DAYTON — The month of November is recognized as National Veterans and Military Families Month.

One important part of mission success is making sure the children of service members have the support and care they need while their parent or parents are working.

Across the world, the Defense Department oversees more than 800 Child Development Centers on military installations.

However, the military also relies on private citizens to help fill the gaps in care.

For most working parents, their schedules can be unpredictable.

Finding quality child care is so important and for military members, days, times and hours are all extremely different.

That’s why family child care providers have also answered that call to service right inside their own home.

“We are having whole wheat toast, sausage and mixed berry,” said military spouse and family child care provider Emily Guess.

She gets the day started with her 14-month-old son Emmett strapped comfortably on her back.

“I usually serve two to three hot meals and it just makes it easier to have him back there. He’s cozy,” she said.

“His favorite thing is to chew,” said her eight year old son Evan as he inspected a bowl of fresh toast.

Guess’ husband serves in the United States Marine Corps and they recently arrived in Dayton from Sicily.

“The area around Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is becoming home for now. Readily available or easy to find,” Guess said.

She already had a lot of experience working in child care at their previous assignment.

“So I decided to open my own child care facility, and I wanted to do it the right way and I decided to go with the FCC program just because it helps military members like me,” she said.

Right now, her husband works as a recruiter.

“Their hours are pretty hectic. He works from about 8 a.m. till 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and then if they have shipping, then he works on Sunday too,” said Guess.

Becoming a family child care provider just made sense.

Not only can she provide care for her own two children and have them fit it into the ratio, but she can continue her career.

“The older kids that I have are very helpful with the little ones and they teach them a lot of stuff,” she said.

Guess can watch any ages from two weeks to 12 years old.

It’s important she’s prepared for all types of development.

She’s one of about ten in-home day care providers in the Dayton area affiliated with the base.

As the clock ticks through the early morning hours, more children arrive.

“This is a good way that somebody that we can trust to watch our kid for sure. So it’s definitely convenient to have, and that’s one of the biggest benefits to the military for sure,” said United States Marine Corps SSGT Joseph Kirberg.

Throughout the morning, older children that Guess watches will head out on the bus and come back after school.

She has a max ratio of six.

It’s all about providing care when it’s needed the most and it doesn’t stop with the daytime shift.

“Overnight care is pretty much from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. for me,” she said.

For parents in general, finding overnight care is extremely difficult.

“Especially if they are a single parent or if their partner is deployed,” Guess added.

As breakfast time starts and more kids get dropped off, parents can head to work feeling confident with their care.

Child care coordinators like Breann Mynsberge can pop in at any time.

“Family child care providers, they get the exact same training that our child development center workers get. So everything is the same. They still have their sign-in sheets, they have 1181’s, all the Air Force forms. They have all of the basic things within their ‘classroom,’ in this case their home, to make sure they’re meeting the needs of the Air Force and their children,” Mynsberge said.

From clearing tables to baby-proofing, Guess has it down to a science.

Time together is priceless and important and it’s something she’ll keep doing until the military moves their family once again.

“This is absolutely what it’s all about. I like being able to sit and communicate and talk and watch the kids play, read them a book, I love it,” she said.

It’s no secret that there is a huge need for child care, especially infant care.

The military is no different and bases are always looking for providers to open their homes.

To help incentivize, the Air Force recently gave the green light for parents to be paid for watching their own children while operating an in-home day care.

In terms of salaries, providers set their own rates and write up their own contracts.