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There's one in Durham too that I'm pretty sure only does short-term care. My coworkers who have used it say it's great for when they want to get stuff done at Southpoint without the kids in tow. Home
I'm sure there's lots of moms in Cary that would use the service, especially around the Preston area.
I have used these a few times with my kids. I think the law says the parents have to be within 15 minutes and 4 hour time limit. Not sure how tight that is enforced though.
Most places go up to 12, but I rarely see kids older than 6 or 7 in there.
I think it is important to offer date nights and I think to be competitive you want to be around the $8 per hour for each child range with a sliding discount for the more hours you prepay for.
Another thing I have noticed is not a lot of them offer early enough hours on weekends and some do not even offer Sunday care. I think those are important. Also some do not open until 10am during the week. I think you would want to be open in the 8 to 8 range in my opinion on weekdays.
Also another thing that is important is to have a separate are for smaller kids from the bigger kids. Activities would really depend on the age range you are trying to shoot for. If you want bigger kids you may want ping pong, pool, etc... This may even allow you to do track out camps and such.
To me it is most important to have it close to neighborhoods and shopping. So maybe somewhere in between.
As far as an age where kids are good by themselves. I would say around 10 is a good safe age. In NC there is no minimum age, but fire code is 8 years I think, so that is probably the earliest if you are going to do it, and I wouldn't do that for any long period of time.
As far as an age where kids are good by themselves. I would say around 10 is a good safe age. In NC there is no minimum age, but fire code is 8 years I think, so that is probably the earliest if you are going to do it, and I wouldn't do that for any long period of time.
Honestly if I'm paying someone to watch my kids in a facility, there better be supervision at all times regardless of age. Otherwise what am I paying for? I could leave my kid at home with the Playstation for less money
I use the one near Southpoint and a competitor in Morrisville quite regularly. Most often, we use them for a "date" night or afternoon movie. So location wise, we like that both are close to movies and restaurants. I also use them on occasion for things like getting my hair cut or going to the doctor. So location wise, it is nice when they are near businesses.
Price-wise, I think you have to keep it in the ball park of babysitting costs. We pay a bit more than we'd pay an hourly babysitter for one of the services. The other one has a lot of specials, coupons, media deals; and we wind up using it more often, because it is more affordable.
The centers we use don't allow parents or other adults on the play floor or past the entry area, which is semi closed off, and a staff member is at the door when someone comes in and out. I don't think I'd care much about more security than that (not sure what else you could do -- nannycams?)
I like knowing my kids are moving around, having fun with other friendly kids -- typical toys such as ride on things, small play gyms, slides, pretend toys, play kitchens, books -- my oldest likes stuff better suited to older kids like the wii (seems often not functioning though). I can't comment on Holly Springs, Apex already has one, Cary in my uninformed opinion might be the best bet. Lots of restaurants.
Hours ... Sunday hours are a big plus to me. We wanted to use one on Memorial Day but they were all closed -- you could consider some holidays. I think evening weekday hours are hard to figure out.
I think a big thing is having enough motivated staff, I see ads for replacement workers regularly.
I think I'd consider no-care time at around 5th/6th/7th grade? Not there yet.
Thank you all for your input. I'm getting a lot of information from all different venues. Every piece of information is valued.
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