I took this from a blog post I did many months ago -
12 Things Daycare Providers Wish Parents Knew. I finally got smart enough to include the whole thing in my Parent Handbook.
#5 – Daycare Providers are in it for the money.
Yes, Home Daycare Providers do this job because they love children. But would you do your job if you couldn’t pay the bills with it? And Home Daycare Providers are not “raking it in”. Yes, I’ve seen parents do the mental math when they think about what they’re paying and multiply it by the number of kids in my care. Yes, we do make that amount, but then we deduct taxes (about 15%), daycare groceries and cleaning supplies (about 14%), extra insurance and utilities (about 10%), and any new toys, furniture, or outdoor equipment or repairs to our homes caused by running the daycare (5% – 20%). If you really do the math, you’ll see that we’re making much less than minimum wage.
... but now I realize that I left out curriculum costs, which adds even more to our expense list ...!