Does anyone do family Day Care in their own home? Was considering maybe doing this but wondering exactly what is involved and what are the pitfalls.
Does anyone have their children in family day care - what are the good and bad things you see about it?
Nikitia, I’m not starting a family day care, but I’m starting a day care center/preschool, so if you’d like to chat about it, let me know 
thanks! marlita.
Nikita,
I am from the US and run a very small daycare from my home. I have three children which includes one of my own.
I plan on homeschooling my 17 m/o through high school, so part of my reasoning for doing daycare was that my son would not have to do “school” all by himself. That part has been a blessing. I educate all the children in my home. I have a 4 y/o who is reading at a 1st grade level. A 3 y/o with down syndrome is who coming along quite nicely. She will be far ahead of her peers when she enters kindergarten. My son has enjoyed watching all of this and can read about 150 words, count forward and backward up to 20, and a host of other things that I suspect are because he has had other kids in the house doing them as well.
Right now I have some great kids with good parents. In the beginning, it was a disaster. Some of the kids had real discipline issues. I’m not talking about boys beings boys, rather a child nearly five who wasn’t potty trained and didn’t want to be. Kids who would hit and throw severe temper tantrums, spit their food out onto the carpet. Those parents/children are gone and right now, daycare is primarily a blessing to us. My son loves it when his “friends” come to play. Because I’m educating their children along with mine - and the parents are seeing how much their children are progressing, they are splitting the cost of curriculum with me.
In the beginning, I reserved the right to dismiss any child with a 2 week notice if things weren’t working out. I phrased it in such a way as to not be offensive. Either they or I could cancel a contract with two weeks notice if it appeared the child would do better elsewhere. Daycare is hard on a child, we want them to be happy with their situation. We want the daycare to be a good fit. Now, I will only take a new child if they are recommended to me by a current parent.
I don’t think there are that many pitfalls if you have parents/kids who are a good fit for you and your children - it is pretty easy job if you just do what you were going to do with your own kids. If they are not a good fit - the end of the day cannot come soon enough.
I’m not sure that is what you are looking for, but since I am unfamiliar with what the law is in Australia, this is all I can speak to.
Sonya