See these spread sheets…I’ve been over them a zillion times. Â Honestly a maybe more like 100 but 100 isn’t an exaggeration at all. Â Some of you might remember that I started doing in home childcare again. Â I did it previously and liked providing care and I like it even more now. Â I’m so much more relaxed and more comfortable in my skin.
Being I am going to be state registered I have to abide by state guidelines. Â The guidelines are this. Â I can have 6 full time and 2 part time kids by myself. Â Of the kids at any time only four can be under age 2 and of those four only three can be under 18 months.
That leaves me juggling and juggling trying to get families to work into the formula.
Where we live there is 3 year old preschool that happens two days a week and 4 year old preschool that happens 4 days a week. Â That only happens in the mornings unless the family opts to do wrap around care allowing the kids to stay the afternoons too. Â Some families take this option as they can’t arrange lunch time transportation back to childcare. Â If kids stay all day, they can ride the bus each way.
This has been a task to try to figure into scheduling…does the kid go to preschool and do they go all day?
Add in that many of the calls I’ve been getting are from parents who work part time schedules. Â I have one that’s two days a week mornings for two kids. Â I have one that is three days a week all day for one kid. Â I have one that’s for two kids and the parents are on a rotating schedule so the days vary each week but when they do come it’s for all day. Â I have one that’s an infant soon to be born and would start in June. Â Mom works 10 hours days and not Friday except once a month. Â I have another who wants a spot saved for care starting in November…eight hour days but starting early in the morning-then alternating weeks has Thursday or Fridays off. Â Yet another family has four little ones and wants care for spring time planting season….oh and did I mention the one family who wants care for three over the summer for school agers and the one who also wants care for for the summer for two but one is an infant and would likely be part time…and I got a call from a family of seven who wants care for 12 hours a day one of those is and infant?!?! Â I also have a big family that needs care for a week while the parents take an older child on an extended trip.
Some of those families inquiring have infants…some not. Â I am calculating birthdays to see when the cut off is..I am juggling and juggling trying to make things work.
I’m trying to decide if I can afford to hold a position for a child that won’t start until June. Â I’m wondering if I can afford to take an infant part time taking one of the precious few spots I can have an infant for.
I just want to know what happened to the families in the world that work 8-5 Monday through Friday?? Â Wherever you are come find me. Â I want to do care for you.
Last time when I was a provider almost all of my kids’ parents had jobs with 7:30-4:30 schedules. Â I loved that….I miss that. Â I lamented over juggling schedules with the few part timers then…that was a piece of cake compared to this.
Every time a family inquires about child care, I have to start the whole calculation mess all over again. Â I hate to tell any of the families wanting summer care yes just in case the spots fill with other kids..I hate to tell them know in case they don’t fill. Â Some spots will fill simply because a child that was going to preschool over the school year will now be full time here.
I have one mom I am waiting on to hear the status of a job change from part time to full time. Â That would be great if that happened but of course, that would mean another evening juggling the spread sheet to see if I can fit them in now that the hours of needed care would change. Â Oh what’s a girl to do??
So if you ask how I’m liking childcare…the actual care of the children I LOVE-I am having so much fun….the scheduling I truly-truly hate.
What a headache! I would fill all your spots with fulltime kids and only for the hours you want to be open. I have a 4 year old who has never been to daycare because everyone in town is full and I only wanted 2 days a week. Sounds like you’ll be quite in demand!
Parents working 8-5, Monday through Friday pretty much ended in 2008 when so many people lost jobs and had to take whatever they could find. With the Obamacare situation many people got their hours cut to part-time and have to juggle two or more part-time jobs just to survive. I don’t envy your struggle to schedule. Maybe you need to have someone on call to help you out on some days. There will always be families that need a sitter for unplanned days.
Jo,
you are so accommodating, when my kids were in daycare, I was at the whim of the providers. Most of my vacation time was used up when the provider was sick or took her vacation. I don’t miss those days a bit.
Good luck with the scheduling.
Reading your post sort of reminds me of, “If a train is traveling east at 60 mph and another train is traveling west at 45 mph, when would these two trains cross paths?”! Very confusing!
It is very difficult! The lady who watches my youngest granddaughter has a list of people that are willing to pay her drop-in fee of $35 a day (8:15-5:30) when there is an empty spot in her daycare line up – she just sends them a text and the first one to respond gets the spot. That way when any of her daycare kids is sick or will not be there for any reason, the spot is filled with a paying customer. She also charges for late pick ups so parents don’t take advantage of her and pick up 45 minutes late!
I gave up part-time kids for this same reason. I found that the coming and going of different kids (and parents) didn’t work well for the flow of learning and activities I was doing. Good luck to you juggling those schedules.
Jo, it seems you meed a flexible part-time aide so you can bounce with the changes in schedules and plans. Have you ever had an employee? How aobut your daughter who does not have a job right now? JAT and HIH
I did childcare for many years when my own were little, and yes the juggling act was not easy! However sometimes I would have a family/child that just didn’t fit in, it was difficult to say I think you need to find someone else…. or once I had a biter, who only bit this one BB, even if I was right there! The biter was FINE when the Bb wasn’t there. He didn’t bite anyone else. One thing that I also found is that if I ‘lost a family” there was always someone else with the need to fill. I always had a full house. Choose the ones after you meet them, make sure they are going to fit in with you. And I prayed, I prayed I would find/choose the right families.
maybe using a plann board would help you to have everything clear?
you could use a different color card for every age-group en write the name of the child on it. That way you can see in a glance if there is any problem with the rules… you can also see when you have a spot free for a new child to come over and who is going to be there for vacationtime this summer…. hang it somewhere near your telefon so you can look at it when needed and i think it wil make your life much easier…. but hey that is just me thinking… i love reading about your buzzyness….
Hugs from the Netherlands
Winda