Daycare-VENT

I have a hard time paying for time I do not use too, but I totally understand why a daycare provider has to operate this way even though I do not like it.

What it comes down to is, they have chosen this as their job so they need to be able to plan the income just like anyone else. If they brought in kids that were there all week then one week the parent decides to take them out for a couple of days then they are left without income they were planning on. The worse part is, it was unexpected and not due to anything the care provider did. In other words, you are asking them to commit time without a commitment for pay. It doesn't really work out, or as my kids would say, "That's not fair!". Commitment is a two way street.

When it comes down to it, why in the world would they keep a spot open for someone that is willie-nillie about bringing their kids and they lose money when there are hundreds of kids out there that will show up every day. They need the constant, planned money to stay in business.

The good news is, there are a lot of drop-in day cares out there that you just pay as you go. They are more expensive for obvious reasons but you only pay as you need them.

Good luck!

Business is business.
This is her business. Yes, she is caring for your child, but it is a business. If you have a gym membership, you pay for it whether you go or not. Ditto for her. You don't have to drop your daughter, but you do still have to pay for her spot. This is the way it works. This is the way it has always worked. I think she is really nice to let you pay half for anything over a week's vacation.
LBC

I have been a childcare provider for over 22 years. I have not had a parent decide to take unpaid time off in a long time because I have a solid contract in place. Whether or not you take time off does not negate my obligations to pay my bills so that YOUR child, when you do decide to bring them, has a house to come to, gas, food, electricity, toys, blankets, a working telephone for emergencies, bandaids, books, puzzles, paint, crayons, etc. I understand times are tough for people...times are tough for childcare providers, too! Parents may get laid off work, which halts our income for that child immediately.

Doing special things for your childcare provider to say thanks is a nice gesture. I am sure she would much rather get a note occasionally and for you to save the money you spend on these things and be able to pay her when the time comes that your husband takes time off.

We all need money to survive...childcare providers, too!

I have a contracted rate for each family. I take into account that a family may take time off when I set the rate. I need an income that I can count on. Do you complain about people who get paid a salary? If you don't like it find someone that charges more to your liking. Just remember, you get what you pay for.

REALLY???

So when your boss tells you you have to start working less hours, lose your benefits and the pay for those lost hours, you are just going to be OK with that? I would love to see that!

Or when you go out of town and no one is there to use any electricity or other utilities, or even just decide to have a TV and Internet free week...are you calling those companies and saying you refuse to pay for the services that time frame, but things are back to normal after that? No, of course you are not, cuz that would be stupid. But for whatever reason in so many peoples mind, its OK to think this way regarding the person who cares for your precious child.

The person who hopefully has CPR training, First Aid, Shaken Baby and SIDS training, carries extra insurance to cover accidents or injury during the daycare hours. The person who buys more groceries than anyone you know and who goes thru toilet paper and baby wipes faster than you can comprehend. The person who purchases every thing needed for curricula to teach things to your child in a manner of which parents these days expect. To have a safe and clean home. The person who likely works a MINIMUM of 60 hours a week to maintain and plan all of this. Plus attends classes, college or trainings to maintain their credentials for it all.And this person still has bills of their own they need to budget for. If parents just willy-nilly took days off when they took a day off work, work had no tasks for them that day, a relative came to town, etc. Crud..we providers would never be able to pay our OWN bills.

Yes, we providers run a business. We charge based on enrollment and expect to get paid for it. In my home daycare (14 years strong), if you do not pay, you do not come back. We contract for specific schedules so we can attempt to fill around them. Personally I only do full time to avoid this..and have one PT child to have a few light days and flexibility to take a drop in here and there for my other daycare pals if they are on vacation or sick.

Like others said, find a drop in center (where they typically have no continuity of care and cost more per day/hour, for starters), or ask your current provider to re-negotiate the contract you have. Likely she will still want specific days listed, however (M, W, F, etc..and a fee for any switching, if she even can...etc).

I think you are lucky she cuts you any break (half rates or whatever?) I do none of that.

Hope it all works out for all of you.

The contract or agreements to pay even you are not there, is not a joke. A contract is made to protect all parties involved.

Fine she has 3 parents who don't show for 2 days in one week, they don't pay for those days. She takes a hard hit for those unpaid days. Like all working adults we must be able to count on our income, how is provider any different?

Not to mention the hits they take with parents paying late or just all of a sudden no longer showing up because of whatever reason.

Like you said, times are tough, which is even more reason providers must protect themselves as much as possible.

You can do nice things all you want but that doesn't pay her bills.

Why do parents think when they hit financial troubles they think they can pull back money they are paying to a provider? The person who cares for your child and helps nurture them.

If you can not afford a provider, use a drop in facility.

If you need daycare, you have to make it a priority and that means paying to keep a space available for your child(ren).
There are places that will work on a drop in basis, but you'll pay a high daily rate for doing so, and if the slots fill up they'll turn you away.
If you have no place to leave the kids what are you going to do - dump them at the library for the day or leave them home alone and hope for the best?
If you live in an apartment and go away for a week's vacation do you not pay your rent for that week? Of course not.

Unfortunately that's the way it is. I understand where they are coming from. Our daycare is the same and I have no problem with it. My payment guarantees the spot for my kids. The money is paying for dependable and reliable daycare.

Perhaps you should hire a nanny and put it in your contract that you will not pay for time off your husband has because you are obviously bitter about daycare policies.
The contract you sign is not a joke. What if she has three kids out one day during the week that's a pretty big loss. She should not have to suffer because your husband has random days off that fall on days you signed up for.

Sounds like you work an office type job since you stated you are consistent with care for the most part. So you go to work on Monday and your boss says oh, we don't need you this week, go home, and we're not going to pay you for the week. I bet you would be outraged, it's not your fault they didn't plan better! That is exactly what you are asking of your caregiver. Doing special things for your daycare throughout the year is wonderful, but it doesn't pay the bills. Her fixed bills are there whether your kid is or not, and if you don't want to pay when your kid is not there she should be able to fill your kid's spot.

they have to pay their bills, too. How would you feel if your company suddenly, with no advance notice, told you have a day or two off without pay? You would be pretty angry, right? Our daycare gives us 1 unpaid week we can take, if we give them notice. It's not like, tomorrow I have off, I'm going to keep DD home and not pay you.

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She has staff and bills to pay herself. Sorry. If you are not going to use her services then you need to let her go and fill the vacancy. She can't just pull money out of a turnip either.

In my center the parents payment was due on Monday morning. If they didn't pay they took their kids with them. They paid for the entire week, even the weeks that were short like Thanksgiving week. I had the same utilities and insurance payments regardless of who came and who didn't. I allowed them one week per year of unpaid vacation, it had to be all taken in 1 week with at least 2 weeks notice.

You are not using her services full time. Find a Mothers-Day-Out program that is only open a few days per week for a daily fee. They usually allow the kids to come whatever days they need to but you'll have to check their policy.

Depending on the type of daycare - I also dislike paying for days I don't use. It drives me crazy - so we don't. I don't mind paying for days we contract to use and then don't (like if my child gets sick). We found providers who contract that we only pay for days we do use - but we are very clear about our intentions and about how much they should expect from us and that we do take at least a week at Christmas, in the summer and then days randomly throughout the year. I wouldn't mind so much if we could find providers that do daycare and preschool - in my mind they are different products. I really don't like paying for someone else's vacation and sick days - especially because I then have to pay 2 providers for those days and find someone else to do the short term or drop in care. We recently interviewed people who wanted all holidays and 2 weeks of vacation paid. We figured it out that we would be paying for nearly a month of care that we wouldn't be accessing and over half of that would be paying a second provider as well. My job now is the only job I have ever had that comes with paid vacation and sick leave. Many people I know don't get paid for their vacation and sick days - and yes they do get sent home from work if the business doesn't need them that day.

All this said, I guess it depends on how I look at it. I would rather a provider charge me more per day than me pay for days I don't use (even if it means I pay more in the end, but it would probably work out the same). I am not the employer, I am the customer and just like any other self-employement situation the self-employed need to budget for vacations, sick days, loss of a customer, etc - and that may mean charging more per day. Other people see it differently.

They have budgets, bills, employee paychecks, and other necessities that have to be paid whether or not your kid is there. It really is based on simple business.

Some daycares only ask you to pay for days your child is there. You may want to look into that option.

We had one week "off" for vacation once we had been there a year. Any other time, including snow days (if the school district closed, so did they) and sick days was still paid. I looked at it this way - that's their livelyhood. If I got paid vacation days, why not the people I entrusted with my child? Without knowing what money was coming in, they couldn't pay for the lights, food, toys, staff...It's not personal. It's business. If you don't like her policies (which are pretty universal, and a lot of places won't let you get by with paying half for the week off - we paid the FULL rate for any time we hadn't earned unless we wanted to lose the slot) then you should find someone else. She has bills, too.

I actually felt bad when I had to take my child from her center. Not only was it a good place and we loved them, but I didn't want them to lose money and suffer. I'm fairly sure they filled that slot (toddler care is hard to come by here for reasonable prices) but every family that leaves is tough if they can't fill it. They were running a "recommend someone and get a discount" special for some of the older ages. Everyone's hurting in the new economy.

As a parent, I get what you are saying but realistically, do you expect her to keep your child's spot open for when you decide you do need her? If so, she can't take another child in and is therefore turning down money to keep your spot...do you really expect her to do that?

The way I see it is you have two options...1. don't send your daughter and don't pay her and risk losing your spot or 2. pay her (send your daughter or not) and keep your spot. I would think you wouldn't LOSE your spot unless someone else actually took it, so if she had an opening you may still have it but you wouldn't be guaranteed a spot.

When I lost my job, I was very fortunate that my daycare provider allowed us to take a break and come back. We knew it was about to happen so we gave her lots of notice and I didn't expect her to turn down anyone else. We had the agreement that she would call us and we would have the option to start paying or lose the spot.