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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Bad Time of Year
MommyMuffin 05:23 AM 10-17-2010
Opinions please...is this a slow time of the year for new enrollment?
Does it pick up in the spring? No bites for 2 - 3 weeks now so I was just wondering.
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Unregistered 05:51 AM 10-17-2010
I guess this can be a good or bad time of the year - depending on how you look at it. Although the start of the school year is usually when alot of families start dc - this is probably about the time that parents will realize that they aren't happy with the dc they chose and might start looking elsewhere. The bad thing is this is also around the time that providers might terminate a problem kid such as a biter.
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DanceMom 06:58 AM 10-17-2010
For me I've always gotten a lot of calls in mid to end of summer looking for care in Nov- Jan and then nothing for awhile and it picks back up in the spring looking for mid to late summer care.

It really just comes and goes...might not get a call for months then all of a sudden I get calls all the time.
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Unregistered 10:42 AM 10-17-2010
Happens here too dont get any calls in Fall and winter and in the Spring and Summer I get alot. Right now too a boy is about to leave because his Mom just got approved for vouchers and is waiting on approval letter and I do not accept voucher so I know that spot is gonna be open for awhile.
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marniewon 05:27 PM 10-17-2010
Yes, this is pretty much a bad time of year for daycare calls. Around here, the prime times for dc calls are just before the holidays (November) for care to start first of the year, in the spring for summer care and mid-summer, for school year care. The only time I get calls any other time are for infants.
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momma2girls 06:28 PM 10-17-2010
Originally Posted by marniewon:
Yes, this is pretty much a bad time of year for daycare calls. Around here, the prime times for dc calls are just before the holidays (November) for care to start first of the year, in the spring for summer care and mid-summer, for school year care. The only time I get calls any other time are for infants.
It is the same here in Iowa!!
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My4SunshineGirlsNY 07:27 PM 10-17-2010
I was newly registered last Sept. (2009)..I already had a couple of families prior to that and and let one family go that had horrible behavior issues (the girl had BiPolar and the brother seemed to pick up on some of that).

I started advertising in Sept. hoping to pick up 2 more families and didn't get a single call for months! I advertised in the local paper every week, had signs up all over town, gave my business card to the school nurse and anyone I knew, even went as far as buying a large car magnent sign to put on my van to advertise (I sooo needed the money!!). It was getting depressing...then in the spring it really started to pick up. Over the summer I had a few requests that I had to turn down and just recently I have had a couple more phone calls that I turned away.

So it comes and goes I guess...it's just hard waiting when you really need the money.
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AfterSchoolMom 04:06 AM 10-18-2010
I think that alot of the time families who have older children along with younger ones tend to plan their year around school starting, so they tend to make any arrangements during the summer or in January. I know that I get all of my calls in August and December.
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TGT09 04:39 AM 10-18-2010
I get quite a few calls in the summer and then after school starts, it drops off. I get a few before Christmas to start at the beginning of the year and then maybe a few come spring.
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ddnanny13 06:30 AM 10-18-2010
Craigslist was life saver for me. I had to have at least 3 kids start all at the same time to be able to leave my full time job to start care. I took pictures of the daycare and posted on craigslist. I also had a yard sign, flyers, a state and county website listing, and a resource and referral listing but craigslist was the ONLY place that any of my calls came from. It's free, might be worth a shot for you... hope that helps!
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TGT09 11:10 AM 10-18-2010
Originally Posted by ddnanny13:
Craigslist was life saver for me. I had to have at least 3 kids start all at the same time to be able to leave my full time job to start care. I took pictures of the daycare and posted on craigslist. I also had a yard sign, flyers, a state and county website listing, and a resource and referral listing but craigslist was the ONLY place that any of my calls came from. It's free, might be worth a shot for you... hope that helps!
Now see, I got NOTHING but spam from Craigslist. I was super annoyed and it's kept me from doing it again.
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