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saved4always 05:58 PM 03-04-2012
Originally Posted by nannyde:
I don't think most parents who just pay for the days they used feel like they are taking advantage of the provider. I think most parents believe that the actual cost of day care is the labor of caring for the kid each day the child is there.

The "labor" part of caring for children is actually the lowest cost of the business to me. The expense of caring for the children here is primarily housing them.. providing the roof over their head, the food in their belly, the equipment they sleep and play in, the utilities, etc.

I have 150 square foot of real estate for every child that attends. That real estate is expensive to maintain.

The actual supervision and physical care is what parents believe they are paying for and in reality that's a very small amount of the cost of caring for kids. If you think about it............. where can a parent have their kid for ten hours a day and pay 25 dollars a day? Can't hang at Mickey D's for ten hours while YOU are taking care of them for 25 bucks a day. Can't hang out in WalMart or Chuckie Cheese. Anywhere you go indoors in public .... even when the PARENT is caring for the kid is going to cost more than having them in child care.

The only place a parent could HAVE their kid in public or away from their home is a friend or a relatives house that was willing to endure their presence for free for ten hours a day.

If you can't HAVE your kids somewhere for ten hours a day when YOU are taking care of them then how can you expect someone else to provide the roof over their heads for free and JUST take money for the care?

Providers HAVE to get the message across to parents that the roof over the child's head on Tuesday has to be paid for on Monday whether the kid was there or not. The utilities to operate day care are the same whether you have two kids or six. The labor cost of preparing the meals is the same. The cost of having toys available on Tuesday is the same whether the kid uses them on Monday or not. The playpen the kid sleeps in costs the same whether the kid is using it or not. The maintence on the siding and plumbing is the same.

It's up to US to explain to parents that the cost is the same and that they can't have a roof over the kids head if they are only willing to pay on days when they use care.

Many providers start out doing this because when they used child care for their first kid they didn't like paying for days the kid didn't attend. It really only takes a couple of months of operating with a "pay as you attend" to realize how it is hard to make bills and provide a good roof over their heads if they pay a regular rate for their days of use. The average parent can find many ways to get free care on a day to day basis. If they are allowed to do it....... most will. If they aren't allowed to do it MANY will use child care every day they pay even if if means bringing their kid when they are off of work or the kid is sick.

If you are going to switch to a flat rate then many parents will just move on to find the provider that does the pay when you use. Where I live the parents can easily find that but it will mean having many child care providers over the five years of life before school. That's a trade off that's huge BUT once the kid hits five those parents willing to do a lot of switching will have saved thousands of dollars.
I totally agree. The overhead costs have to be covered no matter what. And I know that parents will take free care whenever they can get it. I have been fortunate that my in home childcare income has been just for extras for our family. So I have had the luxury of not worrying so much about not getting paid when the kids were not here. I have friends though who also provide childcare in thier homes and it really hurts them when kids do not come and they do not get paid. I have learned so much from this forum and I have been passing alot of the wisdom on to them.
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