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Is Starting a Home Day Care Right for You?
by Emily MacGregor
Published on this site: April 29th, 2006 - See
more articles from this month
Starting a home daycare business is a good way to make extra
money, especially for stay at home moms. The start up costs
are low, it's easy to promote a home daycare, and the money
is good. Because of today's popularity with dual income families,
childcare providers are in high demand in many areas.
So what's the downside? Is there a downside? Unfortunately
the answer is yes, there is a downside to any business venture,
be it child care, opening a restaurant or working from home
in a makeshift home office. The question that remains to be
asked: is starting a home daycare right for me?
In order to succeed at running a home daycare, the child care
provider must love children. This may seem like it should
go without saying, but unfortunately there are some people
out there who do it more for the money than for the children. Success does not follow those who do not work with what they
love. The provider must also be very patient with children.
Even if you have your own children, somebody else's child
may have habits, manners, and tantrums that can be extremely
hard to handle if you're not prepared for it.
Taking care of many children at a time also ties you down
to your own home. Ideally, the day care provider will have
the means to take all of the children out on a little field
trip occasionally, but this is not always possible especially
if you are the sole provider of childcare for your home. It's not
always the provider that's affected by this. The spouse of
the provider must also understand that after being tied down
to the home for hours and days on end, the occasional break
away from the home can be re-energizing.
The daycare provider must be able to provide a loving, stimulating
environment for the children to flourish in. You must provide
a way for the children to have fun, learn, and to socialize
with other children. You must have toys, books and supplies suitable for the ages of every child that you will
be taking care of. Having your own children that are approximately
the same age as the children that you are watching really
helps also. This way you will already have all of the toys,
books, and supplies and your own children will be able to
socialize with other children in their peer group.
One common mistake among daycare providers is that they don't
look at the daycare as a business. It's easy to overlook this
as you develop relationships with the children and their parents.
In order to have what it takes you have to be prepared to
possibly make some difficult business decisions, such as the
termination of child care services due to non payment from
a deadbeat parent. There are other considerations and roadblocks
such as state licensing requirements, supply expenses, and
taxes.
In the end, only you can decide whether starting a home day
care is right for you or not. With a dedicated, loving person
armed with the right information daycare can be a very profitable,
fun, and rewarding business.
Emily MacGregor is an entrepreneur, writer, and full time
parent of 3 young children. Find out more about starting a
home daycare at http://www.jmsgo.com/daycare/
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