home child care?

[flying_babyb]

Im considering doing minor (two kids or less) babysitting this summer. I live in a pretty nice townhouse but wouldnt have one room just for childcare. I wouldnt mind childproofing my home (My freinds have youngesters too, so its not a huge deal). I guess I wonder how much space one needs, and if it can be done without a dedicated room? I dont have any baby things but my aunt has offered me her childrens old things. I guess Im looking to hear stories positve and negitive about your experances. The first child im looking at caring for is 9.5 months old.

 

[krystalleigh1]

While you don't HAVE to have a separate space for the kids it will make things a lot easier for you if you do. I do home daycare and we have a pretty small house (2 bdrm, 1 bath). One bedroom is designated the "toy room" and I use that for most of the kid's play space, but they also have free access to the living and dining rooms. And of course in the summer we get outside as much as possible and go on field trips and such. Makes the days go faster.

My biggest suggestion would be to make up a contract so that you and they know what is expected of both parties (hours kids will be in care, weekly rate, sickness policy, transportation agreement, late payment/pick up fees, etc.). I've seen a lot of friendly relationships go bad when one party feels taken advantage of (usually the person providing daycare). A good contract will help protect both parties so friendships don't get broken. Also call around in your area and make sure you're charging a rate that's comparable to other home daycares in your area.

As far as the infant you'll be caring for-you'll probablly need a separate place for him/her to nap. As long as it's away from the activity of the rest of the kids (who will keep the baby awake) it will help. Nap times will go much smoother that way and you won't have a crabby baby who is overly tired at the end of the day.

Good luck!

 

[flying_babyb]

we have a two bedroom too. I have a roomate who works all day so I would be the only one home. One bedroom is hers and one is mine. I was going to set up a crib (or two) in my room along the wall for nap time. I wont be caring for more than two kids at a time and am shooting to have them around the same age. We have a smallish living room but it has a very open layout so the children would have lots of playspace. We curently have a toy chest down there with toys for my aunts girls and vistors. Do you possibley have a contact I could just look at? Ive never really had to create one for this before. Also whats the going rate for home care? I live in a area where theres lots of stuff withn walking range so if I buy a good stroller we could go alot of places. Do you do a feild trip fee or what? The best part is in the townhouse complex (10 town houses in a row and then 4 aparment buildings) has a park (with a cool rainbow playset) thats about 3 blocks from the house. Do you have a daily scedual or do you go on what the kids want to do? also are there locks for cabinates without handles?

 

[okeydokey]

If you are going to set up a business like this in your home, I would suggest getting in touch with your state family affairs office. They should have tons of info for you. Personally, I would want to know what I was required to have legally and to see what kind of bond or insurance I could have to protect myself and my clients. Also, consider the tax implilcations. My home care provider provides me with a receipt at tax time so I can claim the credit on my taxes.

 

[holly7347]

we have a two bedroom too. I have a roomate who works all day so I would be the only one home. One bedroom is hers and one is mine. I was going to set up a crib (or two) in my room along the wall for nap time. I wont be caring for more than two kids at a time and am shooting to have them around the same age. We have a smallish living room but it has a very open layout so the children would have lots of playspace. We curently have a toy chest down there with toys for my aunts girls and vistors. Do you possibley have a contact I could just look at? Ive never really had to create one for this before. Also whats the going rate for home care? I live in a area where theres lots of stuff withn walking range so if I buy a good stroller we could go alot of places. Do you do a feild trip fee or what? The best part is in the townhouse complex (10 town houses in a row and then 4 aparment buildings) has a park (with a cool rainbow playset) thats about 3 blocks from the house. Do you have a daily scedual or do you go on what the kids want to do? also are there locks for cabinates without handles?

My DH has 2 aunts that do in home daycare. They both take the kids places when possible. There is a free sprinkler park in our area that they have both taken their daycare children too. They do not charge any extra for free things like that except the parents do usually leave money for they to buy food when on outings. For example the sprinkler park doesn't allow any outside food in. So when the kids get hungry you either have to leave or buy from their concession stand. So the parents provide a few bucks for them to get a piece of pizza and a drink.

I'm sure if you google daycare contracts or something similar you could find one on line and just adapt it to your needs. When we decided to rent out our old home that just wasn't selling I found a rental agreement/contract on line and just changed a few things to make it work for us.

Like someone else mentioned really do consider pickup time and what to do about late pickups - like extra charges etc. My mom used to babysit when I was younger so she could stay home with me and there was one mom that was always late and it really was sort of a hardship to the entire family (because we weren't able to go out to events we had previously planned or we had to delay eating dinner because child was still there etc.) and my mom never made any extra money when the mom was late.

 

[holly7347]

If you are going to set up a business like this in your home, I would suggest getting in touch with your state family affairs office. They should have tons of info for you. Personally, I would want to know what I was required to have legally and to see what kind of bond or insurance I could have to protect myself and my clients. Also, consider the tax implilcations. My home care provider provides me with a receipt at tax time so I can claim the credit on my taxes.

Yes I didn't even think about that. My mom claimed all the money she made babysitting so it was like a home run business so she had to pay all the extra taxes. Like when you work for an employer they pay a portion of SSN, medicare etc for you. If you work for yourself you have to pay the portion that an employer typically pays. Unless you are charging next to nothing most people won't be willing to pay you under the table because then they can't deduct the childcare expense on their taxes.

 

[flying_babyb]

never thought of taxes. humm. i know in my state if you care for under 3 kids you dont need a licence.

 

[krystalleigh1]

You can pm me with your e-mail and I'll send you a copy of my contract. Also it's illegal not to claim your income you make from home daycare at tax time. That said, there are so many write offs and legal deductions with doing home daycare, especially if you only watch a few kids, that most times it's a wash as far as deductions vs. what you pay in.

Daycare costs vary a LOT from state to state, city to city, and even neighborhood to neighborhood. The best way to see what rates are in your area is to call around. Your area may even have a local resource and referral agency and they can give you a really good idea about what the going rate is for home daycare. Home daycare is usually cheaper than center care.

As for me I don't charge anything extra for field trips. I have a membership to the local children's museum (tax write off) that will get us all in. We also go to the library, on lots of walks, parks, to the local hospital to watch the hellicoptor take off, simple stuff. But exciting for the kids.

You should check out babycenter. There's a great forum there for home daycare and there are a lot of home daycare providers who are really helpful who frequent that board.

 

[krystalleigh1]

Forgot to answer your other questions:

Yes I have all my chemicals, cleaning products, medications, etc. behind lock and key due to state regulations. I'm licensed so it's required to be licensed to do that (plus more).

Daily schedule: we have a loose daily schedule. Certain things like meals and naps are the same time daily. Plus we have a daily story time and every day it's nice outside we take a walk (or two). Other than that there's plenty of room in our daily schedule to change things around based on the daily wants and needs of the kids. My group's pretty young right now so we don't have a daily curriculum but we do have daily learning activities.

 

[Coll0610]

Yes, they do make cabinet locks for cabinets without handles. Go to www.onestepahead.com and search on "cabinet lock". This will give you ideas. You can probably find some cheaper at Target or Walmart.