DESE Office of Childhood
Missouri licenses family child care homes to a 10-child ceiling governed by an age-mix table in 5 CSR 25-400.105(2): the more children under two in the group, the smaller the group. At the extreme, a group of 4 may all be under two. The provider's own children under age five count. Group child care homes run to 20 under their own chapter.
Your own children: count toward these caps (under 5 years).
Your own children: see the cited rule.
Below licensing, the exemption itself is a mix rule: six or fewer children with at most three under age two. The under-two share is the number that moves both lines.
Three children under age two, inside the six-child exemption of RSMo 210.211.1(1).
The age-mix table allows up to 4 when the whole group is under two; mixed groups reduce the under-two share as the total grows toward 10.
School-age children count in the totals; the table's bands run from infant through school-age and the ceiling stays 10 for a family child care home.
DaycareRules is an informational reference about home child care licensing rules in the United States. It reprints thresholds, capacity limits, ratios and citations from state statutes and regulations, together with the date each state was last verified. Nothing on this site is legal advice, and rules change. Confirm with your state licensing agency before acting on any number printed here.