Does Anyone Work A 4 Day Week Or Less By Choice?

[cherryhill]

Just wondering. I have a dcb that is leaving this year. His mom's job is relocating, so I have been thinking about replacing him with a part time family, and give myself Fridays off. I watch two siblings part time they come Tues-Thursday. I do have another full time dcg but I would only watch her and my daughter until I figure something else out.

How did you go about it with your current families?

[daycare]

when I first started, I only had families that needed care monday through thursday... But then as I filled up, I needed to offer a full schedule to meet everyones needs. I do miss it, but I only have two families that need care on friday and one leaves right after lunch. I think that if you really want to limit your days you can, but it might take a long time to find those families who don't need care on friday.

it will also limit your income, but if you are ok with that i would say try to offer it...

[wdmmom]

At one point, I had only 1 dcb on Fridays. As time went on and new openings presented themselves, I had to do what I had to do to fill the spots.

Right now, I am only open til 3pm on Fridays. My philosophy is this: I work 13 hours a day. I have no openings, so I must be doing something right for parents to accommodate it.

[DCMomOf3]

Originally Posted by wdmmom

At one point, I had only 1 dcb on Fridays. As time went on and new openings presented themselves, I had to do what I had to do to fill the spots.

Right now, I am only open til 3pm on Fridays. My philosophy is this: I work 13 hours a day. I have no openings, so I must be doing something right for parents to accommodate it.

Welcome to the forum!

[ammama]

I only work Monday to Thursday. I don't take kids on Fridays, so that I have time to volunteer at my daughters school (next year we're homeschooling, so it will be field trip day), time to get the house clean, visit at friends houses, etc.

I will never work Fridays again I love it. It does limit my income a little bit, but not too much, because when I switched to not working Fridays, I actually left my rate at the same monthly fee.

I don't have a problem getting families - I offer something that they are looking for, and they find a way to make it work for them by getting Grandma to take dcg on Fridays, finding another dayhome/daycare for Fridays or just rearranging their work schedules so they also get Fridays off.

[Symphony]

I work one Friday a month. Most of my families are teachers kids and school is only open Monday-Thursday here. Then once a month the teachers have inservice. It is great because I get to be home with my kids on their days off too.

I do have another family who is not a teaching family, but they rarely need a Friday.

I love love love LOVE having Friday's off!

[e.j.]

Originally Posted by cherryhill

Just wondering. I have a dcb that is leaving this year. His mom's job is relocating, so I have been thinking about replacing him with a part time family, and give myself Fridays off. I watch two siblings part time they come Tues-Thursday. I do have another full time dcg but I would only watch her and my daughter until I figure something else out.

How did you go about it with your current families?

When I first opened my day care, I worked Fridays. When the familes who needed care on Fridays left, I decided not to fill any of my openings with families who needed Fridays. I've been doing Mon-Thurs. for years now and absolutely love having my Fridays off. I schedule school meetings, dr. and dentist appts. etc on Fridays so I rarely have to close during day care hours, which the parents appreciate. It also gives me an extra day to do housecleaning and laundry so my weekends are less hectic than they used to be.

[daycare]

Originally Posted by e.j.

When I first opened my day care, I worked Fridays. When the familes who needed care on Fridays left, I decided not to fill any of my openings with families who needed Fridays. I've been doing Mon-Thurs. for years now and absolutely love having my Fridays off. I schedule school meetings, dr. and dentist appts. etc on Fridays so I rarely have to close during day care hours, which the parents appreciate. It also gives me an extra day to do housecleaning and laundry so my weekends are less hectic than they used to be.

lol im jealous....... I used to have fridays off but not any more...

[TSDaycare]

I have all full timers except 1 part time slot that is filled by 2 children. The one child does mon & fri, the other child does tues,weds,thurs. All my other kids come mon-fri, but all my other parents have off every other friday, we have a navy base out here that they all work at. So I basically have 1 child every other Friday, the rest stay home.....this family will be moving this summer and I will not be filling the mon & fri spot- it is just more annoying to have 1 child here all day(12 hrs) and not having any days for appts, school vlounteering, etc unless I use my leave. I have just decided that nobody will offer me enough money to watch only their child every other friday... I sure wish I could take every friday off-kudos to you that do!!!

[SilverSabre25]

Friday does happen to be my easiest day (well, Saturday is my easiest 'cause I've only got the one boy, but I don't count it as a workday because nothing is normal that day. He's just part of the family and along for the ride that day) but it's not by design.

It never would have occurred to me that I could try to have Fridays off on purpose. I am not sure it would work in my area unless I had almost exclusively part-timers, because we're really saturated with home daycares.

[e.j.]

Originally Posted by SilverSabre25

I am not sure it would work in my area unless I had almost exclusively part-timers, because we're really saturated with home daycares.

Most of my kids are part timers but so far, it's worked out really well for me. My husband keeps saying, "I can't believe you've been able to stay in business for so long just doing part-time kids." I've been very lucky in that when I get calls from parents looking for care, their schedules just seem to complement the schedules of the kids who are already here. For example, if I have one kid who comes Mondays and Wednesdays, I'll get a call from someone looking for Tuesdays and Thursdays. The parents who need care for just mornings or afternoons are told upfront that I'll provide care until I need their slot for someone needing all day care but so far, I've never had to ask anyone to leave.