In-Home Day Care Alternative

Quality daycare means different things to different families.

The Goal

First and foremost, we want to know that our small children are safe, healthy and happy during the hours we can't be with them. We need to know that their physical and emotional needs will be met. Our toddlers are in daycare for up to two hours longer per day than we are at work. Warehousing isn't acceptable for a child or for our society.

The Problem

Either we as a society provide daycare - and subsidize the costs - or we pay for the children who have been damaged by inadequate care as they enter the school system. Coming up with an economic model that works is the biggest challenge. A fundamental question is what kind of care is best for children under the age of five? While pricey preschools can prepare toddlers for prep school and nannies may be the next best thing to Mom and Dad - who can afford them? I propose that there may be a greater need for an enriched home-like environment. In-home daycare can be a crap shoot. Generally a mom who can't afford to put her own children in daycare will take a couple of kids into her family for a fee. The quality of care depends entirely on luck. As a business model, many of these women have no clue of the liability they risk. As a parent, even if you are lucky enough to find a great provider, you are going to lose time from work when you get sick, when your child gets sick and when your daycare provider gets sick. There is no back up for small emergencies or larger problems.

A Solution

The busted housing bubble might provide an opportunity for an entrepreneur ready to think outside the box. Daycare co-ops could be the next big thing in toddler care.

Buy and convert a house into a child friendly home day-care. Lease day-care space to 3 or 4 providers. They will be responsible for running their own business within your day-care center. You provide the facilities, they run the business.

The advantages are enormous. Not only do the providers have back up and support, they don't risk their own homes. Children get a home-like facility and traditional enrichment opportunities. Parents will know that the home is day-care safe and that their children will have appropriate care. The day-care center owner has a business with real property that can only appreciate over time and a solid income above expenses with very little day-to-day involvement. The community benefits by raising toddlers in a healthy and productive environment which creates the kind of adults we want as neighbors, employees and friends.