Since you have worked in child care you know that your kids can attend the same place usually at a great discount. Sometimes they will even let you bring them for free. I did that for one of my staff that had 4 children. The older ones were in school all day and only came for a short time after school. They often went to their dads during breaks from school so it wasn't any big deal for them to be free. The little one brightened each of our days with her huge smile and easy going personality. Not everyone gets so lucky....
If you enjoyed child care that you could easily slip back into that role and have a job pretty soon. I would start tomorrow calling around seeing if anyone is taking applications. I think that you should start there. This can only benefit you in getting something to put on a resume if nothing else.
There are classes required to work in child care. Since you have been out of the field for a while you will most likely have to take them again. Either an employer will pay for them or they could be free. Ours in Oklahoma are free. There is a 20 hour introduction class that covers the first year requirement. As long as you take them within a certain amount of time you should be okay to take them as you work.
Getting your CPR/First Aid up to date should be done asap to make you more marketable. If you have the opportunity to find the classes start taking them, if it's free it's not a waste of time even if you decide to not pursue child care work.
Once you get a CDA certification you might even be able to work in the preschool program at your local school as a preschool teachers aid or even a teacher at a local Head Start Program. They don't have to have Bachelors degrees in anything.
Here is a link to getting your CDA, these are the classes that are free in Oklahoma. It appears that your will cost you to take them so you might check with a local Jr. College that has a 2 year child development program. It might be cheaper and it is a more desirable/marketable degree
http://dhr.alabama.gov/services/Child_Care_Services/Sched...
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On the other hand if you want to stay at home you might consider starting a home child care business. You get many benefits on your yearly taxes including portions of your utilities, phones, wear and tear on your furniture and home, groceries, etc...you must keep your business checking account totally separate from your personal one, that way you only have one account that has to be looked at during tax season. If you go to Walmart and get stuff they you realize you have the bread for lunch tomorrow with your own groceries you must right a check for the bread individually. This also makes it easier to work out your budget to see how much you are making each month.
Having a home child care business could be profitable but your children will count against how many other kids you can have in your home at one time. For instance, if you have you kids start a preschool program in the Fall and they are gone from 8-2 you can have a full 6 kids there while they are gone. But once they come in the door you would need to make sure you only had 4 left to complete the 6 you can watch at home with just one staff.
You can also be pregnant and give birth while having a home child care business. The person you hire to come into your home to watch the kids needs to be someone that has gone through the process of getting their certifications for 1st aid and CPR. They could be your regular sub for days you need to take off to go to the doc or something.
There should also be programs, either through the state or a federal program that will reimburse you for part of your food bill. If you follow their guidelines and use the foods they recommend they reimburse you for those items. I got a huge check each month, it did take time to do all the paper work but I used that money to buy more groceries and my food bill was minimal.
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Here is the link to your states child care regulations book:
http://dhr.alabama.gov/documents/MinimumStandards_DayCare...
You can have a licensed home or non licensed. I would never do one that wasn't licensed because I would never allow my kids to attend one that did not have a license.
http://www.ccr-bhm.org/parents/documents/ALRCCCandNTC.pdf
Quick points of interest:
Pg. 9 #8
You can watch up to 6 children by yourself
Pg. 9 #13.
If you want to do a large group home you can watch 7 to 12 children and have one employee.
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Here are a couple of links that are for Oklahoman's only but they may help you determine if this is something you might be interested in.
Here is the pay scale that the state pays for children who get child care assistance. It is required in Oklahoma to have a license to watch any unrelated children in your home without a license. Once a license is obtained a provider can decide if they want to apply to have a contract with the state to accept state paid children. I liked having that guaranteed money deposited each week. It was what made my business doable. I could count on that money each Monday, well, if it was a legal holiday on a Monday where the banks were closed then the deposit came on Tuesday. I did my staff payroll out of that deposit so I always made payroll.
If you didn't want to take state payments this might at least give you an idea if it would make you enough money. I would at least ask about the fees they pay.
I was in a county that was considered to be Enhanced, same as urban or a City area. They pay more because the cost of living is usually higher in those areas.
I had 1+ STARS the day I got my license and went up to a 2 STAR the first year. So if I had an infant that was state paid I got $21.25 per day for that infant on the 1+ STAR once I got my 2 STAR it went up to $30 per day.
http://www.okdhs.org/NR/rdonlyres/2E81F###-###-####-487B-...
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Here is a link that has a lot of good information about starting a home child care business, it is addressed to Oklahoman's but it does contain a lot of good common sense ideas.
http://www.okdhs.org/nr/rdonlyres/e7de27a5-31a6-45ce-950f...
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If you have any interest in child care even if it's for just a few years having your own business is a great way to show a future employer that you were able to manage a business and show profits.