So growing up I was the designated child watcher for cousins, nephews, friends at gatherings, etc. And I actually enjoyed it! I would come up with games we could play together that we both found interesting, the like. So I thought of maybe trying to do a side business with it.
So I was thinking about doing like a Saturday “Day camp” kinda thing for kids like 10+ and would be almost entirely outside and feature things like:
Pool - I own a town home and we have a shared pool with just like 15 other houses, so pool would be good during summer. Can have water gun battles and little contests for chasing sinkers.
Go carts - Those little go carts that are powered by hover boards for go cart races. Can get used ones for under $100 very easily around where I live. So feel like I could get 4 reasonably easy.
Laser tag - can get laser tag kit pretty cheap and can either be in the public area that’s part of my town house area, or a local park that is less than a block away and has a really good play ground that might be fun for it.
Lunch/dinner - Just thinking a big old pot of black beans, rice, nacho cheese, and endless chips for lunch, then dinner is like chili and baked potatoes. So food that is super cheap and filling but tasty for kids. Stuff like that.
Have a wireless vr headset that could work outside, but not sure.
Just different sports depending on the kids. I’m a runner so could even do games where it’s like they need to work together to catch me. Like I have a flag belt and they need to work together to catch me, since growing up groups of kids I watched always got a kick out of trying to work together to beat me.
I was thinking maybe like $50 - 70 a kid and max of 4 kids for like 8 hours? Would that be too much? Would that be something you parents might be interested in during the summer/weekends?
I understand I would want to have waivers, certifications, and the like. Like food handlers permit, life guard training (if I go to pool), cpr, all that. I’ll look into that if I actually feel like this is something I wanna do. But before caring about any of that, I’m curious if people would be interested in it at a price that would let me keep it fun but be worth it.
I’m not dropping my kids off at a stranger’s house, and to be a bit sexist here a single man’s house, and paying him to let my kids swim at his pool, drive go karts on open pavement, and play store-bought laser tag.
An insured fun center with employees? Sure, maybe. Some guy’s home? Absolutely not.
I also am not putting my kids in an Uber alone.
If you want to be Johnny Karate, figure out something you can bring to birthday parties or kids events and make your money that way. But “unlicensed daycare” is a hard no.
My first thought is that the HOA is going to have a big problem with this, if you have one- most town homes do.
You can use “LittleKidLover” as your business email username so everyone knows where your priorities are.
You may need to invest in some extremely expensive insurance for something like that. Especially if you’re going to have other people’s kids running around a pool and playing on go carts.
I’m willing to bet prohibitively expensive insurance.
Possibly a dedicated lifeguard, meaning if it was just you, you wouldn’t be able to attend to anything else
I recently read somewhere that most child drownings occur when adults are present but become distracted by doing even the smallest of errands, so your comment—to me—sounds 100% valid.
I think it would be wise to have a partner, first to be a backup child-watcher in case your attention focuses in one direction. And the legal witness isn’t a bad thing to have also.
I understand I would want to have waivers, certifications, and the like. Like food handlers permit, life guard training (if I go to pool), cpr, all that.
Yeah, all that will be super important. This will protect you, the kids and make the parents more comfortable with you. You will also want to consider business insurance and make sure it covers all the activities you have in mind. Some regions have major restrctions about how many kids can be supervised by an adult. You might find out there’s rules about needing 2 adults of each sex.
On your own property? No, absolutely insane idea, don’t do it. Too much inherent risk, especially since you don’t own the pool or the public areas. There are likely HOA or similar policies preventing exactly this.
OTOH - If you bought a property and ran it as a business… great idea!
