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New Members - Welcome to the Daycare.com Forum!>I Wish I Had Known Before I Started...
badger411 12:50 PM 05-24-2016
I wish I had known before I started how many parents would lie, change pickup times, and have payment problems. I wish I had known how difficult it was to work with social services, and how much I dreaded whether today would be the surprise visit that I am totally unprepared for. I wish I had known how hard it was to get reimbursed for parents on assistance. I wish I had known how much it would cost out of pocket to become licensed. I wish I had known that 9 months in, I would still be working a second job in order to survive. I wish I had known that I would always be broke. I wish I had known how hard it would be to work with the food program. I wish I had just stayed an unlicensed provider with my original 4 kids. I had a lot of ideas and goals when I started, and that has all gone in the garbage as I just try to survive one more day.
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Thriftylady 01:03 PM 05-24-2016
That is part of the reason I have chosen to remain legally unlicensed. The cost alone of being licensed where I am is prohibitive.
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AmyKidsCo 01:24 PM 05-24-2016


Hopefully things will smooth out with time. It's hard to do everything at once.
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Unregistered 02:07 PM 05-24-2016
Having done this job for 30 yrs i want to encourage you that it can get better. We all get discouraged, but you must weigh the pros and the cons against each other. This job has been the greatest job and at times the worst job. It enabled me to stay home with my six kids, now grown, grow as a professional and see my vision made long ago come to be. I am happier than i have ever been, having made it through rough times, become more business savy, wise and patient. If u want a short term job this is not a good fit, but if u want to grow it like one would slowly nurture a child to an adult then it can be rewarding as you look back. Be kind to yourself, take a lot of deep breaths, create a vision then go for it but make some boundaries on your business and time. Best wishes to you and i feel ya!
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badger411 02:23 PM 05-24-2016
We were doing fine for awhile. The problem is that my wife had knee surgery and had complications and ended up in the hospital. So we were closed for the surgery, 4 days she was hospitalized, plus she missed 7 weeks at her other job. So we are a month behind on our mortgage, behind on all our credit cards that we used to finance starting the business, our credit rating is non-existent. I am constantly worried that something else will go wrong with the house we bought (that was totally misrepresented by the seller and the seller's Realtor). There are so many things wrong with it that it would be easier to list what IS good. I am worried that our second car will give out at any second and we won't be able to replace it, due to credit scores in the toilet. I need to replace the windows in 2 of our rooms in the basement to bring them up to code so that I can legally use those rooms for sleeping use and not just playing. Who knows how much that will cost. Our front screen door broke in a wind storm, and a new one is $200, plus who knows how much to get it installed. I need the carpet replaced in the daycare area due to flooding the first week we moved in due to a broken water heater pipe 9 months ago. We can't get a loan anywhere. We have trashed the house we bought by using it for daycare.
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badger411 02:30 PM 05-24-2016
There is no personal time. Most weeks, we have kids 7 days a week. I work week nights as a cashier, my wife works weekends in customer service. My health insurance through work will end at the end of the year since I am only part time, so that will be another added expense. As I said, I came into this with dreams of doing everything right. Story time, Pre-K, structured play, and everything else, and the reality was overwhelming before the first week was over. It's too late to go back, since I bought the house and can't afford it without the daycare income. But my heart is certainly not in the same place it was a year ago when I was planning all of this.
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Mike 04:27 PM 05-24-2016
Here in Ontario, Canada, the benefits of being licensed just aren't worth the costs and hassle. That's why I will be starting my legal unlicensed care soon. Only way I will be going licensed is if daycare goes so well that I decide to start a daycare center.
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Thriftylady 04:36 PM 05-24-2016
Originally Posted by badger411:
There is no personal time. Most weeks, we have kids 7 days a week. I work week nights as a cashier, my wife works weekends in customer service. My health insurance through work will end at the end of the year since I am only part time, so that will be another added expense. As I said, I came into this with dreams of doing everything right. Story time, Pre-K, structured play, and everything else, and the reality was overwhelming before the first week was over. It's too late to go back, since I bought the house and can't afford it without the daycare income. But my heart is certainly not in the same place it was a year ago when I was planning all of this.
Well the problem with daycare income is that it isn't stable sometimes. I haven't found a way around that. I would look at being sure you get some time off, 24/7 care is taxing. I hope you are charging a higher rate for nights and weekends. If those are more profitable, perhaps take on less daytime children.

As far as windows and doors, are you doing the work yourself? Hubby is a truck driver so he isn't home much and we rent now. But see if there is a building salvage near you. Habitat for humanity has their "Restore" in many places. You can get good stuff at a lower price if you look around for it.
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sleepinghart 06:36 AM 05-28-2016
Originally Posted by badger411:
I wish I had known before I started how many parents would lie, change pickup times, and have payment problems. I wish I had known how difficult it was to work with social services, and how much I dreaded whether today would be the surprise visit that I am totally unprepared for. I wish I had known how hard it was to get reimbursed for parents on assistance. I wish I had known how much it would cost out of pocket to become licensed. I wish I had known that 9 months in, I would still be working a second job in order to survive. I wish I had known that I would always be broke. I wish I had known how hard it would be to work with the food program. I wish I had just stayed an unlicensed provider with my original 4 kids. I had a lot of ideas and goals when I started, and that has all gone in the garbage as I just try to survive one more day.
(^^bolding^^ by me)
~I wish I had known before I started...

..about this forum right here for starters!

That would have been a HUGE help!
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Mike 11:52 AM 05-28-2016
Originally Posted by sleepinghart:
I wish I had known before I started...

..about this forum right here for starters!

That would have been a HUGE help!
I got lucky there. I found this forum when researching before starting. I've had a lot of help from here with preparing.
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Tags:burn out, burnout, enforcing policies - consistency, life choices, parents - don't cooperate, parents - lying, training
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