Introduction
Owning and operating a child care business can be a very challenging and rewarding career. Success in this field requires dedication, love and patience. The work day is longer than a normal eight-hour day, but the satisfaction of watching children grow and develop will be worth the extra effort.
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IDENTIFYING YOUR REASONS FOR GOING INTO BUSINESS
Planning and operating a child care center will consume much of your time and energy. So it is important that you assess your motivations, personality, skills and experience and ability to manage time to determine if you are the right person for the job.
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National Needs
The demand for child care services steadily increases as more and more women enter the work force, giving up the traditional role of full-time mother and homemaker. To date, working mothers -- in both single- and two-parent households -- constitute the fastest growing segment of the paid work force. According to a 1984 U.S. Census Bureau report, the percentage of the work force made up of married working women with school-age children grew from 42 percent in 1970 to over 60 percent, while the percentage of mothers with preschool-age children increased from 32 percent to 52 percent in the same time period. Further substantiating this increasing need for child care services
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Community Need
The easiest and most efficient way to determine the child care need in your community is to go directly to the source, that is, parents. The information they give you will be invaluable. Perhaps the best way to gather information is to arrange an interview with several families (a focus group) or conduct a mail or telephone survey. You can find participants for your survey through local churches or community groups. A sample survey is included in Appendix B. Census data for your community are another source for the following demographic information: ! Number of families in your community. ! Number of working families with children zero to six years old. ! Number of working families with children seven to fourteen years old. ! Number of recent marriages. ! Number of new housing starts.