vbs daycare problem no more solved..

[Stitch's O'hana]

I agree with the OP and I think she makes a lot of sense.

I work at a Day care center and the parents have contracted hours. So even if a child does not come in one day or they were sick they still pay for that day anyway. If the child is not going to be there as the family lets say is going on a trip, the parents have to at least give a two week notice.

OP, one thing that I would make sure to do though if not already is to have a sign contract with the parents of the kids you are watching, with how many hours you will be watching them for,etc. And have everyone sign it, that way they can't come back to you and say I did not agree to that. Otherwise it's just he says she says kind of deal. Even if you are friends I would still have some kind of contract made up.

I am sorry that you felt that you needed to close your thread.

 

[goofy!]

I agree with the OP and I think she makes a lot of sense.

I work at a Day care center and the parents have contracted hours. So even if a child does not come in one day or they were sick they still pay for that day anyway. If the child is not going to be there as the family lets say is going on a trip, the parents have to at least give a two week notice.

OP, one thing that I would make sure to do though if not already is to have a sign contract with the parents of the kids you are watching, with how many hours you will be watching them for,etc. And have everyone sign it, that way they can't come back to you and say I did not agree to that. Otherwise it's just he says she says kind of deal. Even if you are friends I would still have some kind of contract made up.

I am sorry that you felt that you needed to close your thread.

But this is completely different. This is not the parents deciding to take their children out of daycare for 15 hours that week. As somebody else mentioned, the OP is essentially shutting down her business for 3 hours per day to fulfill a personal commitment. It is the daycare center that is shutting down and not providing the services it is being paid for.

If a daycare chooses to close for 3 hours a day, I would not expect the parents to pay.

If the parents had said - hey, little Johnny wants to spend time with Gramma and Grandpa for a few hours a day and we will bring him over at noon, then absolutely, they must pay for their "spot."

However, if it was my daycare that said they were going to do something else than what was contracted, verbally or written, (ie: personally watching my children), then I would have the option of finding alternate daycare options and not having to pay the daycare provider for services not provided. If I decided to take my child out for a few hours a day for my own reasons, I would expect to pay the provider.

My kids were in daycare till they were 5. I would not have allowed them to attend VBS. I would also not expect to pay for daycare services that were not being provided by my child's daycare provider.

If my child went to daycare after VBS, I would then expect to pay a pro-rated rate, or as the OP said - the $2.00 per hour. I would not expect to pay the full day cost, even after 4 hours, because the daycare was not open for a full day.

So, if my 2 year old spent 5 hours with the OP, I would pay her the $2.00 per hour she charges for an hourly rate, so $10.00 per day for that week.

If I was required to pay for the time the OP was doing another job (vacation bible school), I would consider that part of the 2 weeks of paid vacation she gets each year.

 

[dogluva]

I guess we will have to agree to disagree then because if it were my kids in daycare 12 hours/day I would WANT them to get out of the house, go to t-ball practice, go play at the park, do the things I would do with them if I were home (and did with them because I was home with them). It sounds like you are happy having your kids stuck at someone's home for 12 hours/day doing the same thing day after day.

I also don't understand that you trust someone enough to watch your child 12 hours/day but you don't trust them to drive them to t-ball practice .

I would never leave my kids with a sitter or anyone (maybe my mother) for twelve hours! The most, seven. My sitter does not do the same things day after day. No, I don't want my kids driven around to a Tball practice so they can sit there. Accidents in the car, ya know? I am paying for the care of my chilld, not the sitter's child. Why is this hard to understand? I don't do things in my work day like that so my sitter should not either.

 

[MushyMushy]

I think the difference is that the poster you referenced who was not allowed to take vacation days and put their child in daycare was part of the city or state subsidized day care. If you are paying for daycare you can absolutely play video games, go christmas shopping without your kids, etc. If the government is paying or our subsidizing your childcare you should not be using it for any reasons other than work, school, interviews.

That was a blanket rule for the daycare system, whether you were receiving subsidies or not. We only received them for a couple of years and then when we were paying full rate, those rules were still in effect.

You can't enroll your child in a city funded center unless you work, are looking for work (this option is only for those in a shelter)are attending school or have a medical reason for child care. A family that can afford to pay market rate, but doesn't have a need for child care, will not be able to enroll their child.

Ours was a little bit different. For those looking for work, they didn't have to live in a shelter, and people paying market rate used the system because that was the only source of licensed daycare available here.

I'm pretty sure the rules are still the same. My sister has her youngest at the same daycare provider I used and she's not subsidized. She has mentioned being glad about this provider being more flexible about where the parents go back when we were going through my mom's illness.

 

[OceanAnnie]

I never heard of a daycare keeping track of when parents were off from work or not! How do they know? Are you expected to let them know? Do they check up on you?

 

[MushyMushy]

I never heard of a daycare keeping track of when parents were off from work or not! How do they know? Are you expected to let them know? Do they check up on you?

It's basically an honor system, I guess! It was just in the rules. I suppose if the provider tried calling at work and you weren't there that day, they could remove you from the system for breaking the rules. (when I did it, it was before the days of cell phones)

 

[OceanAnnie]

It's basically an honor system, I guess! It was just in the rules. I suppose if the provider tried calling at work and you weren't there that day, they could remove you from the system for breaking the rules. (when I did it, it was before the days of cell phones)

That's pretty wild to me. That information would be filed under Nunya to me. Paid childcare. Check. Child at center. Check. Me? My whereabouts wouldn't be part of the contract!

 

[ehstrojette]

ok quickl update before heading back to church

I would still have 12 yr old to watch in place of the 2 yr old so I would still charge the full rate of 100 per week.. understand.. just swapping out kids

I am not funded by the state at all for enrollment but am on the state food program so I get paid per meal that i serve at home... b-fast will be served before we go and lunch when we return so there is no laps there.

I will update more tonight. I am still waiting to hear their decision but I might just use this as their vacation week if they aren't planning on taking one.. not sure yet but will pro rate if they wonly come tues and friday when my hubby will be here to watch them at the house.

tata till later

 

[goofy!]

ok quickl update before heading back to church

I would still have 12 yr old to watch in place of the 2 yr old so I would still charge the full rate of 100 per week.. understand.. just swapping out kids

I am not funded by the state at all for enrollment but am on the state food program so I get paid per meal that i serve at home... b-fast will be served before we go and lunch when we return so there is no laps there.

I will update more tonight. I am still waiting to hear their decision but I might just use this as their vacation week if they aren't planning on taking one.. not sure yet but will pro rate if they wonly come tues and friday when my hubby will be here to watch them at the house.

tata till later

I don't understand this. Won't you just be providing transportation for the 12 year old to VBS? She won't be in your class will she? And won't you return her to the grandparents afterward to go to work with her grandpa as you stated before?

So, you are not really watching the 12 year old, only providing transportation to VBS for her. Once she gets there, the other teachers would be responsible for her.

And the parents have told you from the get go that VBS is not appropriate for their 2 year old.

If you were my daycare provider, I wouldn't mind at all having you take some time off to do VBS. But I would expect you to handle it one of two ways - I wouldn't pay you for the time my 2 year old was not there since this was your decision, or I would pay you while you were off doing your volunteer work, but it would be part of your paid vacation days. Anybody who would want to take time off their work to go volunteer at their church would either have to take it unpaid or take vacation days. It only makes sense that you would do the same.

 

[rie'smom]

When my kids were in daycare, we paid whether or not they attended except if the daycare was closed and we had a 1 week vacation when we did not have to pay. You paid or you found another daycare.

 

[luvsJack]

Our center policy was that they paid whether they were present or not. Most centers and home child care providers have this policy.

We had a center, so a bit different but we did have a week that the children went to VBS. They were there everyday for the 5 days we were opened, from 8:00-12:00. We didn't serve breakfast or lunch during that week because they didn't have time to eat before the bus picked them up and lunch was served at church. Either my mom or I (or both) would be at the church, usually helping serve food so that we were available if any of our kids needed us and we usually gave our staff the mornings off as all the kids were gone. And, yes, the parents paid for the full week. They all knew we did this every summer and if they did not want their child to attend; they made other arrangements. In fact, it was printed in our "Policies and Procedures" book given to the parents at enrollment.

As long as the OP let the parents know what was going on in plenty of time; there is no reason that they should not expect to pay for the week.

 

[BCDisneyFanatic]

I would never leave my kids with a sitter or anyone (maybe my mother) for twelve hours! The most, seven. My sitter does not do the same things day after day. No, I don't want my kids driven around to a Tball practice so they can sit there. Accidents in the car, ya know? I am paying for the care of my chilld, not the sitter's child. Why is this hard to understand? I don't do things in my work day like that so my sitter should not either.

If I were a daycare provider who was expected to stay at home the entire time that I was watching the kids, I would expect to either pay a lot more than $100 a week, or that the ratio of child-to-daycare provider would be very high.

When my kids were with their babysitter, they became a member of her family, and she treated them just as she would her own kids. Since my two DDs were the only two she watched (besides her own four), and only my youngest and her youngest were there all day (the rest were in school full-time), I was happy to have her take them with her as she went about her day. Of course, the flipside to that was that she was willing to work with my schedule and that of my kids (taking them to tennis, preschool, etc.). I was happy with this arrangement, and if I wasn't, I would have chosen a different daycare provider.

Truthfully, I would have had no problem with my babysitter bringing my kids to a VBS-type programme if it had meshed with my religious beliefs. However, I trusted her judgement completely, and if she had felt that the VBS was a safe and educational environment for my kids, I would have been happy for them to attend.

 

[lillygator]

now the thread is open again?


geez....

 

[greenpea89]

If I were a daycare provider who was expected to stay at home the entire time that I was watching the kids, I would expect to either pay a lot more than $100 a week, or that the ratio of child-to-daycare provider would be very high.

When my kids were with their babysitter, they became a member of her family, and she treated them just as she would her own kids. Since my two DDs were the only two she watched (besides her own four), and only my youngest and her youngest were there all day (the rest were in school full-time), I was happy to have her take them with her as she went about her day. Of course, the flipside to that was that she was willing to work with my schedule and that of my kids (taking them to tennis, preschool, etc.). I was happy with this arrangement, and if I wasn't, I would have chosen a different daycare provider.

Truthfully, I would have had no problem with my babysitter bringing my kids to a VBS-type programme if it had meshed with my religious beliefs. However, I trusted her judgement completely, and if she had felt that the VBS was a safe and educational environment for my kids, I would have been happy for them to attend.

Yes, but was your childcare provider teaching a class that your child did not participate in when they were at VBS and therefore not caring for your child at that time?

Also, I really don't understand how this isn't equivalent to the daycare provider being on vacation or the facility closed - she is not providing care for either child when she is teaching at VBS. IMO, this is not equivalent to a family choosing not to send their child to daycare when the daycare facility is open.

It was the OP's choice to set the fees for her services - regardless of the cost, her obligations are the same unless the changes were stipulated when she altered her fee structure. To me the rate is extremely low (babysitters in our area get $8 - $10 an hour) but maybe this is the going rate in her area - either way her duties and responsibilities remain the same. The family should not be charged and if it is taken from vacation time it should be the caregivers vacation not the family's, IMO - sorry.

 

[klj27]

How is everyone missing the key point here...... she asked their approval before agreeing to VOLUNTEER at VBS. They are the ones changing the agreement.

I provide in home childcare and have for more than ten years. My families become like our own family. I charge more ($45 per day) but I agree to take no more than two families at a time and I am very flexible with days off, added days, or extended hours. They also know that I treat their children like part of our family and understand that I have to take my youngest to school, etc. I was the president at our preschool the past two years and my families knew that meant about ten meetings a year where the girls would be with me during the morning.

A few years ago I even had one of my parents ask if I was willing to take the kids to a high school child development preschool class twice a week. The other family was okay with it so I took four kids there for a year. They didn't look at it like I wasn't doing my job for two hours a week, but like I was providing an enrichment opportunity. I think that is exactly what the op is doing too.

 

[ehstrojette]

most daycares around here charge 100 per child but i charge a 150 rate for 2. I will be going up when she gets her new job making more money but her pay was cut 10% by GM so it is temporary and she watchs my 2 kids when I want to go out with my hubby to dinner once a month or if I have a meeting or a fire to go to for the fire dept(I run waters and help victims at fires or accidents at night or when my hubby can't go) in exchange I do the same thing for her if she has a meeting after work and will be late or so she can run an errand. Her 5 yr old will be starting school in the fall so I will lose her since her school isn;t within my walking distance so the next child will be 100 per week.

I wished I made 8-10 bucks an hr..lol

and I opened the thread lillygator because People thought I shouldn;t close it. If you dont want to read it then be my guest and unsubscribe if not keep the rude comments to yourself. I have not once(till now) spoke in a ill way to anyone but a girl can only take so much.

thanks for those who sent me a PM I will get back to writing you back soon. I am tired from setting up my room for VBS. I took pictures and will post them soon of my room.. it looks so good

 

[greenpea89]

How is everyone missing the key point here...... she asked their approval before agreeing to VOLUNTEER at VBS. They are the ones changing the agreement.

I provide in home childcare and have for more than ten years. My families become like our own family. I charge more ($45 per day) but I agree to take no more than two families at a time and I am very flexible with days off, added days, or extended hours. They also know that I treat their children like part of our family and understand that I have to take my youngest to school, etc. I was the president at our preschool the past two years and my families knew that meant about ten meetings a year where the girls would be with me during the morning.

A few years ago I even had one of my parents ask if I was willing to take the kids to a high school child development preschool class twice a week. The other family was okay with it so I took four kids there for a year. They didn't look at it like I wasn't doing my job for two hours a week, but like I was providing an enrichment opportunity. I think that is exactly what the op is doing too.

But, the parent's didn't agree(if I am understanding everything the OP has said). They made other arrangements for the care of their 2 year old. They chose to have their parents care for the child and only asked the OP to take the 2 year old after her duties at VBS were completed. She is charging for the full care of two children but will only have each child half of her scheduled (usual) time.

 

[klj27]

But, the parent's didn't agree(if I am understanding everything the OP has said). They made other arrangements for the care of their 2 year old. They chose to have their parents care for the child and only asked the OP to take the 2 year old after her duties at VBS were completed. She is charging for the full care of two children but will only have each child half of her scheduled (usual) time.

I may be misunderstanding but I thought when she asked them six weeks prior, they had no problem with it. That is when she made the decision to volunteer. If they would have stated a problem with it at that time she would have decided not to volunteer and she would not be losing income. It wasn't until last week that they decided they had a problem with it.

 

[OctMtnWoods]

Open. Close. Open.

I only noticed it to start reading it when you wanted it closed, now that its open again, I guess its not worth reading any longer.

 

[happygirl]

now the thread is open again?


geez....

Was it ever offically closed??