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I've been considering offering full-time childcare/babysitting from my home in Clifton starting in May. I've taught both preschool and special education, but currently feel that being a stay-at-home parent and providing care for children at my home would be the best move for my family.
What would a family expect to pay for full-time care at the home of the provider?
I'm assuming that I would provide meals and snacks for children that were old enough to be eating table foods, allow for up to 9-10 hours of care per day - is that pretty standard for this area?
Would parents expect me to have state certification or would they be satisfied with references, background, and a tour of my home?
I've also considered returning to teaching preschool in a large corporate child care center, but I've found most of them to be focused more on the bottom line than providing loving and family-friendly care. Plus, I've found that day care teachers seem to be paid only $8-10 an hour in North Jersey while centers charge anywhere from $200-400/week for a full-time toddler. I have a hard time swallowing that when centers charged less ($225/wk was about the max for a 2y/o) and paid their teachers more ($10-13/hr) in my former community in Wisconsin.
Thanks in advance for any advice or insight you can offer!
In New Jersey, child care centers serving six or more children under the age of 13 must be licensed by DCF. A center becomes licensed after meeting all applicable conditions in the Manual of Requirements for Child Care Centers. Centers are licensed for a three-year period. A copy of the centers’ license must be displayed in a prominent location at the center.
State of New Jersey | Department of Children and Families | Child Care Centers and Licensing (http://www.state.nj.us/dcf/divisions/licensing/centers.html - broken link)
The home daycares I've seen are cheap, priced much cheaper than a center. Like maybe 3 bucks an hour per child, versus 5 and up at a center. That's assuming that they are coming full-time, let's say 50 hours a week. For part-time, I think you can charge more per hour.
You really can't charge anything close to what a center would charge IMO, but it can still add up if you get a couple of children going.
I would also check with your homeowners insurance as most policies will exclude anything having to do with any type of home business, and most will cancel your policy if you ave a home based daycare. You need to get the proper commercial insurance.
In New Jersey, child care centers serving six or more children under the age of 13 must be licensed by DCF. A center becomes licensed after meeting all applicable conditions in the Manual of Requirements for Child Care Centers. Centers are licensed for a three-year period. A copy of the centers’ license must be displayed in a prominent location at the center.
State of New Jersey | Department of Children and Families | Child Care Centers and Licensing (http://www.state.nj.us/dcf/divisions/licensing/centers.html - broken link)
My plan would be to take only a few children - ideally 2-3. I've read the DCF requirements and it seems that I would not be required by law to have a state certification, but I'm wondering if it's something parents expect in-home providers to have.
My plan would be to take only a few children - ideally 2-3. I've read the DCF requirements and it seems that I would not be required by law to have a state certification, but I'm wondering if it's something parents expect in-home providers to have.
Eh, if you can get customers, it won't matter. If people are real sticklers about the cert. then they are probably the types that wouldn't use home daycare anyway. A lot of home daycare is word of mouth, so if you get one customer, you get a good rep, and then word spreads.
Look at Monday Morning Inc. It's mondayam dot com. They have some services and can help you get started I think.
We currently pay about 250 a week in South Jersey. The price would have to be significanly less for us to even consider home daycare. Even then I'm not sure we would do it.
We currently pay about 250 a week in South Jersey. The price would have to be significanly less for us to even consider home daycare. Even then I'm not sure we would do it.
I think home daycare can be great. The trick is it's nice to know the provider somehow, either directly or through someone else. I know a lot of women who have done really well with home daycare and their clients love them.
As far as I've gathered, $125-$150 per week would be a reasonable rate?
To put my intentions in context, I never went to a preschool/daycare as a child. My mother (a self -identified hippie that often tells me "it takes a village, not a business, to raise a child") paid our neighbor to provide daycare for me and my siblings (yes, I see the irony that she PAID the neighbor despite her statements). I remember it being a very positive experience. My mother and I have recently discussed how it was a better arrangement for our family at the time because centers could not accommodate the frequent early morning drop-offs (before 6:30 am) and late nights that her job as a teacher/principal required. Additionally, when I worked in a center my assistant teacher and I were responsible for the care and education of up to 16 children ages 2.5-3 (this was the approved state ratio in WI). Though I put every ounce of my energy into providing exemplary care for those children, I always felt that we were stretched too thin to give each child an ideal learning experience.
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