Is This a Good Idea?

[girlwithanidea]

Just wanted to start by saying I'm not a parent, but I have a business idea with parents of babies, toddlers and younger children (i.e. 0-5) as the target market, and the idea is as follows lol:

Imagine something that's a cross between a nursery and a play area that is located in, or very close to your town centre. It's filled with staff who are all qualified childcare workers, and thoroughly checked for criminal convictions, etc too.
The main purpose of this place is to provide a safe, clean space in which parents can leave a baby or small child for some time while they do anything from shopping with a friend in peace to going to a doctor's appointment without worrying about the kid, in lieu of a small fee and signing a few papers beforehand (confirming that you're agreeing to leave the child here in our care for a given amount of time, notifying us of any allergies/conditions).

What makes it different from a typical nursery, however is that you don't require a membership as such, and this place is open all seven days of the week, from 9 am - 5pm (as opposed to only Monday - Friday like most nurseries). You also wouldn't have to worry about your child being bored, as there would be some fun activities for them to take part in on the lines of what you'd find at a soft play centre (ball pools, slides, etc.)


So my question is, mums of Mumsnet- do you feel like this could potentially be a good idea? Like would you be interested in a place like this if it opened near you (or would you have been when your children were younger, if they are older now)? If not, why not? Any questions/suggestions?

Thanks for taking the time out to read all this if you got this far, and looking forward to hear what you guys have to say!

[Sunnysal]

I don't think you can just park your children as maybe you would a dog. However good the care, children need to get used to carers....think about them starting nursery etc.

[Crocky]

It’s an idea that’s been done before. IKEA had one, no idea if they still do. Think some of the larger shopping centres tried it.

[TeethingBabyHelp]

It sounds like the crèche at my gym. I have to say I don't use the crèche; the staff seem lovely but I wouldn't leave a non verbal child in a setting that has unfamiliar adults. Nursery is different due to settle sessions and it becoming their routine. But for the sake of whizzing around the shops or fitting workout in, it's not something I'd use

[Justkeeppedaling]

This already exists, or used to. There was a play area like this in Woolworths in Swindon years ago, until Woolworths closed down. I think IKEA also (used to?) do it. I've also seen it elsewhere.

Now that no-one goes shopping any more I'm not sure it's a viable business option, although a good idea in practice.

[heldinadream]

This seems to me to be utterly fraught with problems. But this one jumps out - do people book in advance or just turn up? If they book in advance do they also pay in advance so you're covered for no shows? If they just turn up - say your capacity is fifteen - what do you say to person 16 who turns up and has a dentist's appointment - tough titty? Or if person 14 has three children in tow - sorry you can only leave two of your three children?
It's an informal creche basically. There are going to be legalities and practicalities all over the place.
You can't just dump kids randomly. I think the fact that you're not a parent is REALLY telling here. It's just not like parking your car for a timed parking fee.

[Needmorelego]

That's a drop in crèche. They exist. But obviously there will be 10 thousand rules and regulations you would have to follow (and quite rightly so).

[ElenaSt]

Forget the kids why isn't there a crèche to drop off boyfriends, husbands and fathers who don't like traipsing around the shops with us womenfolk?

Some couches, snacks, non alcoholic beverages, tv, newspapers and a couple of nice looking dolly birds to serve the food and drink.

[choirmumoftwo]

There was a post on here recently from someone who had a hospital appointment and no childcare options (not allowed to take her child with her). This service would have been ideal in that situation but I'm not sure if the situation arises enough to make this a viable business opportunity. Perhaps in the larger cities?

[2anddone]

Hi @girlwithanidea it's an idea I have considered myself many times. Other posters are correct and places like Ikea already offer this as do some big shopping centres (I think I have seen them in Meadowhall and lakeside)
I think it's a good idea however you would need to jump through multiple hoops and cross lots of red tape for it to work.
I do have children and would have left them once they were old enough to tell me what they were doing.

[Justkeeppedaling]

Those exist too, or again, used to. Lots of department stores had "lounges" where you could leave your DH while you browsed their wares.

[Justkeeppedaling]

That was to the poster who asked about drop off places for boyfriends etc

[Floydthebarber]

Like a creche? They used to be quite common in the early-mid 90s. A supermarket near us was built with one. Not sure why they died out. Now I have dc (school age) I'd perhaps use one if everyone else did and I could be confident of the dbs checks, qualifications etc. But I also don't spend all day shopping anymore. And if I did I'd leave dc with dh.

[SMaCM]

Our local shopping centre used to have one, where the children could do craft, soft play, snack, etc. Also our local Supermarket had one, but it closed. The leisure centre still has one.

[soberfabulous]

I live overseas and these are commonplace in malls and well used. Price point can be a challenge though. I imagine the overheads are high and some people aren't prepared to pay what you'd need to charge.

[GiltEdges]

Personally, no I wouldn't use a service like this. DS loves his nursery, but is naturally quite reserved and nervous in new social situations, so I wouldn't just leave him with adults he didn't know and expect him to be okay with it.

[Hardbackwriter]

For me personally, I wouldn't use except in a really urgent situation. I have a 1 year old and a 3 year old, both of whom happily go to their nursery where they've settled in, but both of whom would go absolutely bonkers if I tried to leave them with total strangers. But lots of people do use similar set-ups - clubs at holiday resorts, gym creches, etc. - so it obviously comes down to individual child personalities whether this works.

My main thought it just that you'll find it very hard to make the finances work - as a pp said, is it pre-booked only? That's going to make it less appealing in some ways, but otherwise I just don't see how you'll manage ratios (especially if you take babies) and staff numbers without potentially paying staff to stand around a lot. What sort of hourly fee were you imagining you'd charge?

Also, there's a recruitment crisis in early years' childcare so you might potentially find it hard to recruit your qualified staff, especially if you've got any thoughts that they'd be on zero hours contracts.

[Maryann1975]

There are a lot of flaws in the plan.
Im going to go with staffing as my main point. You say the setting will be filled with staff, if you are providing care for children, you will need to be registered with ofsted. Ofsted have ratios. From the top of my head, a nursery setting ratio is 1:3 for under 2s, 1:4 for 2 year olds and 1:8 for 3-4 year olds. If you don’t know how many children are turning up each day, how many staff are you employing? Those staff will still need paying even if they don’t have children to look after and you I expect you would have to charge quite a high hourly rate To cover for this. There is a massive shortage in early years staff at the moment and Many good and established nurseries are struggling to recruit and retain staff for many reasons, but low pay and over work are high reasons I think. So you might struggle to attract staff. Or at least struggle to get good staff, who are qualified and enthusiastic about their work and I doubt many parents would be happy to leave their dc with staff who are not qualified and enthusiastic.

[BluecheeseandBaskerville]

I wouldn’t. I need to know full safeguarding procedures before I leave my kid with anyone.

[BluecheeseandBaskerville]

If it’s that random, how’re you vetting who picks up? You won’t be able to remember all the parents/ caregivers.

[Hardbackwriter]

@BluecheeseandBaskerville

If it’s that random, how’re you vetting who picks up? You won’t be able to remember all the parents/ caregivers.

I think you could solve that with a good system (but it would have to be iron-clad) but it did make me think - presumably there's a reason that where creches exist they're usually in places where the parents stay on the premises, such as big shops or gyms, and that's a condition of using them. Obviously that helps for emergency situations, but also in general - at the gym I used that had a creche (before children, so I didn't ever use the creche) they just came and get the parent if the child is really distressed, and I saw that happen a few times. If you can use yours for any reason then you'd just need to deal with it if the child isn't coping but the parent is the other side of town. Would you also be feeding the children?

[Teael]

This exists. It's best for over threes, and in settings like Ikea, or small communities. I imagine it's virtually impossible to make a profit from. And you'd quickly be full in the holidays.

You're describing a creche.

[BronteGirl]

Ofsted regulation here might help: www.gov.uk/guidance/childminders-and-childcare-providers-register-with-ofsted/registration-exemptions
As others have said the key issue will be staffing - you may not be able to predict demand accurately enough to staff safely. Most childcare operates a keyworker system whereby children can build strong and consistent relationships with a small number of staff. I don't see how you can get that to work effectively with the model you are suggesting. If a parents wants to drop a toddler and a 5 year old will there be suitable activities for both age ranges? How will you keep babies safe from active 5 year olds? Are you serving food?

[TropicalPotatoes]

Yes. Though I'm not sure how you'd get the ratio's to work, without knowing how many children you'll have. To make sure you have the right amount of staff.

[girlwithanidea]

@Crocky

It’s an idea that’s been done before. IKEA had one, no idea if they still do. Think some of the larger shopping centres tried it.

Tbf it's reassuring that it has been done in the past as that shows that it can be done, and there would be a market for it...

[girlwithanidea]

@TeethingBabyHelp

It sounds like the crèche at my gym. I have to say I don't use the crèche; the staff seem lovely but I wouldn't leave a non verbal child in a setting that has unfamiliar adults. Nursery is different due to settle sessions and it becoming their routine. But for the sake of whizzing around the shops or fitting workout in, it's not something I'd use

That's fair enough, I can see why people wouldn't want to use it, especially if their child especially hates strangers/unfamiliar situations.

When I suggested the idea to my own mom she said she would never have used it when we were younger either haha!