Family Day Care niche ideas

[rosie.]

Hi all

I run a relatively new Family Day Care, but have unable to get as many enrolments as I'd like, mainly due to my location (just out of a smallish town).
I'm trying to think of ideas for a niche, so I can make parents feel like they need to bring their children to my day care.
I feel I've got to go beyond just being here for parents who live nearby, and attract some from in town. Does anyone have ideas they could share with me that I could make part of my service?

For example (if I had the specific education) I could run a Montessori FDC - it would be the only Montessori day care, let alone family day care, within over an hour of my location, so that could attract people.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance

[Lorina]

Montessori is an idea. Have you had any formal training in Montessori education? Will you buy the necessary products and equipment to teach Montessori? Not many parents will be aware of Montessori so when marketing you will have to think of ways to introduce the Montessori way...

Some other ideas include:

- being an organic centre (growing veggie garden, using organic products only, using organic foods) etc.
- have outings within the community on a regular basis as part of your teaching. For example: Mondays you can go to the library with the children, Tuesday you could take the kids to the local supermarket where they learn about money, different kinds of foods etc, take the children to a pizza parlour where they make their own pizzas (obviously you will have to look into this further in regards to regulations etc. I'm just throwing ideas out at you).
- offer weekend care and after hours care
- 24 hour care
- offer hot home cooked meals

I'm not sure how helpful my suggestions are!

,
L.A

[rosie.]

Thanks for your reply L.A. Unfortunately, no I don't have any Montessori training so it's not really something I could do at this point.
Organic was one I did have on my list, maybe if I could expand on this a bit more. I do have a large outdoor area, veggie patch, chooks etc so outdoor/eco/organic... all your suggestions are good as it just makes me think harder!
I would love to do outings but don't have a suitable vehicle as yet - again that was on my list, and also picking children up from in town maybe in the mornings so parents only have to drive out once a day to pick up. I live about 7 mins out of town.
Also, I already offer care basically whenever a parent needs it, as long as I can physically handle it!
Hmmm....

[catchmeifucan]

How about getting the children “Bed Ready” for when their parents pick them up. Give them baths, put on their pyjamas and you could even probably include dinner as well.

[NorthLight36]

Bed ready is a pretty nice idea, but hard work as well.

Look into programs you like that you don't think anyone in the area is using and hype it up. How do you advertise? Do you have a website? On message boards at the supermarket. library and playgroups in the area? What businesses are there around you? If it's an area with a lot of shift workers, say factories, hospitals and police stations, and if you're willing to offer overnight care, then hype that up. You need to sell yourself as much as possible.

~Ann

[paddywack]

Could you offer a pick up and drop off for those families living bit further out.
I like the idea of them being bed ready too