being asked.