Six weeks from opening my in-home daycare and my checklist keeps growing

Not childcare, but the late pickup and sick day question is the same as every no show policy I've ever written, and the answer is the same. Write the number down before you need it. Fifteen dollars per fifteen minutes after closing, or whatever you decide, in the agreement they sign on day one. You will never invent a fair number in the moment while you're standing in your own hallway at six forty with a tired child.

Same with your own sick days. Decide now how many days a year you close, and say it up front. Parents plan around a stated policy. They can't plan around a surprise.

On the homeowners question, your neighbour isn't wrong to raise it. I ran my first six months of shipping out of a spare room, and when I finally asked, my policy had language about business use I wouldn't have wanted to test after a fire. Mine was fixable with an endorsement and it wasn't expensive, but I had to ask for it by name.

Call the carrier and be specific about what you're doing. Children in the home for pay is a much bigger ask than boxes of moisturiser, so get whatever they tell you in writing rather than over the phone.

The no second me problem is the one I'd spend this week on, because it's the one that turns into a crisis rather than an annoyance. Is there another licensed provider nearby you could have a standing arrangement with, even informally, where you cover each other? Parents forgive the occasional closure. They don't forgive being told at six in the morning with no alternative, twice in a term.

On your four versus six, I'd also ask the committed families whether they know anyone. The best hire I ever made and the best clients I ever got both came from asking the people already in the room.