At Home Daycare

Is This the Right Stay at Home Mom Business

At home daycare can sound like a very attractive stay at home mom business to start. But is this the right income opportunity for you? Find out about home child care regulations and ways to get started as a home daycare provider.

"It's not until you become a mother that your judgment slowly turns to compassion and understanding." -Erma Bombeck

How true the above quote is for many parents, especially if you're a stay at home mom and running a stay at home mom businesses! Until you become a parent, it's hard to understand the things our own mothers did to keep us well cared for.

And now that you are in the position of caregiver yourself, it's only natural to want what's best for your children. The question of who will take care of your munchkin during the work day is never an easy one and often can be as stressful as the decision of whether or not to take an epidural in childbirth!

If you're a stay home mom and reading this, then you've probably toyed with the idea of operating an at home daycare. At home daycare means you provide a childcare facility right out of your own home which meets home child care regulations.

As shown in the insightful eBook, Daycare Starter Kit by Amanda Fowler, it's a wonderful option for the stay at home mom or dad who wants to be near their child, see them develop and grow with their peers, and bring in an extra source of income. Also, running an at home daycare offers some great tax advantages and job flexibility not often found in the corporate world.

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Advantages to Running a Home Daycare

Let's face it. Our babies grow up too darn fast!

An at home daycare is one way to keep up with all the developmental phases in your child's life instead of having to hear about them second hand.

Also, you will be able to provide them peer and social interaction with the other kids under your care, making every day a play date filled with laughter, learning, and song while your having a stay at home mom businesses.

One appealing benefit for the hardworking stay at home mom: at home daycare allows you to become your own boss, setting the rules and hours which work best for you, as well as, the parents and kids you care for. Take the time to learn about your state's home child care regulations.

It may sound like it's just a simple process of agreeing to open your home to children, but you are actually beginning a small business. Your state's home child care regulations for daycare providers will help you learn how to do that and save you from possible legal trouble and heartache later on.

With stay at home mom businesses, research the tax advantages to this arrangement, too. Many of the things you purchase for your at home daycare can be written off, thus saving you money in the long term.

Put the word "flexibility" in your list of pros for starting your at home daycare. Yes, you will be busy monitoring children, cleaning up messy art projects, and putting out small fires (figuratively, of course!), but there will be moments when you can get other things done.

Nap time - ah, the very word feels like a small miracle - is a great time to pick up things around the house, return calls, or start the laundry. Of course, depending on the age of the children enrolled in your at home daycare, you may be able to do those things at other times of the day, too.

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Disadvantages to running a Home Daycare

"Youngsters of the age of two and three are endowed with extraordinary strength. They can lift a dog twice their own weight and dump him into the bathtub." -Erma Bombeck

As the ever irrepressible Ms. Bombeck points out, children can do amazing things and sometimes these amazing things aren't exactly going to make your day.

Amanda Fowler, author of the eBook, Daycare Starter Kit, suggests that you really need to think about the big questions:

Are you the type of stay at home mom that can handle the stresses of running your own at home daycare?

Is there a reason you only have two children instead of a tribe?

How do you really feel about taking care of other people's kids?

What about the long hours or wear and tear on your home?

What if you get taken advantage of?

Are you willing to abide by your state's home child care regulations?

Any stay at home mom businesses knows that children are always exploring their surroundings and eager to learn new things. Sometimes their explorations take them off the beaten path, a path which can lead directly to using finger paint on your nice white walls or tracking mud onto freshly cleaned carpet.

There are days when the little ones may be sick and not their normal happy-go-lucky selves. It takes patience and a large can of Lysol to deal with these things!

The hours can be long, too. Some parents need to drop off early so they can get to their job on time, and depending on the length of their work day, could be picking up late in the evening.

These are things you will definitely want to clarify before agreeing to accept a client in your at home daycare. Unfortunately, there will be those parents who think it's okay to take advantage of you, too.

Late payments, bounced checks -yikes! But those are the realities of being in business for yourself, and by recognizing them early you can prepare and have a plan of action in place to handle them. Be professional, know what the home child care regulations are for an at home daycare, and share the information with the parents you contract with, too.

If the above, got you thinking -good! You want your new business to run smoothly and abide by home childcare regulations. Doing the prep work is a big part of that!

If you're still uncertain, check out the self-assessment sheet from the eBook Daycare Starter Kit by Amanda Fowler. This handy sheet asks you important questions that will guide you as you make your decisions about starting an at home daycare.

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Related Pages

Starting a Home Daycare

Different Home Daycare Options

Home Daycare Startup Resources

Implement a Preschool Program

Promoting Your Home Daycare

Daycare Not Your Thing? Start a Babysitting Business

Sitter City

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