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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Losing Income Because of the Girl/Boy Ratio
LovetheSun 02:10 AM 09-19-2016
Hi everyone!

We have a big issue with the girl/boy ratio for the coming months and because of that our enrollments are on hold (for 2017) and I have one space open at the moment (saved in case we find a boy which is a big lost of income).

We have only 2 boys and 6 girls...which never happened before.

Do any of you had issue from such an imbalance in boy/girl? Would you recommend me to keep my space open for a boy or would it be ok to have another girl in the program?

Thank you all, I value your opinions!
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Josiegirl 02:45 AM 09-19-2016
Wouldn't that be considered discrimination? I'd fill it with either gender.
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Josiegirl 02:51 AM 09-19-2016
The balance seems to shift in cycles. Years ago, I had mainly boys. A dcg was pulled because, according to her mom, only wanted to play with trucks and not dolls. So the place she brought her to, had a more even balance. But dcg did NOT get along with the dcprovider's dd. So it probably wasn't even a month before she was asking to bring her dd back. No sorry, space is filled.

Right now, my dc is all girls, except when my 8 yo dcb comes during days off from school. I really love my group now and have kidded with dcms who get pregnant that they cannot have a boy.
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Play Care 02:53 AM 09-19-2016
I wouldn't keep a space open if I found a good fit of either gender. I do feel your pain, for the last several years I've been really boy heavy and I'm over it. I did start a couple of baby girls, but if I get a boy to fill my open spots I'm taking him.
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Unregistered 04:02 AM 09-19-2016
I started mostly girls and now I'm mostly boys. I fill my slots with the best family, not the right sexual orientation.
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LysesKids 04:03 AM 09-19-2016
Originally Posted by LovetheSun:
Hi everyone!

We have a big issue with the girl/boy ratio for the coming months and because of that our enrollments are on hold (for 2017) and I have one space open at the moment (saved in case we find a boy which is a big lost of income).

We have only 2 boys and 6 girls...which never happened before.

Do any of you had issue from such an imbalance in boy/girl? Would you recommend me to keep my space open for a boy or would it be ok to have another girl in the program?

Thank you all, I value your opinions!
I went from being all girls and one boy to all boys and one girl... I would fill the spot with any kid doesn't matter the gender... as it looks, next year I'm going back to almost all girls again lol
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DaveA 04:10 AM 09-19-2016
It seems to go in cycles- right now I'm 50/50. 2 years ago I had 1 girl and my DD. In a couple years you might have it completely reversed. I wouldn't worry about it. Go for the best fit for your program.
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jenboo 05:05 AM 09-19-2016
This is the second time I've had all boys and one girl.
I agree that it sounds like discrimination if you hold out for a specific gender. I would just enroll a child and family that fits your program best, regardless of gender.
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childcaremom 05:16 AM 09-19-2016
I have one boy and the rest are girls. I choose whomever is the best fit, regardless of gender.
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Miss A 05:27 AM 09-19-2016
When I first got into DC I worked in a center in the infant room. We had 7 boys, and 1 girl. Slowly, our enrollment changed and we had more girls than boys.

Now that I am on my own, I have more girls than boys. Depending on the gender of my own baby, I could even the scales a bit, but we are thinking baby is a girl, and I have another family due with a baby girl at the end of the year, so the boy of my group will just have to deal.
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Lovisa 05:52 AM 09-19-2016
I only have boys. And since doing daycare for the last few years, I have literally only had one girl. Honestly, I've never even thought about the girl/boy ratio or it being difficult to find another child to fill a spot. If the family is a good fit, that's all I care about! I don't see why it would matter
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Silly Songs 06:15 AM 09-19-2016
Miss A, you haven't had your baby yet ? 2 women I know had a baby over the weekend, one wasn't due for 2 weeks. Come on baby A !
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Play Care 06:27 AM 09-19-2016
Originally Posted by Lovisa:
I only have boys. And since doing daycare for the last few years, I have literally only had one girl. Honestly, I've never even thought about the girl/boy ratio or it being difficult to find another child to fill a spot. If the family is a good fit, that's all I care about! I don't see why it would matter
I do.
Having had mostly boys the last few years, I am so over it. While I didn't specifically hold spaces for girls, I did make it clear I wanted more girls in my program. I do find having a better balance of genders to be ideal. Too many boys and it's constant redirection from wrestling and play fighting, too many girls and it's drama-rama. When it's more balanced I find the kids play better together, IME.
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Lovisa 06:32 AM 09-19-2016
Originally Posted by Play Care:
I do.
Having had mostly boys the last few years, I am so over it. While I didn't specifically hold spaces for girls, I did make it clear I wanted more girls in my program. I do find having a better balance of genders to be ideal. Too many boys and it's constant redirection from wrestling and play fighting, too many girls and it's drama-rama. When it's more balanced I find the kids play better together, IME.
No issues with wrestling and play fighting here with the 5 boys I have.
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Miss A 06:55 AM 09-19-2016
Originally Posted by Silly Songs:
Miss A, you haven't had your baby yet ? 2 women I know had a baby over the weekend, one wasn't due for 2 weeks. Come on baby A !
No, no baby yet! I think he/she is determined to live with mom forever!
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Unregistered 06:55 AM 09-19-2016
Originally Posted by Lovisa:
No issues with wrestling and play fighting here with the 5 boys I have.
Agreed. I have mostly boys now and no issues. Some of my dcgs can be much worse than the boys!
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Blackcat31 07:09 AM 09-19-2016
Originally Posted by Lovisa:
I only have boys. And since doing daycare for the last few years, I have literally only had one girl. Honestly, I've never even thought about the girl/boy ratio or it being difficult to find another child to fill a spot. If the family is a good fit, that's all I care about! I don't see why it would matter
I agree! I've never thought about gender as a deciding factor when enrolling but if I had to choose, I'd rather have a dozen boys than a group of girls.

The drama girls bring is so above my pay grade
The physical element the boys bring is so much more manageable.

(generally speaking)
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Play Care 07:18 AM 09-19-2016
See, I don't view one gender as better or worse than another.

But I do see the value in BALANCE.

With the gender neutral trend in parenting I find that issues that were once "girl" issues and "boy" issues have transcended genders. Girls are just as likely to be loud and play fight and boys can be just as dramatic and verbally aggressive as girls.

In general though I do find having an even number of boys and girls to be ideal for me.
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knoxmomof2 07:25 AM 09-19-2016
Haha! I've joked to my DD that I would prefer an all-girls group.

Originally Posted by Josiegirl:
Right now, my dc is all girls, except when my 8 yo dcb comes during days off from school. I really love my group now and have kidded with dcms who get pregnant that they cannot have a boy.

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knoxmomof2 07:34 AM 09-19-2016
I currently have 2 girls, 1 boy. My max is 4, so I'm trying to fill that last spot. The child in it previously was a boy (older stepbrother of the 1 boy I have left). He left me for Preschool after the parents took forever to come to an agreement on which school - they're split, so everything is a fight. By the time they found a place, he was just too much behavior-wise and I just needed him gone. I didn't care about notice.

So... Between my own boy (13) and these two boys, I'm kind of jaded in that regard 😕 I wouldn't turn someone away based solely on gender, but I would definitely prefer at least 50% girls. I have a good lead (a referral) on a baby boy, so I'll probably end up with 2/2 if all goes well. I like the parents so far.
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Leigh 07:39 AM 09-19-2016
I would absolutely not hold a spot based on sex. I had all boys for years, then had one girl for 2 years with the rest boys. Now, I do have more girls, but am still weighted toward boys. I agree that I'd rather take boys, I find them so much easier, but I don't turn away either sex. I get my spots filled-that's all that matters.
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laundrymom 07:40 AM 09-19-2016
I worry more about parent personality than gender. Lol.
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Mike 07:45 AM 09-19-2016
I won't have any preference when the time comes, mostly.

Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
I agree! I've never thought about gender as a deciding factor when enrolling but if I had to choose, I'd rather have a dozen boys than a group of girls.

The drama girls bring is so above my pay grade
The physical element the boys bring is so much more manageable.

(generally speaking)
I'm opposite you, probably because I take after my father, but not as bad. We all knew he preferred our little sister over myself and my brother. Could be just because she was the baby of the family, but he had a definite bias toward her. Arguments or fights, it was always the boys fault. Choices, always our sister first. It was so bad that he would send one or both of us to our room, and our mother would then send our sister to her room, (takes 2 to fight), then we'd hear mom and dad fighting.

The first 2 families I babysat for were mostly girls. 4 girls in one and 2g and 1b in the other, so I had an excuse to have fun doing pretend baking and playing with dolls.

Originally Posted by Play Care:
See, I don't view one gender as better or worse than another.

But I do see the value in BALANCE.

With the gender neutral trend in parenting I find that issues that were once "girl" issues and "boy" issues have transcended genders. Girls are just as likely to be loud and play fight and boys can be just as dramatic and verbally aggressive as girls.

In general though I do find having an even number of boys and girls to be ideal for me.
If I had to choose between boys or girls, I would choose girls, but my preference would be a nice balance.

What should OP do? Take whoever fits best, boy or girl. The limit where I will be opening is 5. If I had 4 of one gender, it still wouldn't affect my choice for the last spot.
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MunchkinWrangler 08:00 AM 09-19-2016
Yeah, I have never considered enrollment based on gender....

I have wished for more boys but have always had girls for enrollment and my son was the only boy.

I would assume this would be considered discrimination.
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Blackcat31 08:01 AM 09-19-2016
Originally Posted by Mike:
I won't have any preference when the time comes, mostly.



I'm opposite you, probably because I take after my father, but not as bad. We all knew he preferred our little sister over myself and my brother. Could be just because she was the baby of the family, but he had a definite bias toward her. Arguments or fights, it was always the boys fault. Choices, always our sister first. It was so bad that he would send one or both of us to our room, and our mother would then send our sister to her room, (takes 2 to fight), then we'd hear mom and dad fighting.

The first 2 families I babysat for were mostly girls. 4 girls in one and 2g and 1b in the other, so I had an excuse to have fun doing pretend baking and playing with dolls.



If I had to choose between boys or girls, I would choose girls, but my preference would be a nice balance.

What should OP do? Take whoever fits best, boy or girl. The limit where I will be opening is 5. If I had 4 of one gender, it still wouldn't affect my choice for the last spot.
I agree with Playcare about BALANCE

I've had both genders be rough, dramatic, easy-going, and/or difficult.

I think your (caregiver) temperament and dominant traits directly affect which behaviors or temperaments you relate to or manage better. Generally speaking of course.
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Orange2001 08:22 AM 09-19-2016
I have 5 kids right now as a Lealy License Exempt Provider and have 4 girls (2, 10 month olds, 1 19 month old, 1 4yo) to 1 boy (2y 4m). I have a good mix of toys probably boy heavy actully cause my sister has a 2 yo boy and sends me all his stuff. And my 4 yo goes to K5 next Aug so I won't have openings till then unless I finish my licenses and I'm still on the fence on if I want to or not ...
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KiwiKids 08:48 AM 09-19-2016
I always seem to end up with girls. I've only had 3 boys in 11 years! I don't pursue girls... I'd rather have a mix but I don't seem to get as many boys.
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MrsSteinel'sHouse 08:59 AM 09-19-2016
I have had the whole mix- all boys, mostly girls, a mix. I have a mix right now. What I find more important is the right mix of ages
I usually look at my group and say I need a_________. 2 yr old or an infant. Not I need to balance my boys and girls. Right now I have a nice match up of ages so that they play nicely together.
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thrivingchildcarecom 10:13 AM 09-19-2016
I have a colleague that faces this issue regularly. Actually, I think we all do. I have looked up and realized that I have mostly boys now with only 2 girls. It happens and then it flips and there will be more girls than boys. The simple fact is for many of us this is simply out of our control. We decide to enroll the children that come to our child cares. We never know who is coming it could be girls or boys, we just never know.

My suggestion would be to fill that spot. Even if its another girl. If prospective parents have an issue with the ratio, I would point out that it changes all the time. While there may be more of one sex than the other, it is an opportunity for the child to get along better with that other sex.

Hope that made sense.
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EntropyControlSpecialist 11:00 AM 09-19-2016
Originally Posted by childcaremom:
I have one boy and the rest are girls. I choose whomever is the best fit, regardless of gender.
I choose like this, too. My group has cycled and I've only ever had ONE parent who cared. They're enrolled 2 days a week.
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LovetheSun 12:52 PM 09-19-2016
Thank you so much for your replies! I am just worried for the boys, one mom pointed out that her son was not doing well around other boys since they play rough and he is not used to it. I have no preferences in gender at all, I wasn't sure if is was unusual to have such uneven ratio.

Is very helpful to read all your experiences. Is such a big loss in income for us, and if I fill up that spot that will mean we have 2 boys 7 girls until June 2017 but I guess is ok then

Is a big relieve to know is common!
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daycare 01:41 PM 09-19-2016
Originally Posted by Josiegirl:
The balance seems to shift in cycles. Years ago, I had mainly boys. A dcg was pulled because, according to her mom, only wanted to play with trucks and not dolls. So the place she brought her to, had a more even balance. But dcg did NOT get along with the dcprovider's dd. So it probably wasn't even a month before she was asking to bring her dd back. No sorry, space is filled.

Right now, my dc is all girls, except when my 8 yo dcb comes during days off from school. I really love my group now and have kidded with dcms who get pregnant that they cannot have a boy.
DITTO....it's crazy how the waves of gender changes about every 5-6 years. I had this same thing happen where I had all boys an 18mo old girl and a 4yr old girl. 14 kids total. I could not get a girl enrolled to save my life. Now it's the other way around...
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daycare 01:43 PM 09-19-2016
while you can't advertise or decline a client based on gender, I was posting on our BF, guess the boys didn't care to learn about the princess in the castle today, if you know of anyone who would, let them know we have openings.

I didn't point out any gender, just said who would be interested. I am now the other way around. Almost all girls...It's crazy.
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Controlled Chaos 01:56 PM 09-19-2016
I am always boy heavy, don't know why. I do tend to contact parents on my wait list with girls first but it hasn't really made a difference. My DD is just has physical and "play fight" oriented as the little boys. I would like a few more girls, but the parents don't seem to mind, the only comment they make are ones alluding to them worrying about my sanity
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Lil_Diddle 04:56 PM 09-19-2016
Originally Posted by LysesKids:
I went from being all girls and one boy to all boys and one girl... I would fill the spot with any kid doesn't matter the gender... as it looks, next year I'm going back to almost all girls again lol
Same here! When I started I had all girls one boy. I quit for two years and now it's all boys one girl. I wouldn't even know what to do with a balanced ratio.
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TomCopeland 09:55 AM 09-21-2016
Originally Posted by Josiegirl:
Wouldn't that be considered discrimination? I'd fill it with either gender.
it is against the law to discriminate based on the sex of the child.
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