Setting Daycare Hours

One thing that can really make or break your home child care business is your hours of operation. There are two things to consider when establishing a schedule: your family's schedule and the needs of your clients. First and foremost you need to consider the schedule of your family. Do you need to take kids to school or pick kids up from school? Do your children have after school activities that you need to get them to or attend? If so, you will need to consider how to do this with daycare kids around. You will either need to really limit your daycare hours, or you will need to bring the child care kids with you on these errands. Also take into consideration your children's homework and your family's dinnertime. You need to be able to create as normal of a life as possible for your family while still running your business. The second consideration is the needs of your clients. I live in a rural community and most of my daycare parents had to travel 40+ miles to get to work. Therefore, I needed to open my business early (at 6:30 am) and close my business a little later (at 6:00 p.m.) to accomodate travel time. If you live in a city, chances are that most parents work fairly close by and you may be able to get by with shorter hours. But consider that parents work all sorts of jobs, some with weird hours, and you need to decide which ones you can accomodate. It is a tough juggling act, but with a little planning and research you will make the right choice. For more information on this subject, check ezine.com in a few days for my new article about daycare hours.

Craft Projects to do with Little Ones

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!
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