Establishing a home based or a commercial day care center is something that needs time, effort and planning. There are many aspects to running a day care center that may skip your thoughts with all the excitement you feel in having your very own business. Aside from the fact that you need to have business savvy, you also need to understand that caring for children is not an easy task. Each child develops at his own pace and has his or her own temperament. If you plan on running a care facility for any age of a child, you might be putting too much on your plate. For starters, and especially if you plan to have the daycare in your own home, you might want to focus on two age groups that you feel most comfortable handling.

Babies, although less trouble in terms of running and getting on top of tables, are more tedious to take care of in terms of schedules and tasks. They need to be fed, washed, and changed, be given vitamins, and are more difficult to assess if they are sick or in pain. If you have a child of your own, then you would probably understand what this means. Babies are all very cute and cuddly and you might mistake the feelings of tenderness you have for these little people to readiness in taking care of them. Having to take care of babies plus other children in various age groups might be too challenging if you are just starting the business.

Toddlers are another age group that you might want to handle by itself. The “toddling” age group is from a year old to right before the kids turn four years old. The main reason why these toddlers are called such is because this is the phase when kids start walking (and talking too) and because they are still trying to get their balance, their walk looks like a “toddle,” sort of swaying and lopsided all the time. The toddler stage is one of curiosity, exploration, and establishing personality. Kids at this stage throw unbelievable tantrums if they do not get what they want and would require a lot of patience on the care giver’s part.

For the most part, one year olds and two year olds are still babies and would still require a lot of care. You would most probably still be changing them out of diapers and having a bit of difficulty understanding what they say. However, most one and two year olds would be able to point to what it is they want, labeling them as they grow a bit older day by day.

Three year olds are quite a challenge, as this is the time kids normally become ready for potty training. And because you are in the business of providing care, you will be involved in this life-changing practice as well. Until they reach the ripe old age of four, you will most likely be running to the bathroom with one kid all day! What you could do to prepare yourself is to read up on scheduling and ask the parents of the child to give you a heads up when they are ready to let their child potty-train.

For more: How to start a daycare business