New Idea to Daycare

[nabilino]

Hello,
I'm a parent to two young children. At my post graduate school, we're doing a project around a new idea for day care.

We provide the space, parents choose the
care

Benefits include:

Control over who cares for your child

Confidence in quality of the center

Easier to coordinate a nanny-share, which can
make childcare more affordable

Provide care outside the typical working hours

Increased visibility to activities via webcams

My question to the group is how interested are you in this idea and concept.

Thank you,

[Thriftylady]

I don't see it being feasible. Parents choosing who works there just wouldn't work. To many trainings and other things the providers would have to have and someone would have to be paid just to keep up with making sure all those regs were followed. Also it would be expensive. If each parent wants a different care giver, that is more employees to pay. Parents would basically be paying nanny rates at that point, only higher due to the cost of overhead. Most nannys work in the parents home, keeping the overhead low. Then you factor in the employment taxes and such. Sounds like a nightmare to run to me.

[Ariana]

Have you ever worked with children and their parents? Have you ever run a full time childcare program?

[MunchkinWrangler]

Not at all, my reason being, working outside of 'normal daycare hours' . . . so what would the operating hours be? Most people have families and this wouldn't necessarily work for the people(human being) providing care. How would parents choose care, I'm not understanding that concept. I offer a service, in which I provide activities and equipment that my training, personal research, and experience working with children. I would not be ok with someone telling me how to schedule my day according to only one child's needs i.e. what a nanny would be hired for and payed accordingly.

If you are providing center care, nanny-sharing is a totally different concept and most children, unless granted permission are not allowed to be taken off the premises or switched around, licensing wouldn't allow it. When a specific address is licensed that is where you would be doing the bulk of the caregiving.

[Laurel]

Hello,
I'm a parent to two young children. At my post graduate school, we're doing a project around a new idea for day care.

We provide the space, parents choose the
care

Benefits include:

Control over who cares for your child

Confidence in quality of the center

Easier to coordinate a nanny-share, which can
make childcare more affordable

Provide care outside the typical working hours

Increased visibility to activities via webcams

My question to the group is how interested are you in this idea and concept.

Thank you,

I don't understand the concept. Is this some huge building with various daycare rooms with various providers for parents to choose from? Kind of like a school with classrooms and each classroom is it's own daycare?

Do provider's work for this 'school' or pay rent to secure one of the rooms?

Sorry, I just don't get it.

If it is like the above, off the top of my head, without knowing details, it sounds like it could be a logistical nightmare.

[Blackcat31]

Hello,
I'm a parent to two young children. At my post graduate school, we're doing a project around a new idea for day care.

We provide the space, parents choose the
care

Benefits include:

Control over who cares for your child

Confidence in quality of the center

Easier to coordinate a nanny-share, which can
make childcare more affordable

Provide care outside the typical working hours

Increased visibility to activities via webcams

My question to the group is how interested are you in this idea and concept.

Thank you,

I don't understand how the "control over who cares for your child" part works but I think the idea of care outside of typical working hours is fantastic!

We have a center in my community that is open 24/7. It's ALWAYS full! We also have several family providers that offer weekend care and/or non-standard hours of care and they too are always busy so the need for care outside of standard hours is definitely needed IMHO.

The only comment I have on access to video feeds is that I don't think it's a good idea at all. Too risky.

Others can hack into the feeds, the privacy of families is compromised and allowing families to "check in" periodically through out the day provides for too many cases of not understanding the situation as a whole and that opens up a whole 'nother field of liability.

[Unregistered]

Give more details so that people can give an informed response.

Who pays for space.
Who arranges "nanny-share".
Who does background checks? (My children are exposed to your nanny in a "shared space.")
How is licensing coordinated?
Who/how/where is food prepped?
Who is responsible for providing safe sleep environs for infants? (Parents may or may not care, but it could have HUGE liability repercussions for the entity that provides the space.

Tons more unanswered questions.

[nabilino]

Thank you all for the feedback!

The center will include many spaces for individual nannies to use with the child(ren) they're caring for.
We anticipated contact between parents and providers to be initially via an app, much like Uber where a parent needing child care can go and select the provider then drop their kid(s) at the center where the nanny will be working.

The center will be licenced by the state and have up to date standards.
Nannies are only added to the app database once their background is checked. After accumulating care, they are reviewed and have a rating that let other parents know the good providers from excellent ones and maybe rates are different depending upon the rating.
Food is likely to be provided by parents i.e. snacks and light meals. The center will have a cafeteria space.

[Thriftylady]

Thank you all for the feedback!

The center will include many spaces for individual nannies to use with the child(ren) they're caring for.
We anticipated contact between parents and providers to be initially via an app, much like Uber where a parent needing child care can go and select the provider then drop their kid(s) at the center where the nanny will be working.

The center will be licenced by the state and have up to date standards.
Nannies are only added to the app database once their background is checked. After accumulating care, they are reviewed and have a rating that let other parents know the good providers from excellent ones and maybe rates are different depending upon the rating.
Food is likely to be provided by parents i.e. snacks and light meals. The center will have a cafeteria space.

In most states to license the facility you will also have to license the caregivers. Meaning, that you will have to have someone in charge of making sure all classes and background checks are up to date. The other problem will be what if I don't want my child around another caregiver that is there? How would you keep them separated? I know that sounds silly, but parents can come up with some crazy demands sometimes.

[Unregistered]

In my experience, parents who want nanny care do not want to have to abide by the rules and regulations of licensed care. This can be in regards to anything from infant sleeping, using baby carrying wraps that are not always allowed in licensed care, immunizations, paperwork, food choices, schedules, etc.

[Unregistered]

Would the nannies be free to come and go at will with the children? Parents who use nannies have schedules of playdates, classes, etc.

It seems like it has the potential for disaster. Nanny care is a very different animal than licensed care.

[Blackcat31]

In most states to license the facility you will also have to license the caregivers. Meaning, that you will have to have someone in charge of making sure all classes and background checks are up to date. The other problem will be what if I don't want my child around another caregiver that is there? How would you keep them separated? I know that sounds silly, but parents can come up with some crazy demands sometimes.

Not necessarily, in my state the licensing process for in family care is TOTALLY different than licensing a facility.

The provider is the license holder in family care where the facility is the licensed entity in center care (which is what the OP's facility would be in my state.

The requirements for the facility to be licensed would require a director. The director handles the operation of licensing requirements.

[midaycare]

What is the benefit to the caregivers? How are you planning to attract quality people while offering parents to pay a lot less?

[CalCare]

So, I think what I see as a real confusion I have with this, as a business model, is that you are actually making things less convenient for the parent. A business has to solve a problem, right? What problem does this solve when you compare it to what is already available? If your competition in group care, this is more expensive and that's okay because you are solving the problem of wanting one on one care. BUT if parents want one on one care, they could have a nanny come to their house- they wouldn't have all the inconveniences of going somewhere else: drive time, pack clothes, diapers, food, prepped bottles, ointments, bring home wet peed on muddy sandy painted clothes in their cars, etc. Those things are a pita for people dropping off, but are accepted as part of the lower price of group care. If they are paying the higher price of individual care, they will want convenience. I guess I'm really wondering who is your target market? Wealthier parents- they want a nanny to come to them. Low income families- they want to pay less and will settle for group care. Occasional, drop in types- easily use a babysitter that comes to them. I'm wondering who is the target market and are there enough of that small group in any one location to support the overhead: rent, power, water, maintenance, regular staff like a director or manager of some sort in addition to the contractual staff- nannies, insurances, accountant, marketing, etc...
I'm interested in your response- I'm interested in entrepreneurialship and business planning!

[MunchkinWrangler]

I do think that, with the hopes of making money off of this business venture, you are trying to offer what a nanny offers but in one building with separate rooms. Most people would just choose a nanny that can provide care in the comfort of the child's own space and being able to be mobile for other activities. Also, I agree, that you would have a logistical nightmare. How much would you pay your employees, what would be the benefit of them working for such a company. Most center employees don't make that much and do a lot of work, so what would be the incentive for the employee's pay rate, do they get to keep all the monies made by their enrollment or would they have to rent a space, pay fees and dues to the center, etc. In my opinion, it could be financially beneficial to just the center operator but for the employee's, it would be more lucrative to be licensed on their own account or nanny to make better money.