The Daycare Jungle

It has been 3 years since I quit my job teaching and opened my own daycare. Even though I spent time in high school working in a home daycare, it was nothing like I expected. But I survived. I had good days and bad days and went through a huge learning curve but I'm still doing it everything and don't have any plans to stop. My now 3 1/2 year old hates the thought of me ever stopping. He loves the fact that his friends come to his house every day. I often wonder who is in charge of the daycare, me or him. He is so used to things being a certain way that he makes sure everyone else in the house knows it too.

People think I'm crazy. They always say they don't know how I do it. The truth is it's kind of fun. You adapt. It becomes normal. Right now I only have 6 kids. They are all 3 and under. I love it. They are mostly preschool age except my own baby and they all get along so well. It's refreshing to see what imagination really is.

We do a quasi-preschool program. Sometimes we're organized. Sometimes we're not. We generally have fun with it though and it keeps us all busy during the day. This is my attempt to share what I have learned, both on the business side of running a daycare and on the parenting side of enjoying the time I have with my children.