For your day care? I'm trying to get inspired
Is there a schedule that you've adapted that makes your day run smoothly? A toy that may have been a big investment but pays for itself daily? A policy you implemented that you wonder why you waited so long?

Let's here some positive changes that you've made and how you have benefited.

A few things I've done:

Changed my hours on Friday so that I close at 4:00.

Bought the magnet tot locks for my cabinets. We don't have to have them, but the others didn't last and the kids could easily get around them. No one opens these and I love that I can turn them off on evenings and weekends.

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Awesome! Im gonna check out the magnet tot locks. That sounds awesome!

The best thing I have done for my daycare is implement a monthly tuition, rather than weekly.

I average the tuition for the year so that I am paid the same amount every month even when I have my vacation weeks. I also don't feel like I am always asking for money (as I did when I charged weekly). I also now require a 30 day notice which helps with income security since this is my only income. I LOVE this. It also eliminates parents asking on holiday weeks if they have to pay. HEHE

I look forward to hearing what others say!

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I had a terrible time with parents saying "oh, it's only 8 inches of snow, I grew up in the area, and I have a 4WD truck..." So, there I am out shoveling the aforementioned 8 inches of snow from my driveway and sidewalk so I don't run the risk of getting sued from a fall. I was constantly checking out my window to see how much snow we had before I would decide to close...and there were always parents trying to get their kids here. I finally just changed my policy...if the school is closed, I am closed. If they are on a 2-hour delay (elementary starts at 11 here on a 2-hr delay), I open at 10 (2 hours past my start time of 8 a.m.). Sooo much better!!!

I have a change to shovel the sidewalk and driveway on the 2-hour delays, and I can play with my kiddos in the snow on snow days.

The other thing I changed was vacations. I put in all of our birthdays and our anniversary (5 days a year), then took off for Easter, Good Friday, 3 days around Thanksgiving, a week at Christmas and Veteran's Day (we are both veterans).

So much better!

Don't be afraid to take off the days that would make you resent your business, and don't be afraid to change how you operate. That's part of the fun of owning your own business - you can change the rules.

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I do the same... monthly pay; it also gets me slightly better clientele lol. I explain that my unpaid vacations & holiday closings are already figured in when I average the fees.

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Oh, I love these types of threads.

I love my new schedule change. I always start children at 10-12 mos. So they still need two naps usually. It was a long day with no downtime as I would let them sleep 2 hours in the morning and then they wouldn't be ready for their later nap until everyone else was getting up. It was hard to get anything done and reduced our outdoor time.

Now my double nappers have a one hour nap in the morning. While they nap is when we do our sensory and creativity stuff and our morning circle activities. Then I wake them and we all go outside to play. Everyone eats lunch together and then everyone goes back down together for afternoon nap. Love it. Makes my day flow so much more smoothly. They seem to adjust to group care a lot more quickly, too.



ETA: I also changed my mindset. I started treating this as a business and a job. Not just a way to stay home with my own children. I enrolled my children in afterschool care, which they love, and now can focus 100% on running the daycare. It has taken so much stress out of my day, my girls are happier, and I feel more professional. I miss not having them here but it works so much better all around, for everyone. Plus, I feel a lot more capable of enforcing my policies, more confidence in how I run things, and I enjoy it a lot more. I felt pulled in a hundred different directions before. Now it's so easy to focus on the group, what is best for the group, what is the group going to be doing next, etc etc.

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I also do monthly billing, its so nice not too worry about collecting money non stop. I also am taking more days off this year. Every month the amount is same regardless of holidays, it keeps the math to a minimum. If I have to close unexpectedly I credit them on the next month tuition.

My monthly themes and rotating (often theme related) toys keeps me so much more interested in their play. Decorating the daycare room to go with the theme, helps me not feel like I spend every day looking at the same walls

This song: "I am happy, I am good. I am happy, I am good. You are learning, I am too. You are learning and I am too." I adapted it from (correct me if you know better) a Hindu children's chant/song. My friend learned it at a Yoga retreat and taught me the gist and I changed it a bit. I start singing it when I child is grumpy, throwing a tantrum, or when I am getting grumpy at them. The other children join in and we sing it a few times through and then move on. I sing it while changing the poopy bum of a potty trained/capable child, it reminds me to be calm. I really like it.

I listen to music that makes me happy.

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Taking all Holidays/Vacation/Professional days/emergency days with 52 weeks pay regardless.

Closing at 4:30

AND NO SCHOOL AGE

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I stopped taking school agers after my first few months open.

I set myself apart from the other day cares by finding something I could implement that others don't. For me, that is having someone come in a few hours a week to teach Spanish. The kids love it and it is something that start slowly teaching here in Kindergarten. So dcf's feel like they are getting a head start. I also do curriculum and other things, but so do other people.

I am in the process of changing my hours from 7:30-5:30. I have a few grandfathered in. I was open 7-6.

I raised my rates after my initial opening to a higher end rate. I think I'm worth it. I was $125 a week, now I am $160. But clients who were with at a cheaper rate get to keep that rate until they exit my program.

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Yes - this. Every time I am filling a new spot I raise my rate by $10-20 a month more (I did a huge pay hike for everyone a year ago when I switched to 52 weeks a year pay) and try to find someone as close to 8-4:30 as possible. I am open 7-5 right now, but try to keep the bulk between 8and4:30 so I can be clean and super closed by 5pm on the dot It takes a while to get the perfect time and pay with many families grandfathered in, but I tend to like the families I have had longer better anyway

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let's see, I will try to give different things then listed (although no school age!)

Limited space in my house for childcare! This way I still feel like I have my house and kids not running around everywhere!

No TV time at all.

Closing time is closing time No you may not be late.

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Exactly. I have paid holidays but unpaid vacation. So they can see in their contract that they do not pay for my vacation, but I still get paid the same each month.

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-Stopped taking school aged kids.
-Bought a mirror from the school catalog and put it on my door (not the front door but the door that was in the playroom and went to garage). The kids loved it and my grandkids still do and I could also see around corners.
-Installed a retractable gate on a larger than normal opening. Loved that thing!
-As I got older, I stopped running at full capacity. Our allowable number was 6 but I only took 3. That was a luxury.
-Had a 2 page contract and no handbook. This allowed me to address the really important things and the rest I could just say (as things came up) "I don't allow that for such and such reason, sure you understand." I didn't feel like I needed a policy about every little thing. My provider friend just called it her Guidelines and it was one page. You don't follow the guidelines feel free to leave. I didn't like being bound to a contract except for the most important things like payment, sick policies, etc. It was for my benefit more than for their benefit.

Laurel

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There was a time I didn't charge for holidays or any time I was closed or even days the dcfs didn't come for whatever reason. Now I charge 52 weeks a year.
I'm more selective about families at interview time because I've learned how important dynamics are within our days. Way back when, I took everybody that needed care.

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