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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Working Closely With Other Childcare Providers In Your Area?
rhondawarren 05:55 AM 04-02-2014
Good Morning ladies,

I wanted to ask some opinions on this. We live in a very small town. I use to live in the city but, I closed my in home daycare there so that we could build our final home in the country. There are a few providers in our area that I know very well because this is actually my original home town one being my sister.

Here is my question ... would it be smart for all of us to create a private group on facebook so that we could work closely together on keeping our rates the same, asking questions and warning others about people not paying etc. Do you think this would be beneficial to all of our businesses by keeping things around the same rates etc for each of our care?

I actually built an in home daycare onto my new home in my house plans that has a separate entrance door etc because I truly want to do this for my career

Let me know your thoughts ...
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EntropyControlSpecialist 05:58 AM 04-02-2014
I REALLY wanted to do something like this but the providers in my area are weird. There is no other term for them . Some are just BAD providers, others are catty, and ONE is genuinely nice and kind so we are friends and we do work closely together.

I am not sure that you can technically put someone's name out there as a "bad client" (perhaps you can, but I am thinking no?) but maybe you could do initials and the children's initials or something.
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rhondawarren 06:08 AM 04-02-2014
Originally Posted by EntropyControlSpecialist:
I REALLY wanted to do something like this but the providers in my area are weird. There is no other term for them . Some are just BAD providers, others are catty, and ONE is genuinely nice and kind so we are friends and we do work closely together.

I am not sure that you can technically put someone's name out there as a "bad client" (perhaps you can, but I am thinking no?) but maybe you could do initials and the children's initials or something.

LOL on the weird part ... I hear ya

The cool thing about our area is a few of us are even related We are distant cousins and we all kind of talk anyways about us providing childcare. I think if we stuck together on pricing that would work to all of our benefits plus ... we could share forms, ideas, questions and all of that ... I am thinking maybe we should give it a try ...

Maybe if there are a few in your area that you think might like to you could just leave the weird ones out lol
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Second Home 06:20 AM 04-02-2014
Sounds like a good idea . I wish there was a group here like that . There times where I would like to let other local provider's know about a client who owes $$ or other problems .
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coolconfidentme 06:22 AM 04-02-2014
I live in a small town & they would throw you under a bus before working with you. One provider had the nerve to go court with a DCM who owed me money & trumped up charges when I billed her. Apparently the DCB does good there & she came to testify how bad I was as a provider, lol.

It went something like this:

ME: Do you know me?
HER: No.
ME: Have you ever been in my daycare.
HER: No.
ME: Are you here to pay her outstanding daycare debt?
HER: No.
ME: I have nothing else for this witness your honor.


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Crazy8 06:25 AM 04-02-2014
I like the idea but I have found near me other providers view you as the competition so they are not friendly or willing to share info. It is hard to get kids and stay full around here (lots of SAHM's) so that could have a lot to do with it.
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Blackcat31 06:32 AM 04-02-2014
Originally Posted by rhondawarren:
Good Morning ladies,

I wanted to ask some opinions on this. We live in a very small town. I use to live in the city but, I closed my in home daycare there so that we could build our final home in the country. There are a few providers in our area that I know very well because this is actually my original home town one being my sister.

Here is my question ... would it be smart for all of us to create a private group on facebook so that we could work closely together on keeping our rates the same, asking questions and warning others about people not paying etc. Do you think this would be beneficial to all of our businesses by keeping things around the same rates etc for each of our care?

I actually built an in home daycare onto my new home in my house plans that has a separate entrance door etc because I truly want to do this for my career

Let me know your thoughts ...
Networking with other providers is a wonderful way to connect, stay up on new rules/regs and state policies etc.

I would be careful about the rate sharing though as it could be construed as price fixing and that IS illegal. There are some rules and tips Tom Copeland included in his blog about this subject. You can read more here: http://www.tomcopelandblog.com/2010/...our-rates.html

Check with your local Child Care Resource & Referral office about the nearest child care association group. Sometimes starting a support group off of a much larger entity has it's benefits. I belong to an association in my community and it's a wonderful way to connect names to faces as well as share ideas, curriculum and other daycare stuff. Plus the association always keeps us updated on new state regulations and changes that occur.

I'm sorry to hear about those of you who has such unwilling neighbors. My community of providers is fantastic! We share thing all the time and very rarely is anyone looking to compete or run solo.
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Play Care 06:34 AM 04-02-2014
Be careful about sharing pricing information - that is considered price fixing and illegal. Since you could potentially share that information on Facebook it could come back to bite you. I'm in a small town. Just like anything else, some providers are friendly, some are not, etc. I have one that refers people to me when she is full. This has been wonderful.
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rhondawarren 07:05 AM 04-02-2014
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
Networking with other providers is a wonderful way to connect, stay up on new rules/regs and state policies etc.

I would be careful about the rate sharing though as it could be construed as price fixing and that IS illegal. There are some rules and tips Tom Copeland included in his blog about this subject. You can read more here: http://www.tomcopelandblog.com/2010/...our-rates.html

Check with your local Child Care Resource & Referral office about the nearest child care association group. Sometimes starting a support group off of a much larger entity has it's benefits. I belong to an association in my community and it's a wonderful way to connect names to faces as well as share ideas, curriculum and other daycare stuff. Plus the association always keeps us updated on new state regulations and changes that occur.

I'm sorry to hear about those of you who has such unwilling neighbors. My community of providers is fantastic! We share thing all the time and very rarely is anyone looking to compete or run solo.
I am pretty sure that we all already charge the same rate. It is just the going rate around here in our area.
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rhondawarren 07:07 AM 04-02-2014
Originally Posted by Play Care:
Be careful about sharing pricing information - that is considered price fixing and illegal. Since you could potentially share that information on Facebook it could come back to bite you. I'm in a small town. Just like anything else, some providers are friendly, some are not, etc. I have one that refers people to me when she is full. This has been wonderful.
Thanks for the info I believe we all already charge the same rates simply because its the going rate for around here. We will only have a few of us in the group, the group will be private and most of us are related
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Mister Sir Husband 07:26 AM 04-02-2014
Yea... I tried this. I saw a provider locally on craigslist that had what looked like a nicely set up program, an employee, and a part time lifeguard for swimming lessons she offers. So I emailed her, introduced myself, suggested maybe we talk a bit about our programs, and inquired about her swimming lessons as I am also looking to install a pool and was curious as to the states involvement and how much paperwork is actually involved.

She never got back to me and pulled her ad from craigslist. My only guess is she was operating illegally and thought I was asking to bust her? oops.
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rhondawarren 07:32 AM 04-02-2014
Originally Posted by Mister Sir Husband:
Yea... I tried this. I saw a provider locally on craigslist that had what looked like a nicely set up program, an employee, and a part time lifeguard for swimming lessons she offers. So I emailed her, introduced myself, suggested maybe we talk a bit about our programs, and inquired about her swimming lessons as I am also looking to install a pool and was curious as to the states involvement and how much paperwork is actually involved.

She never got back to me and pulled her ad from craigslist. My only guess is she was operating illegally and thought I was asking to bust her? oops.
That is strange ...

As for us we will only have people that we know very well in our group. That way we can just share some forms, concerns, etc with each other. I think it will be great to have that local connection with those in the same area.
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sharlan 07:39 AM 04-02-2014
Good luck.

Providers around here are so paranoid that no one would even consider forming a group.

I've tried connecting with several different ones for playdates that I've met at parks, but none have been interested.
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KiddieCahoots 08:09 AM 04-02-2014
I think that's a great idea, especially where you all know each other already.
I would suggest keeping it somewhat closed off to being public knowledge though, just for the whole confidentiality issues, and avoiding trouble with people suggesting you've formed a "click". Ya know how disgruntled trouble makers can be, trying to use anything against you, just to try and discredit you in any way.
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crazydaycarelady 08:09 AM 04-02-2014
I think it is a great idea. Our resource and referral is always asking us for training ideas but I wish they would just let us talk for a whole training period because I get my best ideas from other providers.

I have a few providers in my town (we don't have an official group) but we refer each other if we don't have room at the moment. We get our daycares together and do things like have big Easter egg hunts, etc. We alert each other if the FP is making visits! LOL
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TwinKristi 08:22 AM 04-02-2014
I belong to a group like this and we get along quite well. No one discusses prices except in listings someone might post. We have listings and sometimes someone posts super low prices, $10-15 less than anyone else charges, as a sign on special. She posts every single day. We don't bad mouth parents or anything, just bounce problems off each other or ask licensing related questions.
My neighbor also does daycare and we work together a lot. Her clients use me if she's on vacation and vice versa. I have assisted in her daycare when I'm slow and prior to being licensed. She's been more than helpful, referring people to me when she's full and is on my reference list. I also used to work with another provider at the gym I worked at for 2yrs. We both opened our daycares within a couple mos and we refer people to each other when we can. She doesn't take small babies and I do. I don't take SA and she does.
But I agree with the others that price-fixing can be considered illegal and you're really not supposed to discuss pricing with other competitors. Obviously your sister won't turn you in but someone else in a private group may!
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rebekki78 10:25 AM 04-02-2014
I recently had the same thoughts. I searched for my area ( it is a small town but near one of the biggest cities on this side of the state), but there are no such groups. Instead, I joined a "state wide" group that a provider started.

I know a lot of the providers in the area since my children grew up in this area and we switched through many providers in the 12 years that we have lived here. I just became a provider one year ago, so I already knew most of them before starting up. We have around 20 in home licensed providers in our area (the nearest center is around 15 miles away), so it could potentially be a helpful group. I wouldn't mind knocking off ideas to each other, having play groups, or even talking about what's going on in the school district or with the kids and parents. I am not sure, though, that other providers would see it this way. I think, as others have said, that they view other providers as competition. I have contacted other providers when I have had call when I am full, and they have contacted me asking me if I was full because they had calls, but that's about the extent of our communications. They just aren't always friendly. I think it could be both helpful and beneficial if it were the opposite, if we could all network, but it doesn't seem to be that way, sadly.
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My3cents 10:35 AM 04-02-2014
I wouldn't do a facebook page.

I would have a meeting once a month for all local providers and you could have a speaker to count towards your training, get together, share ideas etc.... start up something like this to help each other out- I would make it fun, so its something other providers want to go and be a part of.

Good luck-
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Tdhmom 10:45 AM 04-02-2014
I have a lady in my area and we text literally everyday. It's been great especially when we need someone to vent to because I know my husband doesn't like hearing it everyday but sometimes we need to let our frustrations out. I'm the highest charging in our area by $3 a day. And I'm usually full but this august I'm dropping to just 3 yr olds and I am ecstatic about it!!! That's my favorite age!!!
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rebekki78 10:53 AM 04-02-2014
Originally Posted by My3cents:
I wouldn't do a facebook page.

I would have a meeting once a month for all local providers and you could have a speaker to count towards your training, get together, share ideas etc.... start up something like this to help each other out- I would make it fun, so its something other providers want to go and be a part of.

Good luck-
This is a great idea. At our orientation I heard of a few ladies doing this in their area.
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KiddieCahoots 11:02 AM 04-02-2014
Originally Posted by My3cents:
I wouldn't do a facebook page.

I would have a meeting once a month for all local providers and you could have a speaker to count towards your training, get together, share ideas etc.... start up something like this to help each other out- I would make it fun, so its something other providers want to go and be a part of.

Good luck-
This is a great idea.....if it works out right.
I belong to a group that does just that. Unfortunately a small group of woman have taken over the chat forum, and created a remake of the movie "mean girls". They are the only one's that talk on the forum, everybody else gets bullied away.
That's why I'm so thankful to have found this forum.....everybody on here is awesome! True support happening here!
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