Favorite Group Size and Age Group? Why?

[Learning Daycare]

I was just sitting here thinking about this. How many of you, without regard for state regulations, would take more kids, how many and what are group? I'm just starting out and have just starting working more in depth on everything including the questions above. I think my ideal age group is 2-4. I like that they're independent and can actually talk and tell me what's going on. I like to be able to move around throughout the day freely. Having to change diapers every hour would make it difficult to discuss. The things I want to do with the children.

[KidGrind]

2-4

They listen are learning boundaries and self regulation. I love their little minds grasping phonics, simple math and appropriate social interaction.

[NillaWafers]

Probably 3.5-5. I like how teachable they are, you can have real conversations. 2 year old and young 3 year olds are just in that testing phase where my patience wears pretty thin.

[daycare]

18 mo to 30 months- they are easy to train they learn very fast (usually) the foundation for learning is set very early.

you have only a few years of habits that you are dealing with if there are any bad ones and it is always easier to break habits when they are still young.

I don't care for the age of 3 very much

I love 4-5.......

BUT I don't like taking on children after the age of 2.5.

If they have been with me for all of that time they are all my fav...

But brining on new kids in that age group, it's really hard to break old bad habits when they are older. Also harder to train.

why does it sound bad when I say train them?

[Blackcat31]

Any age group that is not mixed in with other age groups.

I used to think it was the infants and/or toddlers that were tough
Then I thought it was surely the school aged kids that made life miserable in FCC
Then I thought maybe it was the 2-4 yr old group that really couldn't decide if they were big kids or little kids that made it hard.

Then I realized it was the mixture of the different age groups.

When interests, abilities, attention spans and developmental approaches vary so much, the environment and the atmosphere itself is really tough to manage.

With that being said, any age group is fun and enjoyable.
Just so long as it's one age group at a time.

[Febby]

3-4.5 year olds. And I prefer them at a 1:10 ratio in a center setting. My state says 1:12 for threes and 1:14 for fours (for centers), but it's rough to be at those ratios for extended periods of time.

I have a soft spot for toddlers, but two year old tantrums wear me down and infants stress me out because they can't do anything for themselves (plus all the extra state regs and SIDS and everything else). School agers talk back too much for my liking.

[mommiebookworm]

My favorite age is 2-4. Once they turn 4, I would prefer they go elsewhere! The SA are my least favorite.

[auntymimi]

Any age group that is not mixed in with other age groups.

I used to think it was the infants and/or toddlers that were tough
Then I thought it was surely the school aged kids that made life miserable in FCC
Then I thought maybe it was the 2-4 yr old group that really couldn't decide if they were big kids or little kids that made it hard.

Then I realized it was the mixture of the different age groups.

When interests, abilities, attention spans and developmental approaches vary so much, the environment and the atmosphere itself is really tough to manage.

With that being said, any age group is fun and enjoyable.
Just so long as it's one age group at a time.

I have a very mixed age group (14mos, 2 2yo, 4yo, 5yo, 10 yo) full time, days can be challenging, Saturday's especially. They are awesome kids for the most part, baby sleep issues aside, so it's doable right now. If Only I could watch them in groups of littles, middles, or bigs.

[Controlled Chaos]

I love 18m to 3.5 in a mixed group. Any older or younger and I findthem much more challenging

[Unregistered]

My favorite is about 15 months to 2.5. Out of the older kids 3+, I only really liked one. That being said, I agree with what someone above said about age groups. I am sure that I would enjoy 3+ if that's all I had but currently I have 3 under 2's and just the one 3 yo (who is also an only child - read between the lines ). The main thing I don't like about the under two's is all the poop. Seriously, how can they have that amount of poop in them? 😕

[childcaremom]

BUT I don't like taking on children after the age of 2.5.

If they have been with me for all of that time they are all my fav...

But brining on new kids in that age group, it's really hard to break old bad habits when they are older. Also harder to train.

why does it sound bad when I say train them?

This is me, too. I prefer to have children right from the get go (here that would be 12 months). Less habits to break.

As for ages, there is something that I like about all ages but having them all close together in age is much easier on me. I would not want to work with one age all the time so love watching the children in my care grow and develop.

If I could, I would only accept children 18 mos and older however not the way it usually works out here. And that is purely for the logistics of a schedule that does not include a morning nap, or the transition to just an afternoon one.

[DaveA]

I have the most center experience with 2-3s and find them a fascinating age group to work with. Numbers wise I would say 5-6 on my own or 10-12 with a co-teacher.

If I had my "dream program" it would be infant only and take 4. Only one center ever put me in infant rooms, and I really enjoyed it. There isn't the market here for it or I would run an infant only program.

[Unregistered]

3-5 yrs-child care

They can do so much, I love how involved they get in dramatic play, I love the pictures they draw, I love that they can do things like math centers, and get involved with something like a post office play area.

Kindergarden is even better! I loved, adored, was in heaven teaching kindergarten!!!

[nanglgrl]

I like almost every age group as long as they aren't mixed except school agers. My space isn't set up for them and isn't big enough for their play.

If I could have a group of all 1 and 2 year olds I would be golden. Parents aren't all worried about preschool until they are at least 3 so I wouldn't have all of the extra planning and work that takes up so much of my time. At this age they aren't going through the emotional 3yo fazes that drive me nuts. They aren't as crazy yet so you aren't always having to tell them to stop running and they generally listen better than the older children. The only problem with having all this age for me would be knowing that I would have to deal with a lot of parents wanting me to do the brunt of potty training.

[AnythingsPossible]

My ultimate group would be two kids ages 14 and 17...but then I wouldn't be doing daycare

My dream group would be 5 children between the ages of 18 and 36 months. That would make my heart happy. Once they hit four and start attending preschool outside of daycare, they become something I don't enjoy. Once they hit elementary school, I really don't enjoy them. I have thought of doing birth to three, but not sure it would fly in my area!