The Boys and Girls Club is a fun filled and educational child care facility but it is not by any means a daycare. The Boys and Girls Clubs across America have been serving all youth ages 6-18 for nearly sixty years. There have been many misconceptions over the years but when you go into any Boys and Girls Club there is without a doubt that states there is an open door policy with no exceptions. Many parents tend not to agree with this policy but it is what keeps the Club from becoming a daycare.
Most daycares throughput the United States must pass specific certified requirements that the Boys and Girls Club does not need to pass. When children attend a daycare there is a set limit of 6 children per adult. At the Boys and Girls Club there is no set limit for how many kids to one adult. The only child given limit is based on how many children are allowed to be in the building at one time. The Club specifically here in my hometown may serve up to 350 children at one given time. We typically only receive about 120 to 160 children per day so we have plenty of room for more members and we usually only get extra members for our special events.
Each daycare has a set price for their clients whether that be per child per hour or just per child per week but at the Boys and Girls Club there is one set price and that price includes a year membership with it. The prices up here in Michigan are no higher than $10.00 per member for one given year but down south it can get as high as $200.00 considering that they have a pool and a much higher liability rate. Daycares include meals with their weekly pricing but the Boys and Girls Club on the other hand does not. The Boys and Girls Club is only given funding to feed children for free throughout the Summer Program and this is only from June to August. After that it is back to costly concession stands and bake sales to raise money to contribute to the Boys and Girls Club.
The Boys and Girls Club is a low income non-profit organization. All of the money that people donate or give to contribute to the Boys and Girls Clubs across the Unites States goes straight to paying each of its costly monthly bills to keep it open and what is left over is either saved for future use or programs or it is spent directly on the children themselves. When I say directly spent on the children I mean that local Clubs actually help benefit low income families with household items when they need it, clothing and school supplies and when they have the extra grants they go as far as to buying a bike for a child or even furniture for a family who cannot accommodate themselves after a costly move. Daycares definitely do not do provide this type of help to their clients.
Many daycares have set schedules for the children that they provide services to as well as homework help after school and so on. The Boys and Girls Club does the same thing as well. Both the Boys and Girls Club and daycares throughout the United States provide help to their children after school and tutoring when need be. Both also provide a structured schedule for the children for each given event that will be happening that day, nap time, snack time all included in this schedule. The Boys and Girls Club provides free after school tutoring whereas many daycares may charge extra for such help. Daycare facilities may charge extra for any extra-curricular activities they may do with the children but at the Boys and Girls Club all activities are included in the membership fee with no additional costs.
Daycares do not offer soccer leagues, basketball leagues, or even pool table leagues. The Boys and Girls Clubs offer all of these types of leagues for no cost other than for the league team shirts which are never more than $10.00 and even then children have the opportunity to volunteer to work it off by helping staff run programs or cleaning up after concession stands. A daycare may offer playing outside with other kids participating in a sport but they do not