Starting a Home Daycare

Information for Stay at Home Mom Income

Starting a home daycare has its own unique set of challenges for those looking for stay at home mom income. From getting your business set up to home daycare rates, these resources should help you as you begin your at home daycare.

Every new business faces unique challenges, and no where is that more true than for the stay at home mom starting a home daycare. It sounds deceptively easy. One day you just decide to do it, and then you can open your doors the next week, right? Wrong!

There are so many things needed to be researched like licensing requirements, supplies, business materials, and home daycare rates, as well as, advertising. It's important to keep in mind that some states require months of planning for starting a home daycare, while others have a much shorter time span.

Feeling a little overwhelmed? Don't be. There are lots of great resources out there to assist you in starting a home daycare like the Daycare Startup Kit, an eBook by Amanda Fowler.

A helpful resource for the brave stay at home mom ready to venture in to a new world, the appendix of this handy eBook provides the contact information for each state's licensing regulations. By contacting your state's office, you'll discover whether you have to be licensed to watch one child or several, if a walk through will need to be done of your home by the Board of Health, and what kind of paperwork should be filled out so you can begin starting a home daycare and charging home daycare rates.

Some states even require you to pay for FBI background checks on every person in your house over the age of fifteen and provide fingerprinting, too. This can really cut into your stay at home mom income.

For a stay at home mom starting a home day care, many states will want you to take special classes on childcare. However, if you want to really impress upon your future clients just how much you care about the children in your charge, classes in first aid and child CPR would be a good idea to enroll in even if they are not required.

Workshops on recognizing child abuse and learning how to report it are common, too, and as a childcare provider, it's important that you report any abuse to the authorities.

Another common requirement is purchasing liability insurance, something not usually covered by homeowner's insurance. If you will be taking any field trips that involve you transporting the children, alert your car insurance company that you are now driving for commercial reasons.

Be warned. This could cause your premiums to go up. Which also cuts into your stay at home mom income. If you thought picking out just the right name ended when your child was born, think again.

Of course, this time you are about to give birth to your own business! One of the more exciting aspects of being a stay at home mom and starting a home daycare is choosing a name for your venture.

The Daycare Startup Kit offers some wonderful suggestions on how to do this, such as, should you choose something that reflects where you live like "Masonville Family Daycare" or something a little more pleasant sounding like "Sunny Day Childcare?" The author, Amanda Fowler, recommends when starting a home daycare, you make a list of names that are appealing to you, and then sort out your favorites, as well as, check to see which ones are already in use. The Daycare Startup Kit includes several worksheets and checklists designed to help with that and get you organized with all the other beginning steps of starting a home daycare. It also offers tips on figuring out what your home daycare rates should be, too.

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Supplies and Safety

Now that you've given some thought to starting a home daycare and what to charge for home daycare rates, take a look at your space. How much room do you have?

Will you be able to fit playpens, cribs, extra chairs and sleeping mats?

What about toys? It's a good idea to keep your own child's toys separate from the ones used by the other kids. After all, daycare toys tend to get a lot of "love" on them. Make sure the toys you pick out are age appropriate, along with any DVDs you plan to show, too.

Other spaces to plan for when starting a home daycare are feeding, diapering, and sleeping areas. For young kids, you'll need two or more high chairs and a small table for toddlers to eat at.

A diaper genie, extra wipes, and a change table all make your life easier when it comes to dealing with dirty diapers.

Consider charging an extra "diaper fee" as part of your home daycare rates for those parents who tend to forget to bring them.

Cribs and playpens are ideal for babies, but have a separate area for older kids at naptime so they aren't awakened by crying. As any parent can tell you, safety is always in the foremost section of our minds. When starting a home daycare, make sure everything is child proof. The Daycare Starter Kit offers checklists and evacuation plans to help you make your home the safest place possible for your client's little angel. Which helps with your stay at home mom income.

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Related Pages

Is Home Daycare Right for You?

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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