Professionalmom....let's start by saying, I never claimed to "KNOW EVERYTHING" my goodness, what is this, high school?

So, you're right, YOU didn't earn $2 per hour. If you try to get clientele and run an 8-5 business, it's not going to happen. Those are the hours parents are generally at work....they need care from minimum of 7-6, generally. So, you ended up going for the more varied hours and would have only a few children at a time, working around the clock, so it doesn't add up to $2-3 per hour. BUT, most providers do have set hours, where they have the whole group together at one time, so THEY do and are making more than $2 per hour. I suppose I could have broken it down, that we don't all have 10 kids, but I was just generalizing, as most of us have somewhere between 6-14 kids...I have 14. So, I was kinda averaging it out, to make it simple....although you see I did also say 5 kids.... never said everyone has 10 kids or everyone makes $20 per hour.

Also,I have to say, anybody who runs a childcare program needs to treat it as any other business. You set up a budget....if you aren't making enough money to purchase supplies, etc. you change your budget and buy what the program can afford....just as with a household budget....you don't buy new markers and paint if you cannot afford them. Why run your business into the gorund and end up losing money simply to purchase supplies that we can live without.

One request, if you want to COMPLETELY derail a thread that has a legitimite discussion occurring, please start a new thread. This thread was about higher education.