K.,
Since you brought up the licenses and accrditation and asked for opinions, I thought I would just say a word about that.
Many people that have never ran a licensed care facility don't have a really good idea about what licensing really does for a childcare provider.
I've been both licensed and unlicensed and I believe I am able to offer a better service as an unlicensed provider.
Licensing in most states is a lot more about the house than it is about the person. Let me give you an example. I became licensed in my first home in Westport. The house was a very simple little bungalow with a front and back door and it was only 500 square feet. Because the entrence and exits were just where they needed to be and the house was up to city codes it was fine for licensing. But it was only 500 square feet! It was so small! When we moved north of the river we chose a house that was much larger, had a nicer yard, but the doors were in all the wrong places to pass the fire safety inspection. We would have had to do over 5000 dollars worth of work to get the house to pass. When we decided to move I was surprised how many very decent house would not pass for one reason or another. Our current house actually needs about 10,000 dollars worth of work if I want to pursue licensing. But the house is safe and I've had it inspected by an electrician for fire safety. It passes our current codes for our city, but it wouldn't pass daycare codes per the state. I could choose to become licensed but I'd have to take several more children to be able to pay that off and if I was to invite all the extra work, paper work and inspections into my life, I'd expect to actually earn a higher wage. I wouldn't earn a higher wage if I was paying off 10 grand worth of work. So either my rates would increase significantly, or I'd have to max out my house and have 10 kids in it all the time. That would automatically reduce the children's level of attention they receive, not to mention our quality of life!
Now let's look at some other things licensing requires. You say you want to have another child someday. A licensed caregiver will usually be licensed for either 6 children with 3 under 2, or 10 with 2 under 2. Let's say they have 2 1 year old children and you become pregnant. By the time you give birth, 1 of them may be 2-3 months away from turning 2. But you may need to return to work at 6 weeks. You'd have to wait or find another caregiver. But what if your caregiver had a couple of openings for infants while you were pregnant and needed to fill those spots due to financial reasons? Would you expect her to take a pay cut by waiting for you to actually need the spots? As an unlicensed caregiver I can keep 4 children of any age. They could all be infants if I wanted them to be.
I could give comparisons all day long. Before when I was licensed I had to feed all meals at exactly the same times each day. I was required to do that so that they could pop in and inspect my meals and how I serve them. It was nice having the reimbursement monies for the food I was feeding. But there was NEVER any flexibility in my day. What if the kids are on different schedules? What if the kids nap at different times? What if I need to feed several different types of foods due to food allergies? I hated doing all the extra paperwork. As a parent your only concern should be that your child is feed well. You don't need the state making your caregiver crazy and keeping your child from getting the attention they deserve and eating on their own schedule.
Then there is outdoor time. My licensing rep always told me that I had to take the kids out for an hour per day unless it was bitter cold or raining. As an unlicensed caregiver I get to choose when we go out. That means I won't allow the kids out on days the pollen is too high, it's too hot or too cold or too windy. I take them out and we have fun outside. I do believe it's important at the right age and in the right time. My mother cares for the infants while I take the older children out. I don't believe that most infants really get anything out of a lot of outdoor time. They enjoy a walk in their stroller true. But that's something mom can do when mom isn't trailing a long several little ones. The way I handle it, the older kids and I can walk to the park unencumbered by little ones. The babies don't know the difference and the older ones can have my attention.
I haven't seen the regulations in a long time. So I'm not sure if this is still true. But they used to require the doors be unlocked during the day. It was a fire thing. The kids could get out if I wasn't able to unlock the doors for them. I don't like my doors unlocked. It's not safe. One of the kids could get outside while I'm in the rest room. Just last week a 2 year old was found somewhere in the city walking around alone.
And what about the cots? I HATE those uncomfortable cots that daycare centers are required to use. When I was first licensed I bought a whole bunch of crib mattresses. They were thick, I could use sheets on them, and the kids liked them. Then they made the change and required a cot that's 4 inches off the floor. I like my kiddos to be comfortable.
For me, it all goes back to the numbers. If I was to get licensed and follow a lot of laws and regs that are more a nusiance than a real help for anyone, I'd want to be earning a real living and making good money. To do that I'd take the max kids I could have. I'd work a lot harder, have less time to go around between the kids and have to run my care more like an institution than the family environment my kids have now.
I'm sure that there are many others that could list tons of advantages for the licensed situations. The most important being that a licensed caregiver has had to take the cpr classes and have a background check. If it's really that important to a person, they can do the background check themselves and require the cpr requirement.
Suzi
