Opening an in-home daycare, am I crazy??????????

Question

I'm considering opening an in home daycare when I move into a house next year (currently in a condo). I've got a 12 YO and a 1 YO and we're thinking about having another in a yr or so, so I'd love to be able to stay home, but we need 2 incomes.

Any good advice/articles???

By the way, I'm a paralegal and would only do this for about 5 years until the little one starts school, then resume my career.

Answer 1

My wife did this as well. We had the same idea. We did it for about 2 years and finally ended it this past december. a Few things to think about. 1. wear and tear on your house, 2. Food and drinks for the kids, prepared meals, nutritional ideas etc. You will be preparing meals and snacks. 3. safety features of your home, locks on top of doors, do you have a pool, playground. Since you already have kids as we do you proably have this covered already but the county may require you to do specific things like install special locks on doors leading to the outside and the like. 4.Local laws in your county. depending on how many kids you want to take in you may be reuired to get licensed. your kids count against your allowables so think of that too.

Theres a few things for you to think on. the good benfits, are your home is now a tax deduction check with your CPA, also food, cable, utils, toys, and gas can all be itemized to help with taxes. You get to stay home! There are programs to help pay you for food if you follow nutritional standards. We had a hard time getting paid from them but its worth attempting.

the bad. Some parents will take advantage of you and not pick kids up at specified times. This made us the most upset because we could never have our family dinner/time for some reason or another. No matter how much you tell parents to pick them up promptly at 6pm they will always push it. Because its in your home you never really get away. House chores will be crazy. Cleaning always, cooking or fixing broken furniture. Advertising is diffcult too but word of mouth is the best.

Answer 2

You will probably have to upgrade your homeowner's insurance on your house, because if anything happens to that other child in your home and you're not covered for it that chidl's parents will be owning your home.

Answer 3

I did it for a while. You get good kids/parents and some hard kids/parents. My advice to you, is to set your boundaries from the beginning and have posted rules. Also, I would advise that you state the p/u time clearly and have a fee for late pick ups. I used to have a mom who would stay and chat for an hour and let her unruly son run all over the place. She never told him anything, I still had to discipline him. It was a PITA!!! Anyways, I also had some really good experiences, that was just one. Good luck. It's worth it to be able to stay home with your baby.

Answer 4

My son goes to an in-home daycare in a woman's home.  She has a 2 1/2 year old and a newborn.  Her sister in law runs it with her.  They love doing it, it allows them to both stay at home with their kids, but still earn an income.  The one whose house it is closed for a week when she had the newborn, but my son just went to the sister in law's house for that week.  You have to be very willing to open your home, think of the messes, pee on the floor, etc.  They have always closed off the kids rooms though and have a playroom devoted just for the daycare.  I'm not sure if you'd want to invest much into it just for 5 years, but it seems like a great sort of compromise to working.

Answer 5

i did this for some years and it was good income but just as some as the others have mentioned, say goodbye to life because its in your home and you cant just say i want to keep children here and the state and county let you.

some of your children may have allergies, asthma or other conditions that you will need to be up to date on, you will need to be CPR certified and your home will need to be kept up to par for the safety of the children.

you may need to consider the types of toys and activities for them to do, unless you plan on letting them run around rampant and watch tv all day.

i loved running it out of the home but i would rather have a center to run one from becuase its just more reliable for the parents and you are able to separate work from home somewhat.

you may also run into child abuse allegations if its run from your home so you have to be careful about your discipline measures, get rules and refulations in writing and have everything posted.

you need to get insurance for possible accidents on your property.  also think about the time it will take away from your children. what if you need to take her to the doctor. you cant just call your parents and say guess what you will have to find another baby sitter cuz i have other plans.

also think about advertising, most parents wont use an ingome day care for child abuse and safety reasons from the providers. you may have to work harder for business and be competiive if there are good centers for them to chose from in your area.

the best thing you can do is research research research!!

Answer 6

See if there is something like a Child Care Council or Day Care Association in your area. They often have information sessions where you can find out the nuts and bolts of family day care,what is involved in getting a license and what you would need to change in your house.