Day Care Center

Friday, October 26, 2007

Five Things You Must Know Before Choosing a Daycare for Your Child

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Choosing the best daycare for your child can be one of the toughest decisions you’ll face. If you work full time, your child will spend more of her waking hours at the daycare than at home. This means that finding the perfect daycare is critical to her well-being. Here are the five things that you must be aware of when touring daycare facilities and making that difficult decision.

1. The Physical Space: All daycares in the United States are regulated and must pass certain criteria in order to even open their doors. However, you should be hyper-aware of the physical space your child will be spending his time in. Is it clean? Does is have a wide variety of age-appropriate toys and activities? Are there any obvious safety hazards that have not been addressed by the staff? Also, look for pets and live plants in the rooms. The space should feel like a place that you yourself would want to spend eight hours in. If it doesn’t feel good to you, turn around and walk away.

2. The Staff: Teacher turnover is a huge problem for daycares, so make sure that you feel very comfortable with and confident in the director of the program, not just your child’s potential teacher. It’s a sad fact, but daycare workers are at the bottom of the wage scale and it can be a very stressful job. Ask the director about the teacher turnover in the daycare. It will give you a good idea about what the working conditions are like for the teachers. Also, look closely to see that the teaching staff is focused on the children, not on the other adults in the room. I was once completely snubbed by a teacher who was working with a child as I toured their classroom. My son was enrolled in her class that very day. I wanted a teacher who would be focused on my son and his development.

3. Curriculum: Ask to see what the children are working on. If there is no curriculum or if they seem to focus on coloring sheets, it is not the best place for your child. No matter what the age group, there should be art, science, manipulatives, reading and writing activities available every day. For your child’s optimal growth, she must be mentally stimulated.

4. Discipline: Ask how conflicts between the children are worked out. If possible, ask some of the older children how the staff handles conflict. Staff should be facilitators, not umpires, when it comes to conflict. This means that the staff should be facilitating communication and accountability with each child, not saying that one was right and the other wrong and punishing the offender.

5. Trust Your Gut: Look, you should feel absolutely wonderful about the daycare setting your child is placed in. Every time you leave your child, you should know that he is well cared for, respected, stimulated and is having FUN. If it doesn’t feel right to you on some level, don’t leave your child there. You deserve to have peace of mind about where your child is and what he is doing when you have to be somewhere else. Trust yourself. Even if you can’t define why you don’t like a particular setting, just knowing that it’s not the perfect place for your child is enough. Keep looking until you do find that perfect setting for him.

Straight talk from the mom who’s been where you are and knows how to help your family: Shelly Walker is the mother of two beautiful children and the author of Awakened Power and the upcoming book Parenting Keys. Shelly is passionate about children and believes that every child deserves healthy, happy parents. For more information, go to http://www.parentingkeys.com .

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Developing A Brochure For Your Daycare Centre

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A brochure is like a walking saleman for your daycare centre. It tells your target customer all about your daycare centre. However, some daycare owners are put off by the high cost of producing one as they are under the impression that it should be produced by professionals. And for a small business, that can be quite daunting. However, producing a brochure can be quite a breeze if you know what to do.

First and foremost, you do not need a professional designer. There are many publishing software that can do the job for you. A good example is Microsoft Publisher. There are many nice templates for you to choose from.

As for the copy of the brochure, you can easily do it yourself once you know what you should put inside it. Before we start writing, we first need to understand who you are writing the brochure for; i.e. your target audience. As a daycare owner, your target audience are the parents who wish to put their child at a daycare centre. Some of these parents feel guilty or worried about leaving their children with strangers. Your job is of course to ally their fears and reassure them that their precious little ones are in good hands.

Next, you need to decide what size you’d like your brochure to be; A4, A5 (A4 folded into half), DL (A4 folded into 3 parts), how many colours (will it be 4 colour throughout or 4 colour on the cover and 1 colour on the inside) and the number of pages.

Now you are ready for some copywriting. Here are some information you should consider putting in your brochure.

1. Introduction (How you are different)
Write up a nice and short introduction about your daycare centre. Let the audience know how your daycare centre is different.

2. Mission / Core values / Philosophy
As providing daycare services is a delicate profession, the core values and goals of the daycare centre are probably something which you’d like to communicate to the parents to let them know that their child is in good hands.

3. Pictures of children at play
Add photographs of the children doing different activities in the brochure. Include one on the children at play, one of the children during lessons and one of the children engaging in some interest activities. If possible, include pictures of celebrations such as Children’s Day, Teacher’s Day or graduation. If you are a new business, you may consider getting stock pictures.

4. Programme / Curriculum
Other than caregiving, parents will also be interested to know what’s included in your curriculum. Therefore, list down the subjects that your daycare centre is offering such as art and craft, language, music and drama, etc. And if you are offering other electives such as piano lessons or computer lessons, include that in as well.

5. Quotes / Testimonials
Quote and testimonials lend credibility to your daycare centre. Solicit for quotes from the parents to be included in your brochure. You can choose to have them write their own quotes or you can write it and have them endorse it.

6. Schedule
Include a schedule of the daycare centre’s daily activities so that the parents can have a rough idea of what their child will be doing at your daycare centre.

7. Rates
Include rates and charges. Some owners may not like the idea of publicizing their daycare charges, so it’ll depend on your preference. Personally, I feel that it helps to qualify your customers.

8. Contact details
In your contact details, list not only information such as address, telephone and email but include a map as well. It will be useful for parents who wish to visit your daycare centre. And don’t forget your website address, if you have one.

Now that you’re done with the copy, you are ready to work on the design on a publishing software.

Have fun!

For more information or resources on starting a successful daycare, please visit http://www.setupadaycare.com

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Starting a Daycare Business - Inside Secrets to Success

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Most people that run a successful babysitting business in their local area have considered the possibility of starting a daycare business. If you have a love for children and your area has room for some professional child care then you have what is necessary to consider starting a daycare business in your area. While it seems like it should be such a breeze to start up your new business there are some things that you should take into consideration before beginning your business. Thinking about and planning for these things in advance will help keep you from being surprised at the last minute with any problems.

The things that you should keep in mind when considering starting a daycare business are whether you have a love for children and would like to work with other people's children day after day. The day care business is not generally one that will make you rich, but it can support you. If you have a real love for children then you have a strong basis to start your new business. Another thing that is very important to understand before beginning your new daycare business is to check out your local area and see if there I a real need for additional child care. If the market is saturated with other child care businesses then it may be difficult for you to make a profit.

You should also get a copy of any licensing regulations to make sure that your place of business (generally your home) is in compliance with local codes. You can probably expect that you will be looked over rather closely because of your working with children. Just make sure that everything is up to par and you should be fine.

Download our easy step by step guide to starting and running a successful daycare at our website http://www.start-daycare.info/

Start Your Own Daycare with a daycare startup kit, available on our website.

Friday, September 7, 2007

Is A Home Daycare The Answer For You?

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In America today, it takes two incomes in most cases to live a regular middle class lifestyle. This is due to rising costs of necessities such as housing, power, and insurance and Americans are seeing many non-necessities as needs such as cell phones, cable, and video games.

A few generations ago, one income would support a family. Dad would work and Mom would stay at home and play homemaker. Most people raising families in those generations were much more frugal and children were not spoiled. Many of the things we pay for today on a monthly basis didn’t even exist then. How much do you pay for internet, cable/satellite, cell phone plans, big birthdays, name brand clothes, video game systems and video games? If these things existed back then, most families could not afford them.

A major problem for single parents is childcare. Unfortunately many single mothers can not even afford to work, because childcare would cost more than what they would bring home in a paycheck, leaving them stuck between a rock and a hard place.

The answer for homemakers wanting to help their husbands bring in some money or for single mothers who can not afford child care themselves may be a pretty basic idea: Start your own home daycare.

As long as mothers are working, childcare will always be a service in demand. This could be an ideal solution for a mother with children who wants to stay home with them and bring in an income. Watch other children along with your own children. Your children will have playmates and you will get paid.

There are basically two things you need to make sure you have before you start a home daycare:

1) Patience and love for children.

2) A suitable place to keep them.

This is written under the assumption that you know that watching children all day is hard work!

If you live in a cramped apartment, this isn’t a good idea until you move to a better place. Parents would like to place their children in a home that has plenty of room and a place outside to play.

What you earn depends on where you live and how many children you keep. Childcare costs are high in some areas of the country, while other parts are relatively low.

Many parents prefer home daycares to regular daycares because their children get more attention, they have the same sitter everyday, and it costs less than regular daycare. You could also just be a regular babysitter, but many parents feel better knowing their childcare provider is licensed by the state. Plus, if you are licensed you are allowed to keep more children.

Before you start a home daycare, you will need to do some planning and it will take time before you are officially open for business. You will need to get a license, your home will be inspected, you will need to child proof your home if it isn’t already, and get some extra toys and baby equipment and decide on meal and snacks everyday.

Then you will need to decide what you will charge, draw up contracts which parents will sign and begin marketing. Put up fliers, get business cards, tell your friends and family to spread the word, and put an ad in the paper. Some home daycares are filled up soon after opening, while others will take time to get established.

An example of one successful home daycare owner is a single mother who could not afford to put her own children in daycare. So, she decided to open up a home daycare and is now making $1,600 a month gross, with the benefit of being able to raise her children herself and be with them everyday. She could earn more money because she is able to watch more children, but has decided to limit her business to watching 4 other children and they are charged $100 a week. However, if she wants, she has options on earning more money from her business.

If she worked outside the home, she’d be only making about $300 per week and would be paying $300 per week for her two children to be in regular daycare, meaning she’d make nothing for working hard all week. Now, she makes $400 per week, doesn’t have to pay a penny to put her kids in childcare and gets to spend tons of quality time with them. With her home daycare income and child support, she is doing well for herself.

Valerie Alanati is a work at home mother who owns a website aimed at helping others find work at home. http://www.workfromhomeforreal.com

Starting Your Own Home Daycare Business

DAYCARE Manager That Makes You CRAZY..Click Here To Know More

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If you have a love for children, and perhaps you are already involved in child care, you are a perfect candidate for a home daycare business. The daycare business is fun and easy to run once it is in place and does not take much maintenance, but sometimes getting it all started can be a bit overwhelming. One of the main problems that you will probably face is that you will be up against some pretty strict code enforcement issues, and you need to be ready from the beginning to tackle these problems as they come up. So what is it that you will need in order to start your own home daycare business? Let's start from the beginning.

The first thing that you will need to do when starting your own home daycare business is to check the local requirements and code for establishments that deal with children. You will generally find that they are a little more strict when it comes to these codes and being up on the requirements will help you to know what you need to do before you apply for the permits. You will also need to come up with a solid daycare business plan so that you will be able to know where the money is coming from to start and how you will be able to operate through the years.

Once you have your business plan written up and are familiar with the local codes then it is time to hire out some contractors to get your establishment (your home) in line with those codes. You can also seek some financing, if necessary, for some advertising and any expenses incurred from the work being done on your home.

It can be a little rough at first getting your business off the ground, and making sure that everything is running smoothly, but the rewards can be great. Sure, you probably aren't going to make it rich by running a home daycare business, but if you love children, and love what you do, you will be happy with your business.

Download our easy step by step guide to starting and running a successful daycare at our website http://www.start-daycare.info/

Start Your Own Daycare with a daycare startup kit, available on our website.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Dog Day Care

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Friday, August 24, 2007

Starting A DayCare - How To Hire Help

DAYCARE Manager That Makes You CRAZY..Click Here To Know More

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If you do the right things, your daycare center will become successful and make you great money. A lot of women have taken the step towards financial freedom and greater income. A daycare center is a great business not only financially, but also spiritually. Working with children is one of the greatest pleasures in the world.

Once your day care center is off the ground and becomes successful, you will need to hire an employee to assist you in the day to day running of your business.

How to make sure you hire the right person? Here the steps you need to take:

1. Experience - Don't be too strict on experience. After all, once, when we were all younger, we had no experience and had to start out ourselves. Your employees don't need to have experience in the daycare business, but they should have some references, even if it's from families whom they babysat for.

2. Make sure that your employees are available for a long time - If your staff keeps changing, the parents of the children in your daycare will become suspicious that something fishy is going on. This kind of instability is also very bad for the children. Make sure that whoever you hire wants the job for a long time.

3. Explain the job carefully and in detail - You don't want there to be any misunderstandings after your new employee begins work. Explain the job requirements in detail. Don't be afraid to repeat yourself. It is better to be annoying than to miss anything.

4. Give a trial period - During the first month or so, watch your new employee carefully. Make sure that he or she works well with the kids, has a lot of patience, doesn't get mad easily and so forth. If things don't work out, don't be afraid to fire your employee. You have an obligation to your business and your customers.

If you follow these 4 tips, you will hire the right people and be able to build your daycare center.

To read more about how to start and expand a daycare business visit this webpage: Starting A Day Care Center

Lucy Doyle runs a home business and is an expert on starting and operating successful daycare centers.

To read how you can too become a successful businesswoman by starting your own profitable daycare visit Lucy Doyle's expert webpage on starting daycare centers at this dedicated webpage: http://www.squidoo.com/startingadaycare

Monday, August 20, 2007

Opening a Home Daycare Business

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Opening your own home daycare center can be a wonderful way to spend more time with your family and enjoy a career working with children. Before setting off on this adventure, however, you need to determine what your motives are. If you are looking for a way to get rich it isn't going to happen. If you are looking for an easy job and a day lounging around the house you are in for a shocking surprise. Running a daycare is not an easy job and there is no place in this field for those who do not love children and have the patience and endurance that is needed to work with them on a daily basis. Taking care of other people's children is an entirely different job than caring for your own. You need the ability to love unconditionally and to accept the children in your care into your home and family. If, after thinking long and hard about this career choice, you decide that daycare is right for you than there are several steps you must take.

First, you must find out what your state regulations regarding home daycares are. Most states require a food handler's permit, first aid, C.P.R., and a business license. These are easily obtained with some time and small fees. There are organizations out there that will provide grant money as a reimbursement for your start up costs after you have remained licensed for a set period of time. After you have done that you need to find out what your city regulations are. The state and local regulations are not always the same. In order to do business in the city that you live in you must follow their ordinances. They will generally want to do a fire inspection of your home and will take a written plan for the amount of traffic you will receive during business hours. None of these things are hard. They simply require time to process.

Once you have fulfilled all of the legal requirements of running your home business you need to determine what your business model will be. Hours of operation will have to be decided, keeping in mind that you will need to work longer hours than the parents you serve in order to give them time to travel to and from work. A daily schedule will make your day go much smoother and give the children a routine to count on. This will relieve many of the behavior issues you may run into. A contract and parent handbook is necessary to maintain good relationships with the parents and to assure that your own needs are met. The contract should cover weekly fees, when payment is due, consequences for late payment, and the type of notice on monetary compensation that must be given when the contract is terminated. The parent handbook should cover the rules of your business at home. This is the place to tell parents what you expect of them. Some things you may want to include here are your sick policy, whether or not you allow children to bring things from home, what your stand is regarding vacations and sick days etc. There are many home daycares that have posted their contracts and parent handbooks online that you can look at for ideas. Be sure to be as thorough as possible because these are the things that will primarily determine your satisfaction with your business. It allows you to be in control and avoid many of the typical complains of daycare providers. Once you have a contract be sure that you follow it. This sounds simple but it is easy to become lax in rules trying to please the parents. You need to remember that they have not employed you. You are running your own business and you set the rules. They are a client and agreed to the terms that you set for them. Start strict so the parents know where you stand. It is easier to be more lenient over time as you develop relationships with the parents than it is to go the other direction. The last thing you want is to hate your job because parents are constantly late picking up or paying their fees.

Many daycares choose to provide full preschool programs. If you are not comfortable developing your own curriculum there are many companies such as Mother Goose Time and Funshine Express that will send you boxes of materials every month with each day planned for you. This is not a requirement for running a home daycare. Children can learn quite a lot through play as long as they are actively engaged in activities and interactions throughout the day.

Advertising can be fairly easy. Signs can be printed for under $20 at vinyl shops with your business name and phone number. These can be placed in your yard if your neighborhood allows it or on streets nearby. Flyers can be posted on bulletin boards at many local businesses, including grocery stores. Word of mouth is the best advertising. Talk to everyone you know and let them know what you are doing. Parents are desperate to find quality daycare and once you build your reputation you will never need to advertise. Local Resource and Referral agencies offer fantastic childcare placement services. They link parents searching for daycare with a list of daycare providers in each city. Be sure and sign up with them once you have received your license. It can take up to 6 months to fill all the openings you have but once you develop a name for yourself your business should be pretty steady.

Daycare can be a wonderful profession with the right attitude and passion. It requires patience and love and a lot of work but the time it gives you with your own children and the freedom to control your employment is well worth the work.

Rachel Lister is a 26 year old mother of two young children. She teaches preschool and runs a home daycare. Rachel is the teen editor for Bellaonline.com (http://www.teen.bellaonline.com/) and writes for various other online markets.

http://www.rachelptg.blogspot.com/

http://www.kaleidoscope-childhood.blogspot.com/

Day Care Center

Friday, October 26, 2007

Five Things You Must Know Before Choosing a Daycare for Your Child

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Sunday, September 16, 2007

Developing A Brochure For Your Daycare Centre

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Thursday, September 13, 2007

Starting a Daycare Business - Inside Secrets to Success

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Friday, September 7, 2007

Is A Home Daycare The Answer For You?

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Starting Your Own Home Daycare Business

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Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Dog Day Care

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Friday, August 24, 2007

Starting A DayCare - How To Hire Help

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Monday, August 20, 2007

Opening a Home Daycare Business

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