Are you Looking for a Rewarding Career?

We hear many mothers today say they would like to stay home with their children, but they have to be able to contribute to the family income. Or some mothers find their paycheck covers the child care bill and not much more. Maybe becoming a family child care provider is the answer for them or for you. Start by understanding all the rewards and concerns of the family child care business.

Rewards

Being a family child care provider is a rewarding profession for many reasons. If you enjoy being with children and enjoy staying at home, being a family child care provider could be your best choice. Successful family child care providers are energetic, organized, flexible, patience, affectionate and have the confidence to be your their own boss and a business owner. The child care field gives you a great opportunity to serve families and create a positive environment where children can play, feel safe, secure and valued as individual. Operating a home based child care business has excellent tax benefits and eliminates early morning hassle and costs associated with working outside of the home.

Concerns

There are some demands in this business, as well as rewards. The hours are long and occasionally you will have to deal with difficult situations. There are state licensing requirements which you will need to follow and you can expect some costs to become licensed. The decreased amount of daily contact with adults can, for some, be difficult. Sharing your home and space with other peoples children will be something new to you and your family. There will be some bookkeeping to do and extra grocery shopping. Since you will be operating your own business in your home, there will be income taxes to consider.

Midwest Child Care Association can help you make an informed decision and identify other important considerations. We can help you through the licensing process, talk to you about marketing tools, contracts, interviewing parents, fees, policies and procedures. We provide monthly training seminars and provide detailed information for you on dealing with your business income taxes. We can also introduce you to other family child care providers and provider support groups.

Before you get started, you may want to understand the differences between a family day care home and a day care center.

If you still have concerns about becoming a Family Day Care Provider, click here... or if you are ready to get started, click here