Why I Quit Home Daycare

While I love helping others run their own home daycare, I actually don’t do it myself any longer. 

I loved the ability to make a great income while not having to pay for my own kids to be in care, and I loved the kids I cared for.

However, eventually the disadvantages started to outweigh the advantages, and I decided to give up the daycare.  While I should have done things differently when I gave my notice, my daycare parents were very gracious and understanding.

Here are my 5 top reasons for quitting home daycare:

1. Sick Days Are Complicated.   When a home daycare provider is sick at night and can’t work the next day, it’s not just a matter of one call to the boss.  It means 5 or more phone calls or texts to each of the parents.  There’s never a morning where you can roll over and say “I’ll just call in sick later this morning”, because those kids will start showing up at your door if you don’t contact them before they leave home.
2. It Takes Over Your House.  The setup of our house works really well for home daycare, but not so well for home daycare AND for living in.  My family became much more familiar with using our unfinished basement as a living room, than using our actual living room.
3. Chasing Down Your Paycheck Is Frustrating.  While I had some awesome parents near the end of my run, it took awhile to find them.  In the meantime, I had bills each week for each parent, with a Red Card system for “forgetting” a payment.  Training the “forgetful” parents to remember to pay every week can be draining!
4. There’s No Time To Volunteer At School.  Going on field trips with my kids was pretty much a no-go.  If I booked a day off, it meant a huge decrease in my income, as well as setting myself up for some unhappy parents.  Once I quit doing daycare, I plunged into volunteering at my kid’s school.  As a result, I got to know the teachers much better.  My kids’ grades actually started to go up, and the child that needed extra support suddenly got it (after waiting a few years for it!).  This one reason in itself made quitting daycare completely worth it.
5. My Kids Weren’t Comfortable In Their Own Home.  Often they would come home from school, grab a snack, and then disappear until all of the daycare kids were gone.  Now, they grab a snack and disappear for a bit, but are much more easily enticed to come out and tell me about their day.  Surprisingly, the least talkative of my kids loves telling me about his day immediately when he walks in the door.  I missed having the chance to listen for all those years while I was doing daycare.

Now that I’ve “been there, done that”, I’m happy to share my experiences with other home daycare providers ( you can check out my YouTube Channel for lots of videos answering home daycare questions!).  But I’m also very happy with my decision to quit.  Other opportunities have presented themselves for contributing to my family’s income (this blog is one of them!), and I wouldn’t have it any other way!