Starting a Day Care

Posted on November 11, 2011 by DayCare

Starting a day care can be a pretty daunting and intimidating task for some people especially if you have never owned a business before, since there is so much stuff to know. However, with the right knowledge and preparation, you can fulfill your dream of starting a day care that will be successful right from the start. Like we said, there is a lot to know and you are probably ready to do some research and reading on the subject, so we have put together a couple of tips and reminders so you don’t accidentally make a “newbie” mistake that could potentially cost you customers- or even worse, your business! So without further ado, we will be covering everything you need to know about starting a day care in this article.

Day care centers can effectively be split into two categories; the ones that are operated out of someone’s house, and then on the other hand you have the day care centers that are operated in a purpose built building, that was designed just to be a day care. If you are looking to start a day care center, you will have to decide which is best for you. Using your house for the day care center may be the easier and more economical method, but anybody who has seen Daddy Day Care will be able to tell you that things can get pretty messy if it’s in a house. However, they probably weren’t too well prepared to handle lots of kids in the first place, so if you are well-suited to be working with kids, there really is nothing wrong with using your house for the day care center. Parents may even provide it because there is an element of trust and “home-feeling” when you are taking a kid to a house, rather than some building.

Once you have decided where you will be operating your business from, it is time to start hiring worker! It should go without being said that you are going to want to hire people that are good with little kids and have the know-how to clean up after them. For example, a high school student who has a baby brother or sister makes for an ideal candidate as a day care center employee, since they already have lots of experience with kids and don’t need to be paid a whole lot of money. You shouldn’t have your entire day care center running on high school students though, because they won’t be able to work all the time, for obvious reasons. For this, it would be smart to look for people who have experience being a “nanny” at a household, since they are very similar jobs and you are sure to get a lot of experienced potential employees when looking for this type of person. And last but not least, make sure you can trust the people you hire. There is a lot of potential legal trouble you could get into if one of your employees messes up with a parent’s kid, so hiring responsible and mature people is certainly a must.

Above are just two of the most important things to remember when starting a day care. Remember that it can never hurt to give it a try if you already have experience running a small home-based business before, as this type of training can prove to be invaluable when working with kids. So if you put enough money, time and effort into starting a day care, you can soon have a very successful business that will provide you and lots of others with a good, steady job working with little kids.

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Child Care Forms

Posted on October 26, 2011 by DayCare

Some parents who love their kids are probably going to have some reservations about handing their kids over to a stranger while they are away at work, so this is where child care forms come in. It may seem like a strange thing to combat this sense of uneasiness that some parents will invariably have, but it is a surprisingly effective and commonly used method by child care center managers from across the county. The concept is simple, if you are trying to convince a particularly worrisome parent that their kid will be safe and sound at the child care center, but if you show them in writing and give them your signature on one of the child care forms that their child is guaranteed to be safe in their hands, then you will have a much larger amount of success when it comes to finding new customers to bring into your child care center.

So then, making full use of child care forms is actually a hugely important factor if you are going to want your child care center to be as successful as possible. And it make sense when you think about it, most all parents are going to be very picky with who they trust their kid with, but you can calm them down by showing them on writing why you are qualified to do this child care job. Also, by giving them your signature that you accept full responsibility for what happens to the child when he or she is in your custody, then this will be a great way to help the parents develop a sort of trust between you and them. It is important to note that not every child care center does this; not all of them are going to accept full responsibility for the child, so if you are going to go the extra mile to do just that, this is something that will really set your child care center apart from the competition. So when you really think about it, these seemingly insignificant pieces of paper that are child care forms, can actually have a huge impact on whether you child care business thrives or not.

Even though the process of putting together child care forms may seem like a pretty simple and straightforward task that anybody could do, but it is actually a little more complicated than that, and is really a task that should be left to the professionals. By professionals, we mean that if you want to have some child care forms to are written for you, then it is best to hire a lawyer to write one up. This may seem unnecessary and needlessly expensive, but you are going to want the child care forms to be as professional as possible, and you will want them to be taken seriously if any legal trouble happens to rise up around them. Having child care forms written for you wouldn’t be too expensive of a task and it is only going to be needed once, so the price shouldn’t be a problem. Lastly, you are going to want these child care documents to reflect your business as a whole; if they are poorly made with lots of mistakes, what does that say about your business?

So all in all, the importance of child care forms is something that should not be downplayed when working with your child care center. You are going to want your business to appear as professionally as possible, and you are also going to want to earn the trust of parents, both things that can be accomplished by using child care forms.

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Child Care Jobs

Posted on October 14, 2011 by DayCare

Finding Jobs in Child Care

Even though the global economy could be in better shape, there is certainly no shortage of child care jobs, as this is an industry that is always looking to hire more people. And when you think about it, this should actually make a lot of sense. With more people looking for more work, there is going to be less and less time for parents to be looking over their kids during the days, especially during the weekdays when they are at the office. This means that someone somewhere is going to have to look over these kids while their parents are out working or doing whatever, which is where you will come in. Because of this situation that pretty well describes the kind of situation that we are currently in, there is a pretty good amount of employers at the moment that are looking to hire people who are interested in child care jobs, whether they are part time or whole time.

Some people may be turned off by the idea of working child care jobs, but what people commonly associate with this job title is a pretty common misconception that we are going to debunk. Firstly, there is actually very good money to be made from some child care jobs, and plenty of room to grow into high-ranking positions with better pay. This is really what sets child car jobs apart from the other things in this industry, as you can get a pretty decent full time job right off the bat that still has prospects for more growth in the future. Another thing that makes child care jobs so appealing to people looking for a well-paying job is that there isn’t much schooling required to get it. It really varies from state to state on how much is required, but if you put your mind to it, and enroll in a local community college, you can have your child care certificate in as little as 3 months’ time. The classes that are required to be taken before getting a child care job shouldn’t’ be too difficult, especially if you already have experience with stuff like babysitting. People who have a lot of experience with dealing with kids may be opposed to the idea of getting schooling for child care jobs, but it is imperative to do if you are to be taken seriously for any job.

The actual titles of different child care jobs are wide and varied; ranging from the entry level positions to the manager of your own child care center (or several!). And with different jobs comes different salaries, so don’t expect to be making as much as your boss when you are first starting out in a child care job, it is just like any other job in this aspect. And just like any other job, if you stick with it, and really apply yourself, you should be able to climb the rankings and reap the rewards of doing this in no time.

One last benefit that child care jobs can bring to you, that not many people will realize is the job security that is associated with following a career in the child care field. For reasons that we have already discussed in this article, the need for people to look over their kids while they are away at work isn’t going away any time soon, and job security is something that is becoming increasingly important in this economic climate. So if you are looking for a good, stable job with lots of security and plenty of prospects for growth in the future, then pursuing some child care jobs is going to be the answer for you.

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Finding Day Care Centers

Posted on September 30, 2011 by DayCare

Choosing suitable day care centers for children is very important. It is a dream for every parent for a child to grow and develop to become a responsible human being. It is therefore important to realize that proper growth and development is based on the early childhood stages. If proper care is not taken to start off the child in the right gear, then the repercussions may be too hard to bear in later life of the child. That is why it is such an important thing to choose the most suitable day care centers for your children.

Day Care Options

A good percentage of parents, usually over 70% of them contract other persons and entrust them in taking care of their children. Ranging from day care centers, home-based care, pre-schools to other persons’ homes, parents have utilized many means through which they make sure that their children are in safe hands when they are away at work. Day care centers are the most notable of these methods and therefore choosing suitable day care centers has become a norm rather than just a parental responsibility.

It is a parent’s responsibility and duty to ensure that the child remains happy and safe in an environment that will encourage proper growth, impart knowledge and nurture the child to become the best person possible. In this way, choosing suitable day care centers for children is the first step towards ensuring that they become better persons in later life.

Children types, their likes and dislikes

In choosing suitable day care centers for children, parents should bear in minds the type of their children and their particular needs, likes and dislikes. In as much as a parent may not be a professional in this filed, knowing the temperament the child will guide the process of choosing the best day care center. Day care centers should reflect what the child likes. In this way, the child will be happy and comfortable. A day care center that does not reflect the likes of your child will come between her proper development and therefore not suitable for your child.

Regardless of the age of your child, suitable day care centers are the ones that will encourage good interaction with other kids, good learning behavior and environment, suitable playing styles and methods, intellectual growth and proper attention among other attributes that are vital in the proper development of your child. Therefore, choosing suitable day care centers is a process that should be approached with the seriousness it deserves.

Other factors when selecting a day care center

The process of choosing suitable day care centers should also be guided by other different factors. The cost and the location of different day care centers should be considered. Always go to what you can afford, but do not compromise quality for cost. You should also realize that not all expensive day care centers offer quality services. Make a point of doing your own research and determine for yourself whether the day care in question is suitable fore your child or not.

It is good to realize that in as much as you may want your child to be under the care of a trusted care giver at home, there comes a time when this is not possible. At the age of about three, a child must be able to get exposure to other children for proper growth and development. In this way therefore, day care centers and pre-schools become the only options for a parent to take. A child must be given the opportunity to interact with her mates. This is the reason why the process of choosing proper day care centers is such an important parental duty.

When choosing day care centers, the parent should also be guided by the basic issues that govern our lives as humans. Naturally we prefer clean and safe environment. We are also comfortable with a happy life full of fun. We are also unhappy when we break a relationship that we had put a lot of our efforts to build. These issues can be used as guidelines in the process of choosing suitable day care centers. Clean and safe day care centers are preferable. Well paid care givers are better in taking care of our children. Day care centers that do not fire and hire care givers haphazardly are not good. The bond between the child and the care giver should not be broken without good reasons.

It is good to note that constant assessment of the development of your child should be used to base the performance of the selected day care centers. It is your take as well as responsibility to perform monitoring and evaluation of the selected day care centers, make recommendations and finally apply and execute them.

Posted in Day Care Centers, Day Care Programs, Education, Finding a Day Care Center, Home Day Care, Infants, Reviews | Comments Off

Home Child Care

Posted on September 8, 2011 by DayCare

Home Child Care Options

Home child care is one of the most common types of child care in the US at any time.  The reason it is more common than even large child care facilities is because they tend to be more affordable and more personal.  When you choose to place your child or children into a home child care program you are choosing to allow another mother or father or a combination of both to provide surrogate parenting in your absence.  One of the largest complaints people have about large child care facilities is that even though their children are receiving adequate care and life sustaining attention they are not receiving personal attention and parent-like care.

Everyone wants to know that their children receiving personal attention and the love from a person who truly loves children, like another mother or father.  In large day care facilities you tend to find care workers who are great at preventing your children from hurting themselves and at putting on band aids in the event of an accident happening, but in a home child care environment your child is more likely to have been personally comforted in a similar way to what you might have been able to do yourself.

Home child care providers are also more likely to accept tips from you as it pertains to caring for your child.  They are easily able to add in routines that are more closely related to the things that you do in your own home to help your child transition more easily into their new home child care environment.

Since ninety nine percent of home child care operators are parents themselves you can usually bring your child over to their home with only the child’s personal needs in hand and rely on the child care provider to have all of the toys and entertainment and activities planned and in house to entertain and comfort your child.  Home child care workers are versatile, and quick to adjust to change so they can often accept an extra child on short notice as well as adapt to being a child short on  moment’s notice.  Organized larger day care centers are less able to accept your extra child when your sibling comes for a visit and needs care for his or her child as well, or other situations like that.

For versatility and convenience home child care is a great option.  You can sometimes sneak in the occasional overnight stay for your child in a home child care environment where that is not available in large child care facilities.  When emergencies arise home child care workers are easily able to respond to them in the same way that a mother or a father would since they too are mothers and fathers.  Your child will receive much more one on one and personal attention when they are placed in a home child care environment.

Home child care is available in just about every neighborhood in every state across the country.  Finding the perfect home child care environment for your young children should be fairly easy using online recommendations and plain old word of mouth.

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Child Care Services

Posted on August 29, 2011 by DayCare

Finding Child Care Services

Finding adequate child care services is among the most stressful decisions a parent can make after of course naming the child and deciding what color to paint the nursery.  Every parent wants to ensure their child is being cared for by experienced, qualified, and energetic people in an environment that is conducive to learning and health.  The best way to do this is to check to see if the child care service provider you are considering is licensed by your state.  Licensing is a very thorough process that involves criminal record checking as well as safety plan reviewing and verification of emergency response training.

When investigating child care services you should make several visits to the facility or home before you leave your children with the operators.  By stopping in at different times of the day you get a better idea of how the workers are organized and how many children they have in the facility at any given time.

If you are not able to find a licensed child care services provider that you are comfortable leaving your children with you might look at some of the other available options.  You can choose from leaving your children with family or friends, hiring a live in or live out nanny, or au pair services.  In many cases families do not have the ability to staff professionals in their homes on a full time basis so they resort to family and friends until their children are old enough to speak.

Child care services for younger children and infants are considerably more expensive and a little bit more frightening for parents since their young children are not able to defend themselves or even complain to their parents about inappropriate behavior or treatment.  It is usually this reason that parents choose to either hire a person to live in their home and care for the children so they can monitor the child care services fully, or they keep their children in the care of grand parents or aunts and uncles.

When you have a large family it is much easier to reply on one another for trading child care services but if you are alone in your city with no nearby friends or family with children it can be a challenge to find child care services you are comfortable with.

You should review all comments and complaints about child care services online and in print before you allow your children to stay in the care facility.  The internet provides a wealth of information that can help you to make an educated decision regarding your child care services.  Look for licensing, as well as education of the people who will be providing care to your children.  Anyone who is a licensed care provider should have a minimum of first aid training and anything up to an associate’s degree in child development.  If you are expecting your child care services provider to provide a degree of education you should ensure they are educated themselves.

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Au Pair Services

Posted on August 19, 2011 by DayCare

Finding Au Pair Services

Au pair services are becoming increasingly popular with young successful families who are finding that juggling work and family full time is a challenge.  Working for eight or more hours then coming home to cook and clean and spend time with their children before heading to the office mixer can take up a lot of energy and does not leave a lot of time for house work and laundry and other types of household chores.  An au pair is usually a female who comes from a foreign country and lives in your home.  More often than not they accept very little in the way of actual cash for their services instead exchanging room and board for working in your home and with your children.

Au pair services are responsible for fully screening and matching willing and qualified au pairs with host families in the United States.  If you can afford to feed and house one extra person and maybe pay them a couple hundred dollars a month you may be able to have your very own live in domestic assistant to help with home maintenance, child minding, cooking, and more.

Au pairs are a popular choice among American families who are interested in giving their child the advantage of learning a second or third language and receive quality care from a responsible trusted member of their extended family.  Au pair services have a unique way to matching au pairs with families in a way that allows both the family and the domestic worker to bond and feel an immediate connection to one another.

Children tend to take very well to au pairs and nannies because they live in the same house, and are generally around all of the time.  If your children are young when you bring your au pair in they are likely to take to them just like they do and aunt or uncle.  In many cases au pairs have families of their own in their home countries which make them ideal candidates for child minding in the United States.  They are familiar with discipline and rules as well as education and scheduling.

Au pair services are located in every state as well as abroad.  If you are hoping for an au pair from a specific country in order to give your child a particular language advantage you can simply let the au pair service know you want a bilingual au pair from a certain region and they should be able to match you with the perfect au pair within weeks.  The paper work and immigration can take a little while so many families start the process while still pregnant to ensure the au pair arrives in time for the birth.

Regardless of what your au pair needs are you can rest assured there is an au pair service that will meet your needs at a price that will be reasonable and easily fit into your budget.

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Illnesses from Daycare

Posted on August 11, 2011 by DayCare

Contracting Illness from Daycare Centers

With hundreds of children attending various schools and day cares the chances are increased of your child contracting an illness from day care.  In many cases illnesses show no symptoms until you have had the virus or bacteria in your system for quite some time, this makes it difficult for you and other parents to know when your child is in fact too sick to be in day care or school.  People tend to be quick to keep their children home when they are obviously sick but if not symptoms have appeared yet the children can get into day cares and spread the illness to other children.

To avoid your child contracting an  illness from day care the best thing you can do is talk to your day care provider to see what their sanitation policies are.  Some facilities will disinfect toys on a nightly basis to help prevent  illness from day care’s from spreading to other children, but even this cannot fully protect the children in the day cares.

The smaller the school or the day care the less likely your child is to contract an illness from their day care or school.  Most classes and most day cares are very full and have many children in each class or group which means the schools and day cares need to do more to help prevent the spread of  illness from day care or schools.  When you are looking into day care centers before you enroll your children you should look for waterless hand washing stations for the adults as well as sinks and disinfecting cloths throughout the facility.  Sanitation is not a nice to have these days it should be considered a must in your family’s day care center and schools.  With the occurrences of new and frightening super bugs and the increase of regular influenza it is everyone’s responsibility to ensure our most at risk citizens are safe from exposure.

Children contracting an  illness from day care centers is a problem that has been around for as long as day care centers have been around.  Ever since the first woman got the idea to trade off child minding with neighbors friends and family the spread of disease and viruses among children has been a problem.  Although it is not a perfect solution the best thing people can do to protect other children is to keep their children home if they are sick, but in cases where they are not outwardly ill accidents can happen.  Most day care centers will have measures in place to keep sick children apart from healthy children and will not allow the children back until they are healthy.

To reduce the likelihood of your child contracting an  illness from day care you should check to see if your day care provider is using proven methods to sanitize their center and all of the shared toys and surfaces in the facility.  This is truly the best way to ensure your child remains healthy and happy at day care.

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Infant Day Care

Posted on August 5, 2011 by DayCare

Day Care for Infants

Infant day care is one of the most expensive forms of day care that you can find in any of the United States.  Infant day care requires a great deal more skill and one on one time so child care centers are required to hire more higher educated staff in order to meet the needs of each child.  Since most infants are not walking or even sitting up on their own child care providers are required to sit with each child and entertain them as well as feed them by hand and check and clean their diapers as the need arises.  Most infant day care providers will staff one care provider for each two or three children.  This ensures that the ratio in the center is similar to what you could expect in a regular family home.

Infant day care tends to be far more intensive and nerve wracking as well, most new parents can attest to that.  As an infant we are unable to perform even the easiest tasks on our own, we can’t even roll over without help which means if there is a little spit up after eating there is a choking hazard; and infant skin is extremely sensitive so they require prompt and frequent diaper changes to prevent rashes and discomfort.  All of these facts are contributing factors to the higher costs of infant day care services.  The number of infants compared to toddlers and school aged children in the day care center should be things that you look at when you are selecting a day care center for your children.  When you look at your own household composition and think about the level of care you provide your children, you should think in a similar fashion about the infant day care.  Possibly you have 3 or five children of different ages, all of your children are taken care of with the same level of care, infant care providers are usually equally qualified.  It is not so much the number of total children, but the number of infants that makes the difference.  For this reason most infant day cares will have a cap on the number of very young children or infants that they will accept at any one time.  One infant and three five year olds is fairly easy in comparison to five infants and one five year old.

Infant day care will always be the one of the hardest things that a parent will have to decide on.  Paying someone else to care for your child is a very hard thing to do and making a decision between different infant day care providers is even more difficult.  The best thing to do is to visit the facility or home with your child and see firsthand what the child care facility is about and how they care for the children in their charge.  When you visit with your child you should allow the child care providers to handle your infant and see how both they and your child react to the experience.  This will give you a better idea of what they will be like when you are not there.

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Required Day Care Licenses

Posted on July 28, 2011 by DayCare

What Day Care Licensing is Required by Law?

Day care licensing is a step many child care providers choose in order to protect themselves, protect their business, and to protect the families and children who benefit from their services.  If you are using a licensed day care facility you can rest assured that during their day care licensing process they were required to fill out a number of forms and provide a number of supporting documents included but not limited to the following:  Background checks on all employees including criminal record checks, fire evacuation plans, first aid training certificates for all employees, vaccination records for all employees as well as facilities maintenance and suitability proof.

Day care licensing is something that takes a great deal of time effort and paper work.  Licenses are not just handed out, each one will have a list of restrictions and limits that will include permitted staff members, number of children in different age groups and facility regulations.  There are rules regarding the amount of floor space that should be dedicated to each child, and how much natural light that should be allowed into the rooms that will house children etc.  These regulations might prevent the main day care are from being in a basement, or might specify that each child requires three meters of floor space which could limit the number of children a particular day care facility can have in the building at anytime.

Day care licensing happens by filling out a number of forms that you can usually find online.  Each state has their own regulations as well as their own enforcement plans in place for day care providers.  You will have to do a little bit of home work to find the day care licensing regulatory body for your state.  Regardless of what state you are applying from you will be required to provide a full background check and a complete criminal record check for each of your staff members.  If your criminal record is not completely clear you might find your application rejected.  Unpardonable offenses are usually grounds for immediate rejection of day care licensing.

As a parent, knowing what your states requirements are for day care licensing can provide you with the peace of mind you need to ensure that your children are in good hands in your absence.  Child care providers are a huge part of your child’s success and development so choose wisely.  Choosing a day care center that can accept all of your children will make your life a little bit easier when it comes to pick up and drop off and will ensure all of your children are cared for by people who are held to the very same standard of day care licensing.

Choosing a day care that has gone through the stringent day care licensing process will ensure your children are cared for by people who have had a complete background and criminal record check, as well as are first aid trained.  Day care licensing provides peace of mind for parents.

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