Even though being low in my numbers makes me freak out financially, I have to say I am enjoying this! I have only 3 kids today and these three all get along very well, it's very nice! I will enjoy it while it lasts I know once I have a couple more kids enrolled I be wishing for these days again!

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I had an unexpected and unusual drop in numbers this year and ended up with only 3 kids some days. I had lots of under-twos on my waiting list, but wanted older kids. So it took me a while to fill up. In the meantime, I decided to take advantage of the low numbers. I wanted my daughter to have swim lessons, so I arranged with the swim school to schedule a class just for our group. I can fit three in my car, so we've been going to swim lessons once a week. It's fabulous! Of course, the minute I got the lessons arranged, I got enough kids to fill up. But I told them all "we have swim lessons on Mondays, so you'll have to wait until they're over for me to accommodate the days you want." We have four weeks of lessons left and I'm mourning the loss already. Now I've decided that as soon as anyone leaves, I'm going to keep one day a week with only 3 kids. (Probably not for a year and a half, when some go to kindergarten, darnit!) I'll be homeschooling my daughter, so to me, the lost income of those three other kids one day a week is worth the flexibility to get out now and again.

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I'm thinking about the warmer days coming up too, and we'll be able to go the park more and go for more walks, things that aren't the easiest with a full load of kids

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I had a drop last year and have slowly been climbing back up. It was super nice that the one family I had over most of the summer attended 3-5 days a week. The drop in pay was horrible, but at least I could hang out doing free things with my own at least once a week. This summer, that won't happen, but I will dream of it.

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I too had a drop last fall and only had 3 kiddos. Enjoyed the easier days. I have been very picky about who I enroll and only filled one of my spots last week! A 2yo boy who will be perfect for my 2yo dcb! I also have a current family due with baby number 3 in May, so by mid August I'll be back up to my preferred number of kiddos (5).

Yes, it got a little stressful with the drop in income but we made it work. Really dh only complaint is that we weren't able to save as much as we should.

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I only had 2-3 per day over Spring Break for various reasons. It was wonderful! Paying the bills that week was less than wonderful, but it was still nice to have that little break.

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I seem to have the opposite experiences.

Whenever I have days with half or less of my normal enrollment, it is pure chaos. It's crazy and the kids do not seem to get along as well at all.

I dread quieter days...

I am so glad though that you ladies are finding the positives in light of needing more kids!!

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I agree with this. I had added to my above post about the days seeming longer with a smaller group but decided to leave that part out and just focus on the positives. But I do like it better with my full group. The hardest/longest days for me is when I only had 1 or 2 kiddos.

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