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Appropriate number of kids in DC?

rebeccagarnesrebeccagarnes member
in Working Moms

What do you feel is an appropriate number of kids for one in home daycare provider to watch at one time? Our state law says 12 kids or less but I was wondering what you guys thought. We interviewed a lady today who says she watches 8 kids (2 are her own) and they are mostly 18-24months. Only one is 12 months. She seems very attentive and on the ball so I'm not overly concerned.. .she said they're all good kids and rarely has an issue. Her DH does help out 2 days a week with the kids. What do you think?

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Re: Appropriate number of kids in DC?

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    melissabomelissabo

    I don't know if the laws differ in my state between in-home and a center, but the laws in CT for a center are:

    1 adult for every 4 children under 3 years old.  Then I think it is 1 adult for 10 children.  8 children, mostly toddlers sounds like a bit much.  I can't imagine keeping an eye on all of those children while attending to a tantrum or injury or potty-training with another.  My gut says no more than 4 children under 3 and no more than 6 total.  That said, however, I have not seen a home daycare in years. Good luck.

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    MrsPilzMrsPilz
    Honestly I think shes crazy.  I work in a group center and our regulations say you can only have 4 children by yourself that are under two.  And on most days that is more then enough.  And its not just the ability to handle it either...she has to do all the primary care for them...she can have only limited one on one time with each child...plus her stress level has got to be high with that age group.  Something to watch for with in homes too is TV time.  I know of a lot in my area where they watch a lot of tv.  As somehow the provider is able to be on Facebook an awful lot during the day.  Daily schedule is something else to check too.  I know of another that requires all children that arrive be for 8:30am to lay down until that point.
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    barkers4jmmbarkers4jmm

    Our center is 3:1 for kids under 2, and the state law is 4:1.  That applies to in-home, too.  If there's a mix of ages, the most conversative requirement applies.  I am happy with 3:1.  I even think 4:1 would be difficult when dealing with little ones.  8 or 12 is way too many if she doesn't have full-time help - I mean when she is changing a diaper or preparing food, who is actually watching the kids?

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    JLS0320JLS0320 member
    That's a lot of kids to be watching for one person, too many! C starts an in home daycare on Monday and she has 4 paying kids and 1 of her own. They are all over 2 except for mine. Our state says an unlicensed daycare can have 4 paying kids at once and then however many of their own children. I would really worry how much attention/care my child were getting if he was in a group that big. That's why we passed on one lady, she had WAY too many kids and couldn't seem to pay attention to them all
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    flyer23flyer23 member

    For in-homes, Texas breaks it up by the child's ages. So one caregiver is licensed for up to 12 kids, but in order to have that many, at least six of those kids have to be school-age and only attend after school hours. If there is even just one child under the age of 18 months, the provider can only have 10 kids, and at least 4 must be school-age. That includes children related to the provider.

    So I would double-check with your state to see if there are any restrictions on the ages of children in care, because that provider would be over ratio in Texas.

    To answer your question, Texas allows a 1:9 ratio for 18-24 month olds in daycare centers. I looked at one center that did have 9 kids in their older toddler room, with one teacher, and I eliminated it because I felt like that was too many. So no, I wouldn't be comfortable with a 1:8 ratio for a similar age group. I look for more like 1:5 or 1:6.

    Mommy to DD1 (June 2007), DS (January 2010), DD2 (July 2012), and The Next One (EDD 3/31/2015)

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    Temp159135562506975Temp159135562506975 member

    i would NEVER leave my children with an in-home provider with that many children to herself.... and no- i don't believe that the DH does sh!t with the kids - i'm sure she just says that he helps to make it look better. 

    it's not ratio by law - there's no way it's good for children- and my guess is that she is not licensed since she isn't following state guidelines - so there's NO way i'd send my kids there.

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    KathrynMDKathrynMD member
    I'm not sure how you can call toddlers/preschoolers "good" kids - they are LITTLE kids and they dont' intend to be bad or needy per se, but they all need extra attention at times regardless of how "good" they are.  Also - what about in an emergency?  One of the reasons I think daycare limit the number of kids per adult - even for kids who are mobile is so that they can all be looked after in an emergency/evacuation type situation.  What if there were a fire - how would she get all those kids out in time?  This is really not something I would mess w/ at all - that's too many kids for one person. 
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