Pros And Cons

[Unregistered]

Hi I am writing a paper and need interviews from several people. So I need to know your side of having a registered daycare and your side if your against having to get registered? Thanks so much

[gbcc]

There was a debate on this recently over in the parents forum I believe.

[Michael]

There was a debate on this recently over in the parents forum I believe.

Was it this one: https://www.daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21792

[gbcc]

Michael, that may be what I was referring to! Lol it's an ongoing debate that I tire from so I tend not to read those!

[kendallina]

I spent the first 8 years or so in this field in licensed centers. I just opened my own in-home preschool in Sept 2010 and have chosen to remain unlicensed.

Here's how I see it:

Pros of being licensed:
- parents might prefer it, especially before they get to know you. So, it may be easier to fill slots.
- you receive educational information from the licensing agency and your licensor
- you can be a part of the food program
- access to licensing workshops
- I think they list you on their site, so it's good for advertising
- Often you can have more children

Cons of being licensed:
- having visits from a licensor
- having rules that you have to follow, whether you agree with them or not


I have chosen to remain unlicensed, which I NEVER thought I would do before having my own in-home program (I'm a rule-follower by nature, so I thought unlicensed people were a little crazy...:. But, I follow licensing rules pretty closely and haven't had any problems getting parents to enroll their children and trust me, so I'm perfectly happy not being licensed. I don't want to feel like I can't use whatever cleaners I think works best or have the children dry their hands on a towel instead of paper towels (not sure if that's a home daycare rule, but it was a center rule). I don't feel like I need to have the bottom of my stairs gated or my door locked or whatever other rules they might have for me.

ETA: I wouldn't say that overall I am either For or Against being licensed. For me, I prefer being unlicensed right now. I can understand, however, why some parents would only choose a licensed daycare.

[kendallina]

Oh, another con to being licensed would be paperwork.

But, I kind of like paperwork, so it wouldn't bother me too much.

[Blackcat31]

Oh, another con to being licensed would be paperwork.

But, I kind of like paperwork, so it wouldn't bother me too much.

Cons of being licensed:
- having visits from a licensor
- having rules that you have to follow, whether you agree with them or not


I am a licensed provider and I have to disagree with the cons you listed.

I have no extra paperwork, I love my licensor and I think in 16 years I have been visited by her maybe 2-3 times unannounced. Any other visits were to be relicensed which occur bi-yearly and she is awesome so I actually would love her to visit more.....and I have no issues with any of the rules we are suppose to follow as licensed providers because I assume that they are rules for safety reasons and most are pretty common sense so they are never an issue. I also do not have any extra paperwork associated with being licensed except at re-license time (every other year). I am like you though and like paperwork so I wouldn't mind either.....

I know you were not saying that licensed or unlicensed is better or worse, I think you were right on with your post, I just wanted to add that for me personally the cons you listed are not cons.

I guess I am not sure why provider's choose to be licensed or not but I personally chose to be because:

1. I get paid more
2. I can have more children

No other reasons than that.

[ammama]

In Alberta, you don't get licensed, but you can choose to contract with a government monitored agency, which I am. I like it because I don't have to collect payment from parents - the agency does all that for me. They also write my receipts to my parents, pay me even if a parent doesn't pay, have free workshops to attend every month, come into my home and do "quality enhancement visits" with my dayhome kids (which is basically 2 hours of pretty cool activities for whatever age group I have), and allow me to be eligible for several federal grants (such as staff incentive wage top-ups).

Down side is - I have to pay about $100 (out of my $700 FT Fee) or so for each full-time child I have, less for PTers - which pretty much cancels out my current government wage top up

They do a monthly random visit - which I don't mind too much really, but it is embarrassing if the house is messy.

I can only have 6 children IN TOTAL, including my own. If I were private I could have 6 PLUS my own, which for me, would be 8.

[Cat Herder]

Here:

You must be registered if you keep more than two children.

Pros... You don't end up in the newspaper, jail or with a huge fine.

Cons... Some of the regulations are absurd but I know that every one of them represents something stupid done by someone else...

[Unregistered]

Thank you so much:} All great answers. I went on cl for help as well and omg those women are really imature. . They thought I was out to get them or something. . They assumed I wanted to start trouble between the two. Some women actually need advise:} So thanks so much! I love this site because you women may have diff opinion but you are all wonderful with advise:}

[jen]

Cons of being licensed:
- having visits from a licensor
- having rules that you have to follow, whether you agree with them or not


I am a licensed provider and I have to disagree with the cons you listed.

I have no extra paperwork, I love my licensor and I think in 16 years I have been visited by her maybe 2-3 times unannounced. Any other visits were to be relicensed which occur bi-yearly and she is awesome so I actually would love her to visit more.....and I have no issues with any of the rules we are suppose to follow as licensed providers because I assume that they are rules for safety reasons and most are pretty common sense so they are never an issue. I also do not have any extra paperwork associated with being licensed except at re-license time (every other year). I am like you though and like paperwork so I wouldn't mind either.....

I know you were not saying that licensed or unlicensed is better or worse, I think you were right on with your post, I just wanted to add that for me personally the cons you listed are not cons.

I guess I am not sure why provider's choose to be licensed or not but I personally chose to be because:

1. I get paid more
2. I can have more children

No other reasons than that.

Seriously? We are bi-yearly on renewal as well, but we get an unannouced visit on our off year...so one visit per year, one announced, the next unannouced. I could do without some of the paper work too...especially the crib sheet! It's not like it's hard, but...

I'm licensed for the same reasons though!

[QualiTcare]

Cons of being licensed:
- having visits from a licensor
- having rules that you have to follow, whether you agree with them or not


I am a licensed provider and I have to disagree with the cons you listed.

I have no extra paperwork, I love my licensor and I think in 16 years I have been visited by her maybe 2-3 times unannounced. Any other visits were to be relicensed which occur bi-yearly and she is awesome so I actually would love her to visit more.....and I have no issues with any of the rules we are suppose to follow as licensed providers because I assume that they are rules for safety reasons and most are pretty common sense so they are never an issue. I also do not have any extra paperwork associated with being licensed except at re-license time (every other year). I am like you though and like paperwork so I wouldn't mind either.....

I know you were not saying that licensed or unlicensed is better or worse, I think you were right on with your post, I just wanted to add that for me personally the cons you listed are not cons.

I guess I am not sure why provider's choose to be licensed or not but I personally chose to be because:

1. I get paid more
2. I can have more children
No other reasons than that.

this may not be true for everyone, but i got paid more PER CHILD than any childcare in my area that i know of. of course, i kept less children so i would have possibly gotten paid more if i had been licensed and kept more - but i'm just guessing bc my rates were able to be higher BECAUSE i kept less children.

anyhow, OP - something to think about - unlicensed doesn't mean "underqualified." i'm a licensed teacher, but i chose to be an unlicensed daycare so i could make my own rules. i think that's a common misconception that unlicensed = illegal or unqualified. not true.

[Cat Herder]

[B]
I have no extra paperwork, I love my licensor and I think in 16 years I have been visited by her maybe 2-3 times unannounced.

I want to move to your State.....

I get quarterly unannounced visits, 4 a year .... and I have had 3 ladies in the past 18 months....:confused:

[momofboys]

In my state we are not required to be licensed & I choose not to be licensed. I still follow guidleines from the state though in terms of numbers that I am allowed. I typically only care for one family at a time so I didn't want to fuss with being licensed when I only have 2 kids other than my own in my care.

[morgan24]

I've been licensed for 16 years. I got licensed because in MI it's the law. I also am a rule follower, but it has come to the point where I'm not relicensing and will only watch kids, I'm related to or drop-ins according to the new "babysitter law" MI has now.

My Pros are:

I can be on the food program.
I can claim my expenses on my taxes.

My Cons are:
It cost more money everytime I relicense.

The state licensors are never on the same page, one will let you do something one way and the next one gives you a violation for it. One of my examples is I have a sliding glass door in my walk out basement, my first licensor made me take a lock at the top off because it makes the door not egress, the next one gave me a violation for not having a lock up high enough that the kids couldn't reach.

It creates a ton of paperwork that has to be kept on file and the food program started that also.

If I take kids that are state paid, I have to give a share of that to the union.

Insurance cost are higher.