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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Anyone do Part Time Only?
Sprouts 12:25 PM 08-06-2012
I am seriously considering doing child care for part time only and was wondering if anyone else does the same? I get quite a few calls for part time and would honestly rather work less days so I don't feel stuck at home during the week alllllll of the time . Yes I know that comes with the territory but why not try some flexibility?

ANY ways I was thinking of having set days open like Monday Wednesday and Friday or just Tuesday wednesday Thursday (to have extended weekends, and not space out the days)

So does anyone else do this? How do you time it or price it? Did you advertise anywhere special to get certain part time clients?

Any info will help thanks
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Country Kids 12:50 PM 08-06-2012
I use to do part-time and taught a preschool program in the mornings. Everyone was gone by 12:00-1:00 and it left the rest of the afternoon for stuff.

The only drawback was alot less money but the stress was so far less. If I could I would do that only and then I could work in the afternoons in my childrens schools.
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kendallina 01:22 PM 08-06-2012
I think if you're going to advertise as part-time only, it may help if you advertise as a mom's day out program or are a preschool program. It could be difficult to find families that only need care Tues, Wed and Thurs., but it could happen.

I started off as a mom's day out/preschool (accepted children at age 2, though, so really young) from 9-noon 4 days/week. Parents could choose either MW or TTH. I've evolved over the last couple of years and this fall all of my kiddos are prekinders, so I'm running a MWF class 9-2 and a TTH class 9-2. I have a couple of children that stay until 3 because their parents work, but it's fine.

I love the flexibility that it's given me, and thusfar I have not had a problem finding children (mostly word of mouth, but some have found my website), but I worry about next year when all my kiddos go to kinder!
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Crazy8 01:58 PM 08-06-2012
if you are running a preschool program it may work or if part time is high demand. Over the years I've often had mostly part timers with just 1 full timer so never a break. If I could find more part timers I would absolutely switch to part time only - even just one day a week off would be perfect for me!
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morgan24 02:36 PM 08-06-2012
Right now most of my dck's are part time. I have one full time infant and one school age. The rest are part time. I have 10 kids but only can have 6 per day. I didn't think I was going to like it but it works well.

Everyone's schedule just happened to work out. During the school year I have school age kids only, so I have the day to myself.

I charge by the day and the hours have to be between 7:00 a.m. and 5:00p.m. You could advertise that you are doing part time and when you get calls take the ones that work for you.
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nothingwithoutjoy 06:12 PM 08-06-2012
I switched to part time this year. I'd started at 5 days a week and hoped to enroll all full-time children, but ended up only getting part-timers! (Most of my parents are self-employed.) But it turned out to be a good thing, because I eventually wanted more time for my family. Last year, I decided to close on Fridays, and worked it out so that when one kid went off to kindergarten, the other kids could take his days in lieu of Friday. So no one lost any days/week, they just had to shift around some. Now, when people call, I just tell them I'm open from Monday through Thursday. It works well for me. Now, almost all of my kids are "full-time" (considering M-Th full-time), which I prefer, and I have more time for my family (and more sanity).
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Angelsj 06:55 PM 08-06-2012
I do part time/odd hours as a regular item, BUT I do need to know, the day before, what you are up to. I am incredibly flexible....as long as you keep me in the loop.
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Sprouts 06:36 AM 08-08-2012
Hmmm a lot to think about lol thank u all for the responses. I guess when I get phone calls for part time I will just have to see what they need
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Nickel 07:05 AM 08-08-2012
There is a college in my area and so there are a few that need part time. But that can be anything from all day mwf or all day tth or half day m-f and it changes each semester. So I would still be working full time, but have part time kids.

And around here prek is done at 1:45 with some of them doing am prek to 10:45 or pm prek ending at 3. So if you did something like that it might be in demand.
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CityGarden 09:43 AM 06-01-2016
Originally Posted by Sprouts:
I am seriously considering doing child care for part time only and was wondering if anyone else does the same? I get quite a few calls for part time and would honestly rather work less days so I don't feel stuck at home during the week alllllll of the time . Yes I know that comes with the territory but why not try some flexibility?

ANY ways I was thinking of having set days open like Monday Wednesday and Friday or just Tuesday wednesday Thursday (to have extended weekends, and not space out the days)

So does anyone else do this? How do you time it or price it? Did you advertise anywhere special to get certain part time clients?

Any info will help thanks
Did you end up doing this? PROS / CONS?
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Blackcat31 09:44 AM 06-01-2016
Originally Posted by CityGarden:
Did you end up doing this? PROS / CONS?
The poster you quoted hasn't logged on since August of 2015
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thrivingchildcarecom 10:12 AM 06-01-2016
I love this idea! I actually never thought of a "Part-Time" only program. But you know what, that might just mitigate the long hours that I currently work. Bravo! This is truly thinking outside the box.
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CityGarden 10:16 AM 06-01-2016
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
The poster you quoted hasn't logged on since August of 2015
Thanks for bringing that to my attention!
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CityGarden 10:16 AM 06-01-2016
Originally Posted by thrivingchildcarecom:
I love this idea! I actually never thought of a "Part-Time" only program. But you know what, that might just mitigate the long hours that I currently work. Bravo! This is truly thinking outside the box.
Yes the threads on burn out really have me thinking about this!!!
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Unregistered 03:19 PM 06-01-2016
I am actually thinking of switching to only part time after summer since I only have one family that is full time right now and everyone enrolling is looking for part time. I also charge more for part time
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JackandJill 03:34 PM 06-01-2016
Next year I am switching from full time care to "play school" hours. Still on the fence about how many days I will be open but I will be doing 9:30 am to 1:30 pm.... and I can't wait!!
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CityGarden 04:20 PM 06-01-2016
Originally Posted by JackandJill:
Next year I am switching from full time care to "play school" hours. Still on the fence about how many days I will be open but I will be doing 9:30 am to 1:30 pm.... and I can't wait!!
Those are similar hours to what I am considering....

I am debating between offering

8:30am - 2:30pm (with a half day noon pick up option)
9:00am - 1:00 or 2:00pm
9:00am - 12:00pm

How did you decide on your hours? Will you offer lunch / nap in that time?
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JackandJill 04:45 PM 06-01-2016
Originally Posted by CityGarden:
Those are similar hours to what I am considering....

I am debating between offering

8:30am - 2:30pm (with a half day noon pick up option)
9:00am - 1:00 or 2:00pm
9:00am - 12:00pm

How did you decide on your hours? Will you offer lunch / nap in that time?
I am going to work around my sons school schedule. His school is about 30 minutes away, so that way I can do drop off and pick up.

I will do lunch, but no nap. I would like to cater to the 18 month to 3 yr old crowd, and they can go a 4 hour stretch without a nap. I think I will do an am snack right at 9:30 and then lunch at noon.

I figure if I start the new hours in January, I should have a steady clientele by August. I'm looking forward to the change!
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DanceMom 04:48 PM 06-01-2016
I went from FT to PT - only open T,W and TH and it's been THE best decision I've ever made in this business - I am much happier ! I charge a flat daily rate. Surprisingly the demand for PT seems almost comparable to those needing FT
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TaleTrekker 08:34 PM 06-04-2016
My current plan is to open my program part-time, M-F 8am-2:30pm with lunch and a nap. Most preschools only offer 3-hour morning sessions, so I'm hoping there will be a demand for longer hours, but still short of full-time.
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