Male daycare provider...

[cybele]

<r><QUOTE author="babysitter;143443"><s>

</s>I find it disturbing that you equate the two concepts—the former being something that deserves respect that support, and the latter being ridiculous.<e>

</e></QUOTE>
<br/>
I don't recall stating that they were equal?</r>

 

[singledad]

: a fight against the misinformed, ignorant, prejudiced, and discriminatory.

And in which of these categories would you put me?
Misinformed/Ignorant? How?
Prejudiced? In what way?
Discriminatory? Against who, in what way?

 

[IADad]

What I'm realising is that the difference between registered/regulated and not is much bigger here that in the US/Canada. Here, you ate basically powerless against an unregistered daycare. Unless you can get the owner prosecuted for child abuse, the best you can do is remove you're child, and leave them to continue harming other children. And often, they know that. A registered centre can loose their license for something as simple as a dirty kitchen, and they know it. So I , as a parent, can report then and have then closed down. If the parents are vigilant, the day care has to go by the book our face closure. I have that power. Yes, it's reactive. No, it's not perfect. Abuses still occur. But it's better than the alternative, at least for me. First prize would still be for one parent to stay home and care for the child, but that isn't always possible.

Anyway, op, you sound like you have you're ducks in a you're, and like you have honourable intentions, so I wish you ask the best. Please understand that nothing I said here was meant as criticism against you, specifically. I just wanted to give my perspective of unregistered in-home daycare, do that you would be aware of it, since I an by far not the only parent who feels this way.

I don't know that that's all that different. We had kids at both licensed and unlicensed daycares. The unlicensed ones we chose by our own scrutiny and yes, if anything had gone wrong, about the best we could have done was fend for ourselves.

But licensing doesn't necessarily make things that much better. One of the reasons our last daycare was unlicensed was because she didn't have a bathroom on the floor of her house where the daycare space was located. Okay, we're talking toddler/preschool aged kids, under direct supervision, I think she can get them to a bathroom. Meanwhile licensing creates a panacea. They inspect every detail of cleanliness (and rightfully so) yet don't do a very thorough job of investigating financial stability or monitoring hiring practices. So people take their kids to larger licensed daycares and think everything will be perfect, but licensing is no guarantee of quality.

Daycare consumers have to do a lot of their own investigation, a lot of interviewing to be sure their priorities are in line with the provider's.

As a man, I'm afraid to say, I would be cautious about a male run daycare. It's descriminatory, it's prejudiced, but it's true. One of our daycares had a male employee. Our radar was tuned into him much more than the female employees. Probably completely wrong of us, but it's just true. So, like the OP says, it's a struggle, it probably shouldn't be, but it's not insurmountable.

 

[pwsowner]

Update:

The city I live close to doesn't have any demand for daycare, so I was deciding between 2 other cities. One is only an hour from here, so I can be nearby for when my parents need me. The other is a 5 hour drive from here, but I lived there before for 3 years and liked it there. I did some advertising on Kijiji in both cities and contacted about 20 people looking in both cities. I got no replies from the local one, and have 2 prospective clients from the distant one, so looks like I may be wanted there. In the next week or 2 I will decide for sure, but looks like I'm probably moving there next month to open my new business.

 

[akmom]

You're going to sell your house and buy a new one in a month's time? Without any local references? None of that sounds practical to me.

 

[pwsowner]

I rent, so the moving isn't a big deal, and there are lots of places for rent in the city I'm getting my replies from. When I first moved there in 2002, my brother and I shared a place. 3 years later, I moved back but he stayed, so I can have him do some initial house searching for me, then I just go up in a week or 2 to look at a few, pick one, and get ready to move.

Local references, other than my brother, is an issue, but even at home I don't have any professional references, but neither does anyone first starting a daycare business. I have several friend and relative references and they can be called from any city.

 

[pwsowner]

It's probably going to be a slow start, being new and male, but both of the prospective clients are looking for before and after school care, so what I will probably do is part-time home renovations during school hours, providing before and after school care, until I get known a little.

 

[BellaBabyBoutiq]

I'm not against it but I do think that if you want to do it you are going to have to prove you can to a lot of moms who are already scared of that situation becoming a problem. They might wonder why might a guy want to watch children. Even if your intentions are completely good and you are a perfectly normal person with no ill intent.

That being said I think if you can get some to give you a chance and you do a great job they can provide references for new clients.

I think one way you might make them feel more comfortable especially with a home daycare situation is to have a female provider assistant during every working hour like if you are licensed for 12 kids you can watch 6 and she can watch 6.

I know it will be hard for you because there are many women who do not trust men to watch children. (Just like male doctors always have a female come in while they are doing things while you are undressed)

Make sure you are able to show college classes completed and that your education is commensurate.

Make sure and develop a real program with scheduled activities so you can show them, there is no free time for abuse to happen.

Try to make the daycare unattached to your home if possible to show them your intent for professionalism.

Make sure they know there is some educational aspect to the daycare.

It has been taboo for a long time for men to care for children and it will not be easy to convince women. I will tell you probably 19 out of 20 will probably walk away so it might be really hard for you.

Times are a changing though many men stay home with the kids now a days so don't give up.

Best to have all your i's dotted and your t's crossed. Look at all the possible problems that could come about in advance. Look for solutions to make mothers feel comfortable.

Could you give them access to a video camera/teddy cam to check in on you at any time? ADT provides cameras that could allow the parents to feel comfortable looking on you (I use them for my store to check in for burglary alarms and to make sure employees showed up for work) but you could use them to allow parents the freedom to check in on you during work hours, someone must have a system for that.

It would only take one anxious mom to ruin your daycare and ruin your life and your well being so be aware it could lead to problems if anyone accused you of anything. You might try working at another daycare for a while to get the idea of how to run things.

Do your diligence in being able to prove you can care and cook for the potential clients. Provide a weekly menu to the parents. Show snack times on your menu.

Show parents how you plan to deal with potty issues such as potty training and bathroom cleanliness.

Good luck!