Keys to Becoming the Best Home Day Care Provider

When it comes to home day care providers the best stand out because they care. If you do not truly love and care about children this is more than likely not the job for you. Caring for children on a daily basis takes a lot of patience! And you'll be doing it for pennies. The are a few key things to set in motion if you want to be the best home day care provider possible. Education, safety, and good policies.

Parents are not going to dump their kids with just anyone. Make sure you have something to offer them. Be ready with infant and child CPR certification and a First Aid certification. It also does not hurt to have a food handlers permit. You can attain all of these in a relatively small amount of time for a minimal fee, but they pay offs are big. Check out courses through the American Red Cross. Providers who have taken college courses in child development, and better yet those who have associates or bachelors degrees in child education attract a bigger client base. Another side to the "education" rule is to make sure you aren't plopping children in front of the TV all day. Instead, have planned activities. These can include weather talks, nature walks, arts and crafts, music, manners, learning letters shapes and sounds, or a field trip! When parents see an opportunity for their children to learn and grow they will pounce on it!

Make sure that your home is safe and clean at all times. Not only for the safety of you and the kids, but you never know when a potential new parent will drop in to see the place. Have a first aid kit readily available. In addition make sure the fire extinguisher is easily accessible. Put safety latches on cabinet doors, and door knob covers and latches on all doors leading outside or into any room not childproofed. Remove sharp edged furniture from the rooms children will frequent. A unique idea I learned at my first day care job was to color the hot water tap vibrant red. You can use nail polish or permanent marker. Then make sure to consistently tell children to never turn on the red knob as it will scald them. You can put similar red stickers of laminated construction paper flames on other "hot items" throughout your home such as stoves, coffee makes, heaters, etcetera.

Have a good basic contract for all your parents.The main thing will be your fee. Call around to local day cares as well as other home day cares in your area to see what the going rate is. Make your rate too low and you will attract the kind of parent who is only interested in the best deal, and not the safety and welfare of their child. Make it too high and you'll get no business at all. It's also possible to adjust rates depending on the parent, and most definitely on the ages of the children. Also be sure it covers late policies, no payment policies, sick and vacation days for you, how you will handle sick children in your care, and when they can return, your discipline methods, potty training methods, daily schedule and what is expected from you and from the parent. Its a good idea to read re read, have someone else read and then re read your contract again. Make it as detailed, clear, and concise as you can.

These are practices that will set you apart from other providers. Keep them in your mind, and your current clients will soon be spreading the word about you! Keep up the good work, and remember the children always come first!