I, too, offer care 24/7. Right at the moment, I only have one family with three girls and they only come for about 5 hours on Wednesdays because I’m pregnant, my husband is leaving for Afghanistan soon for at least a year, and we don’t really need the money at the moment. Once I have the baby and begin to feel comfortable, I will be advertising for 24/7. I don’t charge as much for third shift as I do any other shift. I also make it very clear to parents in interviews that this is a family. My family will continue to live their lives and their children will be part of what my family does while they are here. There are a few exceptions. For example, I might bring my daughter to one of my doctor’s appointments but I wouldn’t bring a daycare kid. Other than that, I treat all my dck like they are part of the family. I also don’t fill to capacity on any shift. So I don’t have a house full of kids constantly. I have my own and 1 or 2 more. Yes, I think that trying to do multiple shifts of daytime type care (projects, activities, games, etc) would be way too much. But it’s also way too much for kids. I do those things for 1st shift, a few of those things for 2nd shift but mostly self-directed play, and sleep for 3rd shift.

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