Daycare $ Question--what would you charge?

[Tigger&Belle]

I have an interesting situation that has come up. I do before/after school daycare. With my kids in school, this will probably be the last year that I will be doing daycare and this year it's very part time (only one girl who is in 5th grade).

Today I got a call from the mom of a girl who is friends with the girl who I take care of. This mom works part time at a school when her DD is in school, but she needs to take on some additional hours becuase a co-worker needs to undergo cancer treatment and will not be at work for awhile. Could be short term, but it might be for the rest of the school year.

She only needs care for about 30-45 minutes every morning. Not a big deal to me--I'm home then every day and am here for my kindergartener and the girl I take care of. She told me that we'd touch base during winter break and that I could think about how much I would charge. I then kind of put the ball in her court (very unlike me when it comes to daycare fees) and told her that she has probably given it some thought and has an idea what she'd like to charge. She basically told me how much additional the extra hours would bring and implied that she would pass that on to me and that she would be willing to pay up to $75/week for care. Well, I'm expensive, but not THAT expensive. LOL I told her that that would be very generous.

So, I'm thinking that I'm going to tell her that that is too much to pay me. I was thinking $50/week, which would include the days the kids go to school late due to snow (not sure if she needs extra hours on those days because the school she aids at probably opens late on those days, too). I think that $50/week is plenty and I don't want to take advantage of her even though she offered the higher amount. Afterall, she's trying to help out a co-worker, too, and deserves to make more $ for the extra hours.

What would you do? Am I crazy to not just accept the extra $? If she insists on paying me the $ I was even thinking of suggesting to her that she donates the extra to a hospice, cancer society, etc. So am I getting soft in my old age?

This is such an unusual situation--usually parents are trying to figure out how the get the cheapest deal on childcare--this mom seemed relieved to have found somewhere for her DD to go that she can trust and that her DD would have a playmate. She told me how glad she was to have figured out where her DD could go in the mornings.

 

[m&m's mom]

I think $50.00 for 30-45 mins a day is decent. I am w/ you $75.00 seems a bit high just for that short a period.

 

[dismom9761]

I'd definitely go with the $50 also.

 

[momof2inPA]

I think $50 is too much.

 

[tiggerlover]

Before I read your whole post my first thought for 30-45 min. a day was $5-$10 an hour. So I would say $50 a week is more than enough with $75 being far too much.

I pay $34 a week for my DS to go to after school care, it is available to him from 2:30-6:00 (or 17-1/2 hrs. a week). I pay that price every week whether it is a full week of school or not and whether DS is there or not. He doesn't go for the full time, nor does he go every week (dad works shift and some weeks he is home when DS gets out of school).

I just checked out of curiosity and the before school program would cost $33 a week, but not sure how much time it covers. If I had to guess it would be 6:30-8:00, but am not sure.

 

[kristen821]

I think about $5 an hour at most would be about right.

 

[Beth76]

I'm usually one to say that home child care doesn't cost enough. I had a friend who made approx $3/hour and the baby sometimes would arrive at 5am--she had him all day.

$50 a week is $10 a day, for only 30-45 min. At the minimum time, that's $20/hour. That's pretty high. Do you have to take this child to school and/or feed her? That's the only way I could see charging even close to that amount. Honestly, if you won't be doing anything different because of her then I would probably charge about $25 a week. That's $10 an hour. Maybe $30 in case it ends up being more along the 45 minute marker.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I think $50 is too much.

It is a lot, but keep in mind that in the area that I live in (DC area) the going rate is a lot. My teen sitters get paid $10/hour to watch the neighbor kids. I charge $105/week for before/after care (about 15/hours a week). Also, I'm licensed, which a lot of people aren't, so I have expenses with that and the parents get the tax deduction.

Also true, though, that it really won't cost me anything to watch the child. I think the mom would be thrilled with $50/week. In winter our schools tend to delay school in the morning a lot (2 hr delay), so there are possibly more hours than the 45 minutes/day.

I would consider it an hour/day since that's kind of a minimum amount of time.

I'm glad that you all agree with me about the $75/week. I would charge that if it were every afternoon because then I'm giving snack, helping with homework, etc. But the mornings are easy.

It's funny because every once in a while I read a DIS thread about someone watching a neighbor child for free and then feeling resentful about it after awhile. Then I have the opposite "problem".

And I have had anther mom pay me more than what I charged, but it was a different situation--she was making good $ and was passing a little extra to me (and her son was older with a real chip on his shoulder). But the mom who called today must not be making a lot of $ as an aide.

Glad ot know that I'm not totally crazy!

 

[disneymom3]

Around here, school age kids are approx $3 an hour. I was thinking $5 a day before I read your whole post. What do you charge the other child you take care of? I guess I would look at what her hourly rate breaks down to and then go from there. $75 sounds way too expensive. I know the afterschool program run by the district here is like $80-$90 per month.

 

[TigerCheer2009]

I charge $3 an hour no matter how many kids (but the most kids I've ever had to watch are two...and believe me $50 an hour would not be enough to even cover them!)

Local babysitter, helps with homework, feeds kids on request, plays games...

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

I feel that you should take the $50. Your time is valuable. Don't cheat yourself.

 

[justhat]

I think $50 is a good amount. I totally understand what the rates are in the area since I live there too, and I think it's a steal. At my daughter's preschool, they charge $1425 for morning care for the year, and that is at most an hour as it starts at 8am and the last group of kids start class at 9am (they stagger the start times to alleviate traffic). That price is for kids ages 3-11 so it would include your kid.

 

[tiggersmom2]

I'm usually one to say that home child care doesn't cost enough. I had a friend who made approx $3/hour and the baby sometimes would arrive at 5am--she had him all day.

$50 a week is $10 a day, for only 30-45 min. At the minimum time, that's $20/hour. That's pretty high. Do you have to take this child to school and/or feed her? That's the only way I could see charging even close to that amount. Honestly, if you won't be doing anything different because of her then I would probably charge about $25 a week. That's $10 an hour. Maybe $30 in case it ends up being more along the 45 minute marker.

I totally agree with Beth, 50.00 is just too much.

 

[Sandy22]

Honestly, if you won't be doing anything different because of her then I would probably charge about $25 a week.

Tigger&Belle will be responsible for this child even if she's doing nothing differently in the morning. That alone is worth charging $50. She can't run out for a morning errand, she can't take time off or be very sick without notifying the other child's parent, and she will be responsible for making sure this child gets to school on time. $50 is a fair amount.

 

[chell]

No more than $50 is my answer. If she is taking on extra hours she should think of herself and keep some of the extra money too. It is very kind of you to help her out. I'm sure she is very relieved to have you to turn to.

 

[barkley]

i live in a rural area, and the school my kids go to offer day care from the end of school til 5:30, but on fridays they get out at noon with no child care offered. i know of many parents who pay an hourly rate at a day care place (cuz most family day cares won't do a one day a week or school vacation week only kid cuz it holds a spot that could go to a full time kid). the rate was $8.50 per hour, one hour minimum/2 hour max or it reverted to a higher rate (some parents would take advantage and pick up the kids later in order to run errands after work) 5 hour minimum per week (paid if they used it or not, because the provider had to plan on the child being there). they did a different structure for school vacations (a flat rate for a week, and the entire amount paid even if the child did not attend all of the days).

 

[golfgal]

Most people around her don't pay much more then $50/week for FULL time daycare. The going rate for day care is about $2.00/hour, a little more for infants/toddlers, a little less for older kids, but then most office type workers only make about $10-15/hour. I thought the $50/week seemed pretty high, but I don't live where you do. I was thinking about $5/day, which would be high for our are on a per hour charge but most daycares charge a bit more for temporary cases like this.

 

[Michigan]

I pay $32 a week for latch key in the morning from 7-8:10. If there is a half day they charge $14 for the half day.

 

[bicker]

My sister-in-law used to do some casual watching of other children, for a small amount of money. She stopped after she became aware of the legal exposure of providing a service which could be distorted by plaintiffs in court into unlicensed day care.

 

[Mskanga]

I was put in that position last year with one of my neighbors and I found that it worked better for me to let the mother figure out how much she wanted to pay because she was having a financial difficult time. I wanted to do it for free because there were days that she was here for 15 minutes , other days for 3 hours if there was a delay , but I decided to let her pay whatever she figured she could afford so that she wouldn't feel like she was taking advantage of anyone. She decided on $5 a day and I told her as long as that didn't put her in a bind. It worked out really well for both of us because not only she didn't have to worry about delays but also didn't have to worry about calls that her daughter was sick , I picked her up from school and took her home with me. I also had some "pocket change" .

This is such an unusual situation--usually parents are trying to figure out how the get the cheapest deal on childcare--this mom seemed relieved to have found somewhere for her DD to go that she can trust and that her DD would have a playmate. She told me how glad she was to have figured out where her DD could go in the mornings.

Those are the parents who truly appreciate having someone they know and can trust with their children , chosing childcare is not an easy job , I know from experience.
In my case it worked out really well because my neighbor's daughter and mine went to the same school , same hours and still are the best of friends to this day. Her mom works at home now so she doesn't come here for daycare anymore but she knows that at any given time she can start again , she comes over to play though.