Husband/Wife Team

[NoMoreJuice!]

My husband is contemplating quitting his job (he's so unhappy with it) to work at my daycare. He's a great guy and the kids ADORE him. Are there any husband/wife teams out there that are happy with their decision to work together? I am very concerned that he'll get burnt out with wiping noses and doing dishes every single day. To be honest, it's not for everyone.

So in the theme of the great Jimmy Fallon...Pros and Cons and Pros and Cons?

Thanks!

[Tdhmom]

My husband is contemplating quitting his job (he's so unhappy with it) to work at my daycare. He's a great guy and the kids ADORE him. Are there any husband/wife teams out there that are happy with their decision to work together? I am very concerned that he'll get burnt out with wiping noses and doing dishes every single day. To be honest, it's not for everyone.

So in the theme of the great Jimmy Fallon...Pros and Cons and Pros and Cons?

Thanks!

Personally my husband and I could never work together that closely. I love him to death but he's very pokey and does things too slow for my taste :: he's been home all week cause he's business is slow this week, I want to strangle him. When I need him to help me so I can run upstairs to get something, he's never there. When I don't need him, he's always under my feet!

So if you can do more power to ya!!! I wish I could. If he would keep his mouth shut all day and just do my cleaning I would be ok with it lmao

[Patches]

My husband is my assistant. He just started in January though, so we don't have a lot of experience under our belts, but so far it is fantastic.
I love not having to pay an employee and all the taxes that come with that. He lives here, so he can't call in and play hookey . I call him my want, but he is my partner. We are a team. I value his input and want him to be totally involved in the business. Before we made the final decision, I made it clear that if he chose to do this, that I wanted him to be 100% committed and in it for the long haul.

[TaylorTots]

I personally look at this as a business decision, though obviously it affects your marriage as well.

Will you be able to increase enrollment by him joining you?

Will that increase in enrollment be immediate - how high of a demand does your area have for childcare services?

Will an increase in enrollment be enough to maintain your standard of living, even it takes months to obtain a full house with the increased enrollment?

What type of training does your husband have in terms of early childhood, CPR, etc that will be advantageous in terms of marketing your services? If he needs said training, what will it cost?

Will you be looking at increased costs such as private healthcare?

States have different requirements on size/enrollment of home daycares - have you educated yourselves on what will be required of you if he joins to increase the enrollment? E.g. a change from registered to licensed to center etc.

Increased enrollment means increased needs of insurance coverage. Do you have a price quote on how much your insurance will increase?



Just some thoughts

[Bookworm]

My DD, now 22, went to a home DC with a h/w team and it was and still is the best daycare ever to me. Hubby works with infants/toddlers and wife with 2-4 yrs. They have a year long waiting list.

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.p...unning+daycare

[Sugar Magnolia]

My husband and I do! It's great, parents and kids alike love it.

The only con I can think of is we spend 24/7 together and our "friends" we had before doing daycare have drifted away. And sometimes we get sick of each other. :::: And our life is all kids, all the time.....but that's why we have a pair of ridiculously fast motorcycles.

The biggest pro is we operate a center, separate from our home, so it's nice to shut the door and leave every day.

Go for it!

[Imagination's Creations]

My husband is my full time assistant and has been since I opened in 2007. I think the parents are taken by surprise at first, but I think they overall like it. I also always have a waiting list and I think we are doing so great because we both put our all into it. It also has the benefit of both of us being home with our own kids all day, which we love! Im able to have more kids with him being here also and dont have to worry about have a reliable employee. In seven years, we have been able to do it without getting on each others nerves (too much)!
We have a rule that if something bothers us, we save it for when the kids leave, so it doesnt effect our work day. So far this has worked out great for us!

I still run the business side of things. I take care of all the paperwork, advertising, running the facebook page, dealing with parents (most of the time), budgeting and policies. Sometimes it gets annoying that the load is on my shoulders, but Im one who likes to be in control so I cant really complain about it.

[NoMoreJuice!]

We have a rule that if something bothers us, we save it for when the kids leave, so it doesn't affect our work day.

I love that rule! I think I will adopt it! Or maybe just leave passive aggressive sticky notes on the fridge.

I am already licensed as a group daycare (it's the same regs as a regular licensed, but higher capacity allowance). Right now I can have 7 over 18 months, but with him helping me I could increase that to 12. I have a huge waiting list and get calls weekly, so I think it would be easy to fill those 5 spots. That would be enough to cover 3/4 of his salary at his current job, but we have no debt and can take the hit for his mental health(he detests his current sales job). He already has all his training since I've been preparing...just-in-case kind of situation.

I am worried that I'll get sick of him. Oddly, I'm not worried that he'll get sick of me. Hmm...

Does anyone else who has 10 or more kids stagger mealtimes? I am concerned that 10 or 12 is too many to have eating at one time. And do you split 1/2 and 1/2, by ages, or how do you split?

Thanks guys!!

[TwinKristi]

My dh & I have thought about this a lot! We would need another house with more room and landlord permission here in CA. I don't know that it would increase enrollment right away though and I think we'd really have to put in more money to start a successful large family daycare though. I would love to but I don't know that he would really enjoy it as much as I do. He loves kids but sometimes he's like "how do you deal with that?" And it's something I don't even notice. LOL he also likes to watch daytime TV and nap daily when he's home and that just wouldn't fly. ::

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

I love that rule! I think I will adopt it! Or maybe just leave passive aggressive sticky notes on the fridge.

I am already licensed as a group daycare (it's the same regs as a regular licensed, but higher capacity allowance). Right now I can have 7 over 18 months, but with him helping me I could increase that to 12. I have a huge waiting list and get calls weekly, so I think it would be easy to fill those 5 spots. That would be enough to cover 3/4 of his salary at his current job, but we have no debt and can take the hit for his mental health(he detests his current sales job). He already has all his training since I've been preparing...just-in-case kind of situation.

I am worried that I'll get sick of him. Oddly, I'm not worried that he'll get sick of me. Hmm...

Does anyone else who has 10 or more kids stagger mealtimes? I am concerned that 10 or 12 is too many to have eating at one time. And do you split 1/2 and 1/2, by ages, or how do you split?

Thanks guys!!

Never have staggered mealtimes. It is actually nice to have them in one spot relatively quiet. I have had 12 before.

[coolconfidentme]

We work together. In the beginning I had to constantly remind HIM of the rules (away from the DCKs of course). We all know when you raise a couple of kids, its different than having 10-12 kids around. I had to forever explain you cannot roughhouse with the boys & not expect them to roughhouse with each other. No noogies when a kid walked by either. We have the love & support of a home but have rules like a school. Keep your hands to yourself, no throwing toys, stand in line to wash your hands, meal/snacks on a schedule, etc.

He had a food audit & was a hot mess trying to get the meal out. I told her he was in training, . He also had to see total chaos when he was in charge to finally get it. We are now on track, have a system & work GREAT together.

Let us know what you do!!!

[Margarete]

My dh & I have thought about this a lot! We would need another house with more room and landlord permission here in CA. I don't know that it would increase enrollment right away though and I think we'd really have to put in more money to start a successful large family daycare though. I would love to but I don't know that he would really enjoy it as much as I do. He loves kids but sometimes he's like "how do you deal with that?" And it's something I don't even notice. LOL he also likes to watch daytime TV and nap daily when he's home and that just wouldn't fly. ::

I don't think you need landlord permission in California to run a large family childcare home... just for the additional 2. So 12, but need permission to do 14.
My husband works from home (not for they daycare) but sometimes volunteers to help oversee getting the nappers down at nap time, which usually means taking a short nap on the couch during his lunch break... He sets a good example , and they stay quiet because he's right there. It actually works pretty good, and I can more freely take care of other things, including keeping the non-nappers quiet.

[Meeko]

My son and my husband are my co-workers. We LOVE it! Been doing it for years now.

[Imagination's Creations]

I have just had a regular license up to this point (8 under 5, 4 SA with an assistant) We're in the process of expanding to a group home, which will allow us to have up to 12 under 6 together with 4 additional school age with a second assistant) Im also in the process of eliminating SA so we will soon be staying under the 12 to avoid hiring someone, except during school vacations. I has to remind him of the rules a lot in the beginning, but now he does good remembering them. We take turns making meals. He changes the boys and I change the girls. Other than that we pretty much do everything together.