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Old 04-22-2016, 07:49 AM
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Default Another Question, For Anyone Here - Day or Off Hours Care?

I am going to be doing child care in the next few months, but I'm thinking about 2 different directions. The one I go will probably be more of a "how it all goes" thing, but I'm considering offering off hours care rather than full time daycare. Here are my plans in more detail.

I'm currently unemployed because home renovations died just before Christmas and it's usually back to full time by now, but I made the decision that I'm done with that. I know I want to do child care because I've done a lot of work with children; being in charge of our Sunday School bus for 3 years, a Sunday School teacher assistant for a few months, a lot of tutoring, a lot of babysitting for as long as 5 days straight, and a few other things. There is no need for child care in my area. 2 summers ago I bought a lot of stuff I will be needing from home daycares that closed. I'm planning on moving to a bigger city, but not Toronto.

I'm going to get a job in another city, rent an apartment for a few months, save a bit and look for a house that has a good sized yard, probably just outside of the city. Once I find a house, start advertising for occasional evening or weekend care while keeping my job and working on woodworking. Once I can afford to quit the job, my income will be woodworking and child care.

My 2 different directions...

Either do mainly woodworking and continue with off hours care, or switch to full time care and do part time woodworking, as finances require and time permits. Which way I go will probably be affected by how each one goes, but I need to decide which way I would rather go to know what to put more emphasis on.

All of you providing or looking for child care, do you think daycare or off hours care would be the most likely way to go, and why? Is it harder for parents to find evening and weekend care, or do family and friends usually do that?
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Old 04-22-2016, 07:53 AM
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I offer evening, overnight and some weekend care. But most of my calls are for Mon-Friday. I have found also that most parents don't want more than one provider. But it may vary by area.
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Old 04-22-2016, 07:55 AM
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I started doing shift work for EMS/Fire. 24 on 48 off. Worked great for a while, but very limited market.

12 hour swing shifts are in high demand close to hospitals.
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Old 04-22-2016, 08:32 AM
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Once I can quit my regular job and live on the woodworking and child care, shift work, or any time care is what I would do. I just do whatever woodworking I need depending on how much care I do. Plus, some woodworking can be done while caring. I mean only things like doing some finish work while kids are napping, or if I'm watching older children, they could even help with some of the work. Children love to help make things, and I'd even let them take something home now and then.

One reason I think woodworking and child care is a good match is because I make things like balance beams, water tables, board games, etc, so I don't have to buy everything.


The more I talk (post) about this, the more excited I am about getting relocated and getting my plans in motion. I realise daycare has it's battles and stress, but I know I'm going to love taking care of children as a source of income. I've done enough of it for free.
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Old 04-22-2016, 09:04 AM
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I offer "hours based upon work schedules" but only Monday-Friday. I let parents tell me what hours they want, and I let them know if that's something I can accommodate. It's worked out pretty well. In my area most of the need is a typical Monday-Friday 7-5shift.

My husband is always building stuff for us so woodworking is definitely an asset! Although I'm pretty sure I terrified another mom once when I explained my 4 year old can successfully use a real drill and various other tools and has been "helping" my husband in the garage since he was 2 lol.
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Old 04-22-2016, 09:40 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by finsup View Post
I'm pretty sure I terrified another mom once when I explained my 4 year old can successfully use a real drill and various other tools and has been "helping" my husband in the garage since he was 2 lol.
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Old 04-22-2016, 09:49 AM
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I always believe the more services you offer the better your business model. Off-hour care I would imagine would be harder to find in general so it is definitely worth exploring. I currently offer babysitting & event care through my assistants. The service has been received quite well and is growing fast. I say go for it and see what happens.
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Old 04-22-2016, 10:01 AM
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I started off trying to be an off hours childcare. I had heard shift workers complain for years about the lack of childcare available after 5 PM. I didn't get ONE response for off hours care. Not one. I filled up with daytime kids, and occasionally get calls from someone looking for care until 11PM, but they're rare (and I no longer am willing to do after hours).
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Old 04-22-2016, 01:15 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thrivingchildcarecom View Post
I always believe the more services you offer the better your business model. Off-hour care I would imagine would be harder to find in general so it is definitely worth exploring. I currently offer babysitting & event care through my assistants. The service has been received quite well and is growing fast. I say go for it and see what happens.
That's what I believe too. When I started a website hosting business 14 years ago, I was being different. Back then, you had to register a domain name at one place, go somewhere else to get hosting for your site, then hire someone else do design your site. I went into business offering the works. Even with minimal advertising, I was going full time in less than a year. No there is too much competition and other options, so that business stopped being profitable 6 years ago.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Leigh View Post
I started off trying to be an off hours childcare. I had heard shift workers complain for years about the lack of childcare available after 5 PM. I didn't get ONE response for off hours care. Not one. I filled up with daytime kids, and occasionally get calls from someone looking for care until 11PM, but they're rare (and I no longer am willing to do after hours).
Definitely can't do regular day care and evenings and weekends on top of that. That would be too much for anyone to handle, no matter how much you love kids.

One problem with after hours would be consistency.
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Old 04-25-2016, 09:04 PM
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I believe in Michigan we are required to have beds for overnight care instead of cots and pnp. So for me, it would be lack of space to have a room dedicated to sleeping kids.
Have you read through your state rules on off hour or night time care?
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Old 04-26-2016, 02:49 AM
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I wish we were open normal hours!

At my job we open 6-11.

A big thing for our families is that we have a good amount of commuters.

My "off" kids schedules are:
6 am-7pm
3-7
4pm-7/8/9/10/11 (mom is a waiter)
4-8
3-10 (drop in)

And we open weekends. We have a 8-6 on Saturda .

While it is tiring, it has served its purpose as we are one of few extended hour places
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Old 04-26-2016, 01:40 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 284878 View Post
Have you read through your state rules on off hour or night time care?
I haven't checked into the overnight rules yet, but plan to have proper beds anyway. I already have 2 beds, 1 for babies and one for toddlers.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Jazzii View Post
While it is tiring, it has served its purpose as we are one of few extended hour places
That's why I'm thinking of doing that. It is harder to find evening, overnight, and weekend care, so being in a market with even more demand makes being male a bit less of an obstacle. If I get to be liked so much that parents ask me about full time daycare, I may switch, but I know I won't do both. No matter how much I love taking care of children, I know I will need time off.
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