Infant and Toddler Care Only
 

Im thinking about changing my daycare to have children age out by 36months. I find that most of the parents leave to take their child to “real preschool” around 3yrs anyway. I feel im wasting my money on a Preschool program when the child ends up leaving anyway or going to half day preschool. Does anybody else do infant and toddler care only? How successful has it been getting clients?

I am about to do the same except I am only taking 18months to 3 years (4 years max). Basically I want them to go to “academic preschool” for their last school year before they start kindergarten. I have had great success integrating 18 month olds into our “big kid” schedule and the parents love that I work on self help and social skills. I also do a play type preschool curriculum (I love using Pocket of Preschool stuff). I am going to start presenting myself as the place you send your todder to prepare them for pre-kindergarten. I find that parents get a little intense about academics when their kids are a year out from kinder and that is just not “where I want to be” with my program. My area is very preschool heavy but they don’t take kids until they are potty trained so I hope to fill the need for preschool for the younger ages. My emphasis will be on social/emotional development, following directions, self help skills and a love of books and learning. I feel like I have finally found my niche after almost 4 rollercoaster years so I’m pretty excited.

I considered it but in MN it drastically reduced the number of kids I can care for and in my area, I could not raise rates to accommodate for the lower income. I only watch teacher's kids so I already have a small client pool.

I do 6 weeks-4 years, or until they move on to preschool. I live out of town in the country so it isn't feasable for kids to go to half day preschool and then to me afterwards.

I focus on the social/emotional needs and help they build self help skills. We don't focus on academics, but instead learn through play. Basically, I get them ready to head off to preschool, where they will have the skills needed to function in a classroom setting and really learn the academic portion of their education.

Originally Posted by LittleExplorers:
I considered it but in MN it drastically reduced the number of kids I can care for and in my area, I could not raise rates to accommodate for the lower income. I only watch teacher's kids so I already have a small client pool.

I live in MN too. So i can have 3 kids under age 2 and the rest be between 2-3. I decided i dont want any more than 6 kids. 1 child will be my own. Im thinking until age 4 would be better. There are free preschools in my area so that is my competition, but the child must be age 4 to start at these free preschools.

I really dont want to wait til my current kids go to kindergarten to impliment this, but im not sure how all the parents will react. I would also need to raise my raise by $20 so i wont need more than 6 kids to survive.

A couple of months ago I was considering only doing 0-2 years because it's usually SUPER hard to enroll 2 yr olds. Most families start them somewhere as babies and keep them there until 3K, or if they have to move them they go to a center so they can "learn something" and be ready for 3K :rolleyes: But I was lucky enough to enroll two 2 year olds this month, and actually had more interviews for 2 year olds or older. But the catch was that most were part time, not full time.

To answer your question, I think it's a good idea. I think that eventually 2K will start being a "thing" and FCC will end up being just infant care. I hope I'm wrong, but that's where things seem to be heading.

Originally Posted by MomBoss:
I live in MN too. So i can have 3 kids under age 2 and the rest be between 2-3. I decided i dont want any more than 6 kids. 1 child will be my own. Im thinking until age 4 would be better. There are free preschools in my area so that is my competition, but the child must be age 4 to start at these free preschools.

I really dont want to wait til my current kids go to kindergarten to impliment this, but im not sure how all the parents will react. I would also need to raise my raise by $20 so i wont need more than 6 kids to survive.

You can get 2 different types of specialized Infant/Toddler licenses in MN but the one with a higher capacity requires 2 adults. Also for both license types your own children will still count in your ratios.

So your own child, if under age 5 would not be able to be present during business hours once they reach 30 months or 2.5 yrs old. So from 2.5 yrs until age 5 (school aged) you would not be able to have your child present in care.

I know several ladies that have a specialized infant/toddler license in the TC area and they do VERY well and are always full with wait lists.

Originally Posted by MomBoss:
I live in MN too. So i can have 3 kids under age 2 and the rest be between 2-3. I decided i dont want any more than 6 kids. 1 child will be my own. Im thinking until age 4 would be better. There are free preschools in my area so that is my competition, but the child must be age 4 to start at these free preschools.

I was thinking you were going for an infant/toddler specialized license. I keep a small group as well. Can you slowly increase your rates or increase with new families only? How many above 4 do you have now?

You can advertise as specializing and preparing for preschool. Put a positive spin on it. :)

Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
You can get 2 different types of specialized Infant/Toddler licenses in MN but the one with a higher capacity requires 2 adults. Also for both license types your own children will still count in your ratios.

So your own child, if under age 5 would not be able to be present during business hours once they reach 30 months or 2.5 yrs old. So from 2.5 yrs until age 5 (school aged) you would not be able to have your child present in care.

I know several ladies that have a specialized infant/toddler license in the TC area and they do VERY well and are always full with wait lists.

I wouldnt do a specialized license. I would still do a C1 , but have 1 under 12months, 2 between 12-24months, and the rest 24 months to 4 yrs. And then just have it in my policy that they will age out at 4yrs old. In a perfect world, i would only care for 1 yr olds, its my favorite age!

Originally Posted by LittleExplorers:
I was thinking you were going for an infant/toddler specialized license. I keep a small group as well. Can you slowly increase your rates or increase with new families only? How many above 4 do you have now?

You can advertise as specializing and preparing for preschool. Put a positive spin on it. :)

I have a 10month old, two 1 year olds, one 2 yr old, and three 3 yr olds. One of the 3 yr olds will be leaving for full day preschool because they will be 4 next month, one will be leaving for half day preschool, the other 3 yr old the parent has only made a comment about going to preschool but at what time idk. I was thinking about advertising for my new program and terminating the half day preschooler. And then explaining to the rest my new cut off age. I think advertising as specializing in preparing for preschool and self help skills will be great! I dont want to get a specialized license because then i would only be able to have 4 kids.

Originally Posted by MomBoss:
I wouldnt do a specialized license. I would still do a C1 , but have 1 under 12months, 2 between 12-24months, and the rest 24 months to 4 yrs. And then just have it in my policy that they will age out at 4yrs old. In a perfect world, i would only care for 1 yr olds, its my favorite age!

Oh, okay gotcha...

What happens if a family doesn't want to go to preschool?

In Alaska I can be unlicensed and have 4 kids with no oversight. However if I was licensed and wanted to just do infants I can only have 3 under 36 months, if I remember correctly.

I was just looking at a different states regs and you can do up to 5 kids unlicensed, but if you are licensed and specialized in infants you could only have 4 kids. :confused:

This doesn't make sense to me.

Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
Oh, okay gotcha...

What happens if a family doesn't want to go to preschool?

Ill be advertising that my services will end when their child turns 4. I guess they would have to be ok with that before enrolling. For current families, im not sure how they will take this.

I've been thinking about this for awhile now. It's difficult to enroll any older dcks and getting older myself, I find I'm having a much harder time dealing with mixed ages and their temperaments/needs. I'd take a big pay cut of about 50% and just not sure I can afford that right now. I can only have 3 under 2 yo.
I love babies right up through 18 mo+. But maybe I'm just thinking the grass is greener and it wouldn't be as great in reality as in my mind. :)