Thinking About "Babysitting" a Couple Older Kids This Summer...

I'm actually thinking about asking one of my son's swim team Mom's if she'll do this with my 8 year old. She mentioned to me about needing to make some money when I saw her last night but how she doesn't want to leave her kids (8 and 11) and I wished I'd put two and two together when we were talking - now I have to wait until next Monday to ask her!

Overall - I think it's a great idea. At those ages it's hard to do the camps cause they are so darn expensive - my one cavet would be to make sure both kids can swim and are comfortable in the water - definitely less liability at that point. :-)

Too bad you aren't in Colorado I'd line you up real quick! :-)

I think it's a great idea! Is it $100 per week per family or per kid? I'm not paying that much per kid this summer and I'm getting a great college girl to come to my house! We also negotiated in her taking them to the pool on a regular basis - though we may just buy one of the Intex ones...we'll see!

But I think it sounds like a good deal! I do worry what I'll do as my kids get older. I'm hoping I can have my daughter "babysitt" when she is 13 and the boys are 11 and 9...but we'll see!

This is a copy of a new Arizona law that went into effect this past Fall as far as I can figure it out.

It states on page 1, Letter A, line 6 "A child care facility shall not receive any child for care unless the facility is licensed by the department of health services."

http://www.azsos.gov/public_services/chapter_laws/2010/49...
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This one says, on the bottom line of page 1, you cannot have more that a 1:5 ratio of kids at any time but it also states you can have up to 15 kids so that would mean hiring staff for the amount of kids you stated you wanted to consider.

http://www.azdhs.gov/als/guides/guide.pdf
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Here is a copy of the child care home regulations for you to read. I can't find this former note anywhere so this may be an outdated version of the state regulations.

According to what I read if you watch even one child that is not your own child you can face charges and fines for operating an unlicensed/un-certified child care business.

The fines can be quite high. It would not be worth it to do this with the risk of someone turning you in. If it happens you are out of luck. Not "knowing" you are breaking state law is not an excuse.

Please call your local office to get a copy of the most current regulations and ask them about what you are wanting to do.

Having a home child care business can be very fulfilling but doing it the right way will allow you to accept financial assistance from low income families, it will allow you to turn in receipts for food purchases to the national food program to get a lot of it reimbursed, it will allow you to claim all kinds of deductions on your taxes. There are many many benefits of being a legally certified business.

Good luck with this idea.

In Oklahoma we get $11-$15 per school aged child per day. So your fees are higher for kids in our state. I would charge less and tell the parents to buy their kids their own passes to the water park but you are taking on tons of liability for having the kids at a water feature anyway. The reg's will probably state you have to have 2-1 ratio with the kids at any kind of water activity.

Here is Oklahoma's pay scale to child care facilities and to child care homes if the family is getting assistance for the purpose of paying for their child care.

http://www.okdhs.org/NR/rdonlyres/2E81F###-###-####-487B-...
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Have fun!!!!

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Here is a link to an article from our Oklahoma DHS about how to get into child care as a business. It is good information that is thought out and easy to read. It may offer some good advice to you.

http://www.okdhs.org/nr/rdonlyres/e7de27a5-31a6-45ce-950f...

I think it's a great idea. It will give your kids some friends to hang out with too. Make sure you supervise closely because even if your own children can manage without constant supervision without getting into trouble, things tend to get out of hand fast when other kids are added to the mix. I would also set up a schedule with time for them to do artwork, cooking and reading. They will probably have some summer homework to do to keep their skills up through the summer and the parents will appreciate getting that done daily.
I can't tell from your question but if you are thinking that you will have multiple hours during the day to work while they are there you might have a problem pulling it off.

Hopefully the parents will buy the waterpark summer passes? The first thing that jumped out at me was your liability should one of them drown or otherwise get hurt at the waterpark. I think you need to have some sort of permission slip and liability disclaimer and something written by the parents regarding the child's swimming abilities.

Are the parents going to pay for the ticket to the water park ? I think about the same thing. I have many friends that work and the poor children are home alone all through spring break and summer and christmas break ( sometimes ) I feel like I want to help them out too. But I guess we just plan a day to have them each week and they possibly go to other homes or these community care places or camps to keep the week . Certainly more expensive then someone offereing to watch the kids. Sounds like a fun idea. Make sure the kids get along Ha ! :0P .
You have too feed them too........is that out of the $100. I would not know how to advertise. I would think that the 12 year old would have the friends and connections to know who to ask. I would do word of mouth. I don't see the issue with the liability thing. They are playdates and you are entertaining them. But maybe someone else has another view on that.

You should start with Kids you know so you can pick them. I would make parents pay upfront at least one week. What about vacation time?