Closing For Summer?

[lil angels]

I was just wondering how many of you close for the summer? I have thought about this and was wondering how it works and are you able to stay full during the school yr? How many yrs have you been doing so?

[momofboys]

Originally Posted by lil angels

I was just wondering how many of you close for the summer? I have thought about this and was wondering how it works and are you able to stay full during the school yr? How many yrs have you been doing so?

I have been thinking about doing this this year so I am interested in the responses. I am really feeling distraught with childcare in general & think I need to focus on something else!

[Live and Learn]

I have been doing this for six years (almost seven) and each year I have closed for summer. I work for mostly teachers. I don't watch school agers.
I am as full as I want to be... 3 dc kiddies. I do not charge for the summer to hold the spot but I do charge a higher rate throughout the year. I am only open on teacher work days..... I take 2 1/2 weeks for winter break, 1 week for spring break, Thanksgiving's long weekend, and all of summer....Plus all of those random holidays.....(unpaid). LOVE IT!

[AfterSchoolMom]

I close for the summer. I start saving in September - I put a set amount away each week to cover two month's worth of expenses. I've done this for 3 years now. I have less children this year than I did last year, but I'm ok with that. So far I haven't had a ridiculous amount of trouble getting kids for the school year.

Recently I took on my first (in a while) little full timers, but I went into it being totally honest with the parents about being off after the 2nd week in June. I'm hoping to get at least one of the babies back in the fall - we'll see how it goes.

I have to say, I HIGHLY recommend taking off for the summer if you're able to and can afford it. It makes the year go by so much better when you know that there's a "light at the end of the tunnel". It's not that I don't love what I do, but it's fantastic to be able to take the time to focus on my own family and give 100 percent of my attention to my own children for awhile. We can sleep in, go swimming, go to the movies, hit the museum, go on vacation.... all without having to worry about parents and DCK's. I'm feeling more relaxed just thinking about it.

[marniewon]

I don't close for summer, but this year we will be moving probably right around the time school gets out, to a place about 30 minutes from where we are now. I am going to transfer my dc license to the new house, but am considering waiting until fall to actually start back up with it. This house is one that we are renovating (big changes! There's no kitchen, no bedrooms, bathroom is torn apart, etc, so there's a lot to do and I want to make sure it's perfect before I start dc again). Not to mention that this house has deeded lake access and I would love to have the freedom to just hang out on the lake with my own kids all summer . Even to that end though, I will not be taking any SA'ers, so even if I am open this summer, it will just be preschoolers. Considering not taking infants anymore either. I've had 2 infants in my care so far and both have been way too much work, lots of disruptions (screaming, no napping, etc).

I would LOVE to have all teacher's kids!!! And be off every summer and all school breaks!

[ammama]

I closed for a month 2 summers ago, and ended up losing a kid. His parents were planning on returning, but once he got settled in his temporary daycare, they didn't want to move him back. It was also MUCH closer to their home and work, so that played a big part too.

This summer i'll be closing from May-September for the birth of our third child. Of my 5 dck's, 1 is going off to kindy, one is going into a full-day preschool program, and the other 3 are coming back, or that's the plan anyway. Even if they don't come back, I have a waitlist started for September to fill their spaces, so i'm not worried.

I would LOVE to take every summer off, or even just 4-6 weeks every summer off, and I think I probably will start doing this as of next year.