Any Daycare Providers here?

[MemoryMakers2669]

I have a question for Daycare Mothers or even those that have used in home daycare and know the policy of their provider.

I have a little boy, whose mother is pregnant. She is a teacher, so I only have him for 9 months anyway, with the summers off, with no pay (which gets tough, but worth it). Now she is unexpectedly pregnant, due in December. She is taking FOUR MONTHS off. She is SUPER tight with her money, like won't even work on Mondays, because most of the school holiday's fall on Mondays and she isn't paying for daycare she can't use, when she isn't making money herself...which I understand.

What do you do about maternity leave...just go without pay, then let them come back when they are ready? I know some daycares make them pay in full, to hold the spot.

I really can't go four months with no pay at all from her, so I don't know to do.

 

[Beth76]

I really can't go four months with no pay at all from her, so I don't know to do.

If that's truly the case, then she should either keep her older son in your care during that time or you should fill her space. It's not fair to you to expect you to keep a vacant spot without pay for so long. As long as you give her proper notice of your intentions (at least a month), she really should have no problem with that.

 

[disneynutt1225]

I would start advertising now that you'll have a spot open in January (or December depending on when she gives birth and takes off). If you want to make the suggestion of her paying you for the 4 months so you hold the spot, go right ahead. Worst thing she can say is no, and you'll find someone new for the spot anyway. I absolutely would not offer to hold a spot for 4 months without some kind of a substantial deposit. That's your livelihood you're talking about! Be firm!

When I was working at a daycare we had a family that would pull their child out every summer for 6 weeks to go to Greece. They paid in full for those 6 weeks so that they didn't lose their spot - mainly because it was that important to them.

 

[Blondy876]

Oh what a tough situation. It doesn't seem fair to you to loose money though. The policy at my dd's daycare is that you pay for the days enrolled whether the child is there or not. It's not fair to you to have to hold back a spot that could be taken by a paying child. It's a business and it just doesn't make business sense. What happens if she decides not to go back to work after her leave and keeps the child home? Since you don't have a policy in place for this situation now would be the time to write one. But for this mother perhaps you could compromise? Tell her that in order to hold her child's spot that she would have to pay 1/2. That way you don't loose everything. I don't know the answer but I don't think that you can keep the spot without charging her something. Good luck!!!

 

[Toby'sFriend]

Well not that it is relevant but how can a teacher not work on Mondays? She takes EVERY Monday off of work and there is a school that is ok with that?

Honestly, I would tell her that you are simply unable to keep the spot open for that many months. I mean, she'll be off December, January, February and March --- back for some of April perhaps...then May and then she is on Summer break again?

Unless she wants to pay you, then cut her loose.

 

[cardaway]

People pay for spots because we have a waiting list.

 

[nuke]

My MIL does inhome daycare. She has everything in writing and a contract signed before she takes on new kids.

She gets paid if the family takes vacation.
She gets paid if they don't show up or are sick a day.
She gets paid for her own two week vacation every year.

She runs it as a business and people respect her rules and policies. She will only hold a spot if they pay in full.

 

[Stacerita]

My MIL does inhome daycare. She has everything in writing and a contract signed before she takes on new kids.

She gets paid if the family takes vacation.
She gets paid if they don't show up or are sick a day.
She gets paid for her own two week vacation every year.

She runs it as a business and people respect her rules and policies. She will only hold a spot if they pay in full.

When I had the sweetpea in an "in home daycare" this was how the policy was. I pay for the slot. Not for the days the sweetpea actually went. Just because its out of someones home doesn't mean its not a business. You are way to nice to save the slot when she is on break. Most wont do that. The slot is whats paid for. You shouldn't have to take less pay per week bacause she doesn't send her son. You need to be paid in full. If she's not willing to pay for the entire slot then you should find someone else. Another thing, if she does want to send her son part time, only let her have a few days of week as her slot so you can still have someone else in the other days. Like a M-W-F or T-Th type deal.

 

[MUFFYCAT]

i had day care providers for 10 years.

i paid them for all holidays, vacation, sick days.
but never paid her for the 3 months i was home with my second child.

i can't see how you can charge the full amount for four months while not
babysitting. if my sitter said i had to do that i would have looked for another one. that's alot of money!

maybe you can place an ad to have one just for those months.


also, are you sure she's coming back to you?
she might say that so she has at least one option.
sorry but that happen to my friend.

good luck!

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Honestly, if you can get someone else to fill the slot (and I'm betting you can), I'd cut the ties now. Do you really want someone who is so cheap that they don't work Mondays because most of the holidays fall on Mondays? Too cheap for my blood.

I did home daycare for many years--this fall will be my first year not doing it at least part-time in about 12 years. I usually had only 1-2 families, so small groups. In the later years I preferred to not have the daycare children in the summer, so my situation was a little different. But in your case, I wouldn't blame you for not holding the spot for 4 months. You are being generous by holding the spot during the summer.

Almost all of my problems doing daycare were problems with the parents. Problems with the kids were few and far between. Cheap parents were a drag, but I did have a couple of them. My last one--the one I continued to do daycare this last year for so I could see this child to middle school was one of my cheap parents, but I'd had the girl since kindergarten. I like her a lot and didn't want to quit on her.

 

[Luv'sTink]

I don't think you should hold the spot for her.

I also never have and never would pay my daycare while THEY are on vacation, while I am on vacation yes. They want the time off it's on their dime because I have to pay someone else for that time and no one should have to pay twice, IMO.

 

[ksjayhawks]

When I was teaching and kids were in daycare, I paid 1/2 weekly fee during my time off to hold my spot.

 

[Stacerita]

i can't see how you can charge the full amount for four months while not
babysitting.

maybe you can place an ad to have one just for those months.

There is a difference between babysitting and day care. I think if she was just babysitting then she shouldn't charge for when she isn't watching the kid. But daycare is different. State only allows so many kids per provider, so there are only so many slots that can be filled. If the slot is left vacant, then thats like taking a pay cut. Babysitting to me is just a here or there type thing. Where as daycare is a daily thing.

I also think the provider would have a hard time filling the slot for just "those months". No one is gonna get their kid used to a provider and then stop going.

 

[barkley]

heck-around here if you want to snag one of the rare infant spots in a daycare you secure it and start paying the full rate to hold it before you deliver (so if you plan on staying home 3 months you might be paying for 5 months before the child ever enters the daycare). non infant spots you can line up pretty easily (but still hard if they're not potty trained) but you pay for your spot-no discounts for vacation, sick days, no use periods. some providers contractualy allow for 2 full weeks of vacation time you don't have to pay for each year-but you can't break it up into less than 1 week increments.

 

[tkd lisa]

Piling on here, just so you know that it seems like this isn't a reasonable expectation.

I have had my kids in a variety of day care settings (at least 4 home day cares and three formal centers).

The MOST lenient daycare I had worked this way. You paid either by the week or by the day. The daily rate was higher. If you were going to be gone more than two weeks, you paid 1/2 the weekly rate to keep your spot. She didn't have anyone who did a summer off, so I don't know how she would have handled it.

I did have a friend who did in-home care, and for summers off, she charged a deposit to keep the school year spot open for the next year. Then she used that spot for a summer only day care child, so she didn't lose income.

I think you'd be best served to set up an official policy (in writing) and provide it to all your day care families. Give them a reasonable period of time (probably a month) to agree (in writing) to the policy or find a new place. Only you know what you can live with, but if it were me, here's what I'd do.

1) All day care slots are full time. Anyone chosing to use between 50 and 100% of the days available may pay a daily rate of $x more per day than the weekly rate. (I'd probably say it in terms of the real dollars, like "weekly rate of $200 for each child between 2 and 12. Anyone using less than a full week will be charged $50 per day with a minimum of $100 per week.")

2) Minimum yearly committment is xyz (again real dollars here, or a certain number of weeks per year). If an extended absence is desired (i.e. summer holiday, maternity leave, etc.) you may secure a return position by paying a non-refundable deposit of xyz. Two weeks notice is required at the beginning and ending of the extended absence.

Hope this helps! It's always hard dealing with daycare situations. Having a standard requirement in writing makes it easier to do.

 

[Christine]

I used daycare for many years. If you wanted a spot held for you, you would have to pay half of the weekly rate. That way, you get some income to "hold" the spot, but you aren't provide any care. If you feel like you can't even take a cut in the income by half the amount, then you need to let her know you will fill her spot.

I'm betting that she won't even come up with the "half" amount. I think she's probably assuming that she's going to save some money for 4 months and then come back to you.

 

[polyfan]

My childcare provider did not make me pay while I was on maternity leave with my second child. I did pay for all other days though even if I did not send my child there if he was sick or I was off etc.. It's not like they don't have 9months notice that you will be on maternity leave. I probably would have found someone else if I had to pay it.

 

[puffkin]

I don't really know how I feel about the whole maternity leave thing....that is a tough one. But whatever you decide to do (and there have been some good suggestions) I would put a policy in writing because it sounds like you are getting taken advantage of.

I don't think the summer off thing is that big of a deal because if you really need that income, there are probably a lot of people looking for summer care while their kids are off of school. I would probalby just charge her a deposit to hold the spot for the Fall.

I use a home provider for my son, and I guess if I was on maternity leave and wanted to keep his spot there, I would probably think paying 1/2 her normal rate would be reasonable but I can also see the point of paying the full rate, so I think it is a tough call. But I really think you need to charge her something.

My son's provider has written policies that we had to sign when we took him there. She has a full time rate (over thirty hours) and a daily rate which is slightly higher. Since my son is FT, we pay the same every week whether he is there or not (vacations, sick days, holidays, etc). She does allow her self up to two weeks of vacation, but we do NOT pay for those days. For instance, last week she took Friday off so I just paid her for 4 days (weekly rate divided by 5 then multiplied by 4). If you are part time, you pay for your normal days whether you attend or not and any holidays that would fall on your normal days. It is fair and quite reasonable and in line with many of the day care centers in our area so I don't mind since all the expectations were made in writing up front.

 

[golfgal]

I have had several friends that were in-home day care providers and they pretty much ran things the same way. You paid for the slot so you paid if your kids were there or not. They usually had 4 weeks of vacation/year, 2 paid by the parents, 2 unpaid. They allowed each family 2 unpaid weeks/year so each family got 4 weeks unpaid and 2 weeks where they had to pay for daycare.

If a mom was expecting and they had room, they usually held a spot for them, not charging them if they were "good" parents. If they were not so reliable, they usually took a non-refundable deposit. While the mom was on maternity leave they paid for the child that was already in day-care, minus any vacation time, etc. Most mom's ended up sending older kids to daycare while they were on maternity leave anyway, at least part of the day.

Personally, if I were you, I would tell them they they have to pay for how ever many hours/week if the child is there or not. I would charge them 1/2 as much for summer hours to hold their spot. If she wants to send him part time over the summer, great, if he is there more then the 1/2 time, she pays for that time too. If she doesn't like it, infant daycare is hard to find, so you will have her spot filled in no time.

 

[dcgrumpy]

When I was on maternity leave I had to give up my spot and hope there was an opening when I went back to work.