One of the best things to do on a cold or wet day is to pull out the craft basket and make something fun! Kids absolutely love crafts and they actually learn a lot from making things. They learn cooperation and sharing and they work on fine and gross motor skills. They also get to use the creative half of their brain and they are allowed to express themselves however they want. Parents love these craft projects too, because they know their children are doing more than just sitting around all day and it gives them something to display at home. But let's face it, not all of us can pull a craft project out of our hats a couple of times a month! Since I am a former elementary school teacher, I had many craft project books from my teaching days. There are many good ones out there that have easy to make ideas that don't require a lot of supplies. One of my favorites is Craft Projects for Little Kids. It has projects tailored to little ones that are easy to make, cute, and inexpensive. Check out the link below to find out more information, or visit your local book store to find a resource that is right for you! Have fun!
Click Here!
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
Top Four Things You Shouldn't Do When Starting or Running a Home Daycare Business
I’m sure this sounds like an unusual title! But there are several things that you should know that you shouldn’t do when starting and running a home daycare. I ran a very successful home childcare business for nine years, so these tips come from the voice of experience!
The first “don’t” of home daycare is don’t take on every family that calls looking for care for their children. I know is it tempting when you are first starting or you have a vacancy that you really need to fill to accept children from any and every call that comes in. What you need to remember is that you will have to spend many hours a day with these children and you will have to deal with the parents on a daily basis. You absolutely must have a face-to-face interview with every family (including children) before you agree to take them on. This will allow you to get a feel for the children’s behavior and the personality of the parents. If you have reservations after meeting them, you should probably turn them down so it doesn’t lead to a difficult situation later on. It is necessary to actually like and enjoy the children and families you work with in order to run a successful home daycare.
The second thing you should NOT do in starting and running your childcare business is do not allow parents to run the show! This is your business and you are in charge. If you let them some parents will try to dictate everything from your daily schedule to the format of your contract! Only you can decide how to best structure your business and you need to be firm with parents about this. It is certainly going to happen (trust me) that parents will make special requests. It is up to you to decide which ones to honor and which to refuse. Don’t worry about losing clients because you can’t or won’t honor a request they have made. The way you run your business should complement your personality, lifestyle, and the needs of your family. So you need to make business decisions with those things in mind. If a parent chooses to go elsewhere for care because you can’t or won’t honor a special request, then it is probably best that they do.
A Third no-no in running a successful childcare business is structuring every minute of the day. Most children come to daycare looking to have fun. I have found that the children prefer large chunks of time set aside for unstructured playtime. They want to be able to choose which toys to use and what activity to do. The best thing for you to do is provide them with a wide variety of activities and toys and allow them to make choices of what to do and when. I am not saying that you shouldn’t have a daily schedule. You need to provide a consistent schedule so children know what to expect. But within that schedule allow at least a couple of large time chunks for unstructured playtime.
The final thing you shouldn’t do is you should NOT let your home daycare run your life. This is very important! If you are able, it is best to have a designated daycare area. That leaves the rest of your house to be, well, your home. If you can’t designate a daycare area, you need to be firm with the children you care for regarding rules for clean-up and areas in which they are allowed to play. If you have children of your own it is essential that they don’t feel that everything of theirs is also used for daycare. Let your children choose a few special items that cannot be used by the daycare. Also, make sure your daycare children clean up everything before they go. Otherwise you and your family spend your family time doing daycare clean-up. Be firm with parents regarding pickup time and write a stiff financial penalty into your contract for late pickup. You need to end your daycare day at the same time each day, just like you would in a 9-5 job. Don’t let daycare take over your home or your family time.
Home childcare can be a rewarding profession or it can be a nightmare. By keeping in mind and following through with these four ways NOT to run a home daycare, it is much more likely that you will create a successful and fulfilling business.
The first “don’t” of home daycare is don’t take on every family that calls looking for care for their children. I know is it tempting when you are first starting or you have a vacancy that you really need to fill to accept children from any and every call that comes in. What you need to remember is that you will have to spend many hours a day with these children and you will have to deal with the parents on a daily basis. You absolutely must have a face-to-face interview with every family (including children) before you agree to take them on. This will allow you to get a feel for the children’s behavior and the personality of the parents. If you have reservations after meeting them, you should probably turn them down so it doesn’t lead to a difficult situation later on. It is necessary to actually like and enjoy the children and families you work with in order to run a successful home daycare.
The second thing you should NOT do in starting and running your childcare business is do not allow parents to run the show! This is your business and you are in charge. If you let them some parents will try to dictate everything from your daily schedule to the format of your contract! Only you can decide how to best structure your business and you need to be firm with parents about this. It is certainly going to happen (trust me) that parents will make special requests. It is up to you to decide which ones to honor and which to refuse. Don’t worry about losing clients because you can’t or won’t honor a request they have made. The way you run your business should complement your personality, lifestyle, and the needs of your family. So you need to make business decisions with those things in mind. If a parent chooses to go elsewhere for care because you can’t or won’t honor a special request, then it is probably best that they do.
A Third no-no in running a successful childcare business is structuring every minute of the day. Most children come to daycare looking to have fun. I have found that the children prefer large chunks of time set aside for unstructured playtime. They want to be able to choose which toys to use and what activity to do. The best thing for you to do is provide them with a wide variety of activities and toys and allow them to make choices of what to do and when. I am not saying that you shouldn’t have a daily schedule. You need to provide a consistent schedule so children know what to expect. But within that schedule allow at least a couple of large time chunks for unstructured playtime.
The final thing you shouldn’t do is you should NOT let your home daycare run your life. This is very important! If you are able, it is best to have a designated daycare area. That leaves the rest of your house to be, well, your home. If you can’t designate a daycare area, you need to be firm with the children you care for regarding rules for clean-up and areas in which they are allowed to play. If you have children of your own it is essential that they don’t feel that everything of theirs is also used for daycare. Let your children choose a few special items that cannot be used by the daycare. Also, make sure your daycare children clean up everything before they go. Otherwise you and your family spend your family time doing daycare clean-up. Be firm with parents regarding pickup time and write a stiff financial penalty into your contract for late pickup. You need to end your daycare day at the same time each day, just like you would in a 9-5 job. Don’t let daycare take over your home or your family time.
Home childcare can be a rewarding profession or it can be a nightmare. By keeping in mind and following through with these four ways NOT to run a home daycare, it is much more likely that you will create a successful and fulfilling business.
Getting Your Childcare License Increases Your Cash Flow
Many people feel that getting a daycare or childcare license is not necessary for childcare providers. Legally you only need a license if you are going to care for children from more than one family. It’s true that going through the process of obtaining your daycare license can be time consuming and sometimes stressful. However, the truth is that obtaining your childcare license can actually help you make more money! There are three ways that a daycare license increases your cash flow. They are: 1. Charging higher rates and bringing in new clients; 2. Income from food programs; and 3. Grant money.
Let’s take a closer look at item #1. Charging higher rates and bringing in new clients. Parents searching for childcare look at both quality of care and cost of care when making a decision. Believe it or not, childcare rates can vary greatly even in the same geographical location. So it pays for parents to shop around. However, most parents are willing to pay a little more for childcare if they know the quality of care will be outstanding. Obtaining your childcare license shows your dedication to top quality care. Also, many parents aren’t willing to place their child in an unlicensed childcare because there are no inspections done and no one is monitoring the childcare provider. So having your license can actually help your bring in more business!
The second way a daycare license helps increase cash flow is from income through the food programs. Food programs are systems set up to help educate childcare providers on serving healthy snacks and lunches to the children they care for. As a provider you must submit a monthly menu of what you serve for monitoring. It takes a little more work, but you are actually reimbursed a portion of the cost for each meal and snack you serve! These reimbursements aren’t huge but they certainly help defray the cost of feeding multiple children several times a day. These food programs are only available to licensed providers and they can certainly increase your cash flow!
Finally, getting your daycare license allows you to apply for the many grants that are available for home daycare providers. There are a lot of grants out there from local, state and federal government as well as from private sources. Some grants stipulate how the money is to be used; for example for play equipment, books, or facility improvements. Other grants are more open-ended and allow you to use the funds however they are needed for your childcare business. These grant monies are like pennies from Heaven and can really help financially! But these grants are only available to licensed childcare providers!
As you can see, getting your childcare license can really help boost your business financially. Even though the licensing process may be cumbersome, it can really “pay off” in the end!
Let’s take a closer look at item #1. Charging higher rates and bringing in new clients. Parents searching for childcare look at both quality of care and cost of care when making a decision. Believe it or not, childcare rates can vary greatly even in the same geographical location. So it pays for parents to shop around. However, most parents are willing to pay a little more for childcare if they know the quality of care will be outstanding. Obtaining your childcare license shows your dedication to top quality care. Also, many parents aren’t willing to place their child in an unlicensed childcare because there are no inspections done and no one is monitoring the childcare provider. So having your license can actually help your bring in more business!
The second way a daycare license helps increase cash flow is from income through the food programs. Food programs are systems set up to help educate childcare providers on serving healthy snacks and lunches to the children they care for. As a provider you must submit a monthly menu of what you serve for monitoring. It takes a little more work, but you are actually reimbursed a portion of the cost for each meal and snack you serve! These reimbursements aren’t huge but they certainly help defray the cost of feeding multiple children several times a day. These food programs are only available to licensed providers and they can certainly increase your cash flow!
Finally, getting your daycare license allows you to apply for the many grants that are available for home daycare providers. There are a lot of grants out there from local, state and federal government as well as from private sources. Some grants stipulate how the money is to be used; for example for play equipment, books, or facility improvements. Other grants are more open-ended and allow you to use the funds however they are needed for your childcare business. These grant monies are like pennies from Heaven and can really help financially! But these grants are only available to licensed childcare providers!
As you can see, getting your childcare license can really help boost your business financially. Even though the licensing process may be cumbersome, it can really “pay off” in the end!
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