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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>I'm Pregnant! But I Don't Want To Close
tbutler 07:36 AM 01-23-2012
Me and my husband found out last week that we are expecting our third child at the end of September. We are so happy and excited because we were told we couldn't have anymore children unless we have IVF (guess doctors don't know everything huh?) My plan was to move the daycare from the home we live in to our second home in Aug/Sept before we received this good news. I'm now considering offering only before and after school care, with dropping kids off and picking them up from school only. This way I can still make a little money, teach Pre-k to my now 4 year old, still be there when needed for my 6 year old, and care for soon to be infant and not feel like I'm losing my mind. Basically, I'll be free everyday from approximately 8a-2pm. Has anyone ever done this?
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Blackcat31 07:40 AM 01-23-2012
I don't really have any advice for daycare related stuff but wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS on the preganancy!!!!!
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MyAngels 07:42 AM 01-23-2012
I did that when I first started my daycare nearly 20 years ago. There was no before/after school program in the town I lived in, so there was a huge need. It was an awesome schedule and I basically had kids that my own son and daughter were friends with - it was like getting paid for something I would do anyway (by having their friends over).

When we moved to our current town all of the schools offered a B/A program, so there's no market for it here. Now I don't even offer any type of SA care.

Oh, and congratulations on the new baby, you must be so excited!
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tbutler 07:50 AM 01-23-2012
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
I don't really have any advice for daycare related stuff but wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS on the preganancy!!!!!
Thanks Blackcat!!!!
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AfterSchoolMom 07:53 AM 01-23-2012
Hi, and Congrats to you! I'm due on the 8th, so we're in the same boat.

I've always done B/A care. It definitely has its pros and cons. The hours are awesome, but I strongly advise you to carefully screen your families and kids beforehand. I've had some terrible SA experiences due to not being picky about who I accepted for care.

Right now I'm doing infant care, but will most likely switch to B/A for next year (if I can get kids). It'll be a challenge though, as that's right when school starts. What are you planning to do as far as taking time off?
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tbutler 07:54 AM 01-23-2012
Originally Posted by MyAngels:
I did that when I first started my daycare nearly 20 years ago. There was no before/after school program in the town I lived in, so there was a huge need. It was an awesome schedule and I basically had kids that my own son and daughter were friends with - it was like getting paid for something I would do anyway (by having their friends over).

When we moved to our current town all of the schools offered a B/A program, so there's no market for it here. Now I don't even offer any type of SA care.

Oh, and congratulations on the new baby, you must be so excited!
Thanks for the congratulations! And yes my husband and daughters are very excited. Right now I don't offer any SA care. I would rather not do it. But I would love to keep my business name out there until I decide to start caring for the littles again.
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tbutler 07:58 AM 01-23-2012
Originally Posted by AfterSchoolMom:
Hi, and Congrats to you! I'm due on the 8th, so we're in the same boat.

I've always done B/A care. It definitely has its pros and cons. The hours are awesome, but I strongly advise you to carefully screen your families and kids beforehand. I've had some terrible SA experiences due to not being picky about who I accepted for care.

Right now I'm doing infant care, but will most likely switch to B/A for next year (if I can get kids). It'll be a challenge though, as that's right when school starts. What are you planning to do as far as taking time off?
Yayyyy, I have a September due date buddy! I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I just ran the B/A school idea by my husband this morning. I would need help from him and his family to make this work while I'm down after having the baby. I'm also considering closing the daycare for the summer after my daughter gets out of school. Decisions, decisions huh?
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tbutler 07:59 AM 01-23-2012
Originally Posted by AfterSchoolMom:
Hi, and Congrats to you! I'm due on the 8th, so we're in the same boat.

I've always done B/A care. It definitely has its pros and cons. The hours are awesome, but I strongly advise you to carefully screen your families and kids beforehand. I've had some terrible SA experiences due to not being picky about who I accepted for care.

Right now I'm doing infant care, but will most likely switch to B/A for next year (if I can get kids). It'll be a challenge though, as that's right when school starts. What are you planning to do as far as taking time off?
And congrats to you as well!
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smb757 08:14 AM 01-23-2012
Congrats! I'm also pregnant and due with #3 on 8/3! That's when I plan to quit Mr PT job & do daycare FT. I'm hoping my SIL can help me out for a few weeks until my hubby can switch his shift so that he's home during the day with me, which will happen in September.
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AfterSchoolMom 08:30 AM 01-23-2012
Congrats to you as well, smb! If it all works out for you as planned, it sounds like you have a great situation.

How are you ladies feeling?

tbutler, have you considered hiring a sub? I'm thinking about it, depending on whether or not I have enough families to make it worthwhile. That's the only downside about doing SA care - you can never really be certain how many you'll have until the end of the summer.
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cheerfuldom 08:35 AM 01-23-2012
congrats! no matter what, dont feel that you have to announce this to the dc parents anytime soon.
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tbutler 09:41 AM 01-23-2012
Originally Posted by cheerfuldom:
congrats! no matter what, dont feel that you have to announce this to the dc parents anytime soon.
Thank you. And I'm not telling my parents until I'm at least three months and I've officially decided what I'm going to do.
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tbutler 09:43 AM 01-23-2012
Congrats smb! So how long do you plan on being off after the baby?

@after school mom, I'm feeling fine as long as I eat small meals/snacks every few hours. I'm even working out still. You?

Sub? I don't really care for hiring someone that's not family. The dependable family members on my husbands side are all working or in school full time. The oly person I would want to sub is my teacher assistant that worked with me before we lost our jobs due to budget cuts last school year. Her son is only 5 months, I don't think she's ready to go back to work anytime soon.
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dave4him 10:02 AM 01-23-2012
That is awesome news!

I would stay open and even hire an extra hand if you need to. You do need to rest too though.
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MrsB 07:49 AM 01-24-2012
My 4th child just turned 1. When I had my fourth I let all my daycare parents know well in advance (about my 6th month) in pregnancy I would be taking off 3 weeks of maternity leave. 1 week would be one of my vacation weeks (i get paid half the weekly rate for 2 weeks per year per contract) and the other 2 weeks would be no charge. I had arranged for my husband to take the first week of the kids being back to care to make sure I wasn't over whelmed. I have networked pretty well in this community and gave everyone a list of providers in the area that I recommended. One of the providers even said that she would only charge what I charged. (My tuition is a bit lower than most of the providers in the area) It all went pretty smoothly and I think everyone was okay. I did have two DC parents seem to have issues. One parent waited until 3 weeks before I went on Maternity leave and gave their 2 week notice. Said that she wanted to put him a more structured school invironement even though I do a full day preschool curriculum with them. She called me back after his 2nd day at the center and was crying asking him to be able to come back. The second parent went along with everything but everyday at drop off and pick up would make snide remarks about what an inconvenience it was that she had to mess up everyones routine for 3 weeks and what a burden it was to find someone else for 3 weeks. Whats so ironic about this person is when she had her 2nd child she took a full 12 weeks off and wanted me to hold the spot for her 3 year old while she was off. I was being nice and agreed to do 6 weeks paid at half and 6 weeks not paid for her 3 year old. Then she would call me on the weeks that she paid 1/2 and ask if I could keep her for a couple hours to get a break or take a nap since she paid for that week. Ugggh.

I have learned in all the years of doing daycare to not take things personally, but its so hard when you pour everything into your job, treat their kids like they are your own and then they turn around and treat you like you always "inconvenience" them.

My opinion, do what you need to do and what you think you can handle and nothing more. If people leave because of what you decided to do, so be it. The guilt will be more because you wish you spent more time bonding with your infant or because you didnt give your other children more time to adjust to a new little one, than the guilt you lost a child because you wouldnt bend over backwards for to make someone elses life easier.

Congratulations and let us know how it goes!
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boysx5 09:44 AM 01-24-2012
Yes I did this when I had my 4th and 5th son it was busy in the afternoons but it was nice having most of the day free
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Unregistered 09:58 AM 01-24-2012
Originally Posted by tbutler:
Me and my husband found out last week that we are expecting our third child at the end of September. We are so happy and excited because we were told we couldn't have anymore children unless we have IVF (guess doctors don't know everything huh?) My plan was to move the daycare from the home we live in to our second home in Aug/Sept before we received this good news. I'm now considering offering only before and after school care, with dropping kids off and picking them up from school only. This way I can still make a little money, teach Pre-k to my now 4 year old, still be there when needed for my 6 year old, and care for soon to be infant and not feel like I'm losing my mind. Basically, I'll be free everyday from approximately 8a-2pm. Has anyone ever done this?
CONGRATS on #3. I am pregnant with #4 Im due Feb 11th so anyday now. I closed my daycare down a week and half ago and I am loving just having my own kids here I dont plan on going back thou. If you can get any school agers if not maybe try offering a half day pre k program say from 8 to 12 might find some stay at home moms who would be interested or you could go into drop in care etc. good luck.
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cheerfuldom 12:05 PM 01-24-2012
I had a mom leave right when my maternity leave started too. Not sure how to avoid that unless you amend your contract to state when they can give notice and that any paid vacation time due (like maternity leave) need to be paid for as well as the two weeks notice.
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Tags:after school care, before school, pregnant
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