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How
to Offer Child-Care Services
Does children's laughter sound like
music to your ears? Do you enjoy the
idea of six rugrats chaotically crawling
at your feet at any given moment? Then
read on for your perfect business.
The number of working parents--including
single-parent families and families
with both parents employed--is climbing,
creating an ever-growing need for quality
child care. That need is creating a
tremendous entrepreneurial opportunity
for people who love children and want
to build a business caring for them.
Child-care services range from small
homebased |
operations to large
commercial centers and can be started
with an investment of as little as a
few hundred dollars. You can stay very
small, essentially just creating a job
for yourself, or you can grow into a
substantial enterprise with potentially
millions of dollars a year in revenue.
You also have a tremendous amount of
flexibility when it comes to the exact
services you choose to offer. You may
limit your clientele to children in
certain age groups or tailor your operating
hours to meet the needs of a particular
market segment. You may or may not want
to provide transportation between your
center and the children's homes and/or
schools. You may want to take the children
on field trips. As an alternative to
child care, you may want to consider
a business that focuses solely on providing
transportation for children.
Of course, the basic work you'll be
doing--caring for someone else's children--bears
a tremendous amount of responsibility
and requires a serious commitment. When
the children are in your custody, you
are responsible for their safety and
well-being. You will also play a key
role in their overall development and
may well be someone they'll remember
their entire lives.
Filling an Important Need
One of the biggest challenges facing
American families today is caring for
their children while the parents work.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
only 13 percent of all families fit
the traditional model of husband as
wage-earner and wife as home-maker.
In 61 percent of married-couple families,
both husband and wife work outside the
home. Six out of every 10 mothers of
children under age 6 are employed, and
the labor-force participation of women
in their childbearing years continues
to expand. As the number of working
parents rises, so will the demand for
child care.
Another issue that has an impact on
child-care issues is the new, 24-hour
global market. Occupations with a high
number of employees working nights and
weekends--such as janitorial, hospitality,
customer service and technical support--are
experiencing substantial growth, and
workers in these fields find obtaining
quality child care an even greater challenge
than their 9-to-5 counterparts.
For many working parents, there is no
single solution to their child-care
needs. More than a third use more than
one option, such as day-care centers
part of the time and friends, neighbors
or relatives on other occasions. A recent
study conducted by the Urban Institute,
a nonprofit policy research organization,
revealed that about 30 percent of working
parents have two child-care arrangements,
and another 8 percent are using at least
three. The study found that 65 percent
of parents juggling multiple child-care
arrangements use a combination of formal
day-care centers, Head Start programs,
and baby-sitting by relatives and friends.
Another 20 percent use two separate
day-care centers.
Do You Have What It Takes?
What are the characteristics of a person
who would do well operating a child-care
center? Lois M., who began the first
of her six child-care centers in Toledo,
Ohio, in 1982, answers, "The person
needs to be energetic, business-minded,
a competent leader, have a pleasant
personality, be professional, be willing
to take calculated risks, be a good
role model, have strong financial resources,
be consistent in expectations of the
staff, and be consistent in the delivery
of service."
If you're going to be running a family
child-care center, Brenda B. of Stockton,
Illinois, adds, "You have to really
like kids." Janet H. of Exeter,
California, agrees; she says, "A
person who is going to own a child-care
center needs to love children, be a
people person, have a high tolerance
for stress, have good insurance, and
have some management skills."
A child-care business can easily be
started in your home with just a few
weeks of planning and a modest amount
of startup cash. A commercially located
center takes a greater investment of
time, energy and money. The size and
type of business you choose will depend
on your start-up resources and goals
for the future. Many child-care providers
are satisfied with a one-person operation
in their home that generates a comfortable
income while allowing them to do work
they enjoy (and possibly even care for
their own children). Others may start
at home and eventually move to a commercial
site as the business grows. Still others
begin in commercial locations and are
either content with one site or have
plans to expand. |
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