Should I Start an In-Home Daycare

I thought about this for just about as long as it took me to type the words into google search and then I closed the internet window. It seems like a great home business. Start an in-home daycare, keep it under so many kids and you don't need a business license, stay home with your kids and make some money.

Then I remembered that for a short time my mother ran an in home daycare and I hated every second of it. Even though all the kids were friends of mine, it was a horrible experience. I had to share my space, my toys, my time, AND my MOTHER with neighborhood kids for several hours every single day. At a day care, kids get snacks, and so my mom purchased snacks especially for day care kids and gave them out at snack time and we were all included... except that I wasn't at daycare... I was at home. I wasn't free to grab a bag of chips and sit in front of the TV because then 5 other kids plus my 3 siblings would want the same thing. I remember it being really limiting.

Plus, there was nowhere to go to just be alone. If I went to my room and shut my door, my girlfriends who were being babysat would feel like I was shunning them and being unsocial. But the truth was, I didn't want to be social all of the time. Sometimes I wanted to take a nap, and I just couldn't.

My school work suffered because instead of spending time on my homework, I spent time playing with my friends in a forced social situation. My mom wasn't able to help me because she was too busy trying to clean up after a house of way too many kids for one person. The rebellious pre-teen loud-mouth anarchist from a couple of doors down would be disrespectful to her, I would lose my mind and we would fight, and then she would attempt to "run away" to her house to which she didn't have a key so she would try to break in. This being someone else's child, neither of my parents were allowed to discipline her in any effective way and so it caused drama and strain. And so to that idea I promptly say NO THANK YOU.