Welcome back to today’s issue of Starting Your Own Daycare. When thinking of starting up your own daycare at home, have you considered some of the basics? Today we talk about some things to think about before starting up a daycare at home.
Side by side, the work and expense of starting a daycare at home compared to setting up a dedicated facility are dramatically different. Owning and running a full scale retail daycare is not everybody’s ambition or calling whereas operating a smaller scale daycare right out of your home is much easier to take on and maintain. But there are some preparations you must do and things to think about when starting your home based daycare so when those cars start to pull up to drop of the children for the day, you feel prepared, relaxed and ready to take on this new challenge and career.
As with any new business and particularly with one that is centered around young children, you have to think about the legalities and licensing issues of running a daycare out of your home. While in many ways using a daycare as your home based business may seem like a slightly more organized version of professional babysitting, to the state and medical authorities, they have to monitor all daycares to assure that you are able to care for the children and that you are running a clean, sanitary and safe operation to caring for those children.
You may find that you don’t have to get a license when you are only going to keep 2-4 children for profit. But even if that is true, you have to be prepared for success. And if success does sneak up on you, if you have done your home work about what you need to do to stay on the up and up with the local authorities, that growth can occur naturally and easily. You can find out more about what is required of you by networking with other home based or small daycare operations or by contacting your local Office of Child Care Licensing.
When you make the decision or are considering using your home as a daycare, take a look at your facility. If you are going to have anywhere from a couple to a dozen children who are not your own in your home, you will need to contain them to specific areas of the home. If you have a large play room that can be adapted to handle all of the needs of a daycare, that may call for a little remodeling to add a sink, some cabinets and padded carpeting on the floor and walls and some decorating to make it a fun room that is dedicated to child care.
Also think in advance the age and the age spans of the children you plan to accept. If you are going to accept infants, toddlers and young children, you are going to be stretched thin to care for them all yourself. The infants need someone in the room with them all the time and if the kids who can run, play and get into mischief pull you away from the care of those babies, that is a dangerous situation. So if you are going to care for all daycare aged children, you may need additional staff to make sure you can do so efficiently and safely.
Also think about how to equip the facility to contain the children as well. You don’t want the children to have full run of the house so you must block them off from the bedrooms, the living room and the kitchen. But you do want them to have controlled access to the back yard as letting them run and play is a big part of the day for any child in daycare. So inventory your playground equipment as it needs to be safe for all ages of children as well as sufficient for many children to play on at the same time.
You should also spend some time reviewing your stock of toys, bedding materials, stuffed animals and similar items. Its tempting to use the same toys and children’s supplies that were good for your own children. But used items may not be in the best of shape. So look at the items you will provide to your daycare children through the eyes of their parents and if there is a need to replace or expand on what you already have, consider that part of the cost of setting up your own business.
As always, if you have anything to add, please feel free to add your comments below.
Mike Sipes is the owner and operator of