Need Advice
 

I need some advice here:

I recently changed all of my contracts to "pay for the space" beginning January 1, 2012. The first week consisted of:

Monday- Holiday (I still kept 1 child)
Tues- normal
Wed- normal
Thur- my ds was sick but I left it up to dcp whether to come or not (nobody came)
Fri- I was sick & had no option but to close

So how do I charge these families?

Do I just take off the fee for Friday since that was the only day I "closed"?
Or do I take off Thursday & Friday fee bc nobody came?

Im beginning to wonder why I even went to a pay for space rate :(

I charge weekly and if I have to close on a day that was unscheduled, then I reimburse the parents.

I would reimburse for Thursday AND Friday because although you were available for care on Thursday, you still had a sick child that the parents shouldn't have been forced to come into contact with. It was nice that you offered to still care for their child but they shouldn't have to pay for it if they choose not to use you.

I would only reimburse those parens who normally schedule on Thursdays and Fridays though.

Unless you close frequently throughout the year, paying by space is a better way to go. Next time your child gets sick though I would simply just close that way you aren't stuck with one kid.

When people (provider's included) take precautionary efforts such as staying home or secluded or even closing care, illnesses have a better chance of being nipped in the bud and not spread back and forth.

This is the first time in years that I have had to close because I was sick :(

I agree about not charging for both Thursday & Friday but how do I put it so that my dcp don't assume that next time their kids are sick or don't come for whatever reason that they don't have to pay for the day?

I had 1 dcg who was supposed to come on Thurs but Wednesday night got the bug (before my ds did) and dcm called Wed night to say dcg wouldn't be coming. Although I REALLY appreciate they were keeping dcg home, I don't want to send the wrong message. KWIM?

I want to be as fair as possible and by not charging for both days bc I wasn't available is fair, but I want to make sure I'm not setting myself up for down the road.

Thank you!

Do you give yourself any paid sick days? If not I would only charge for the days where I was open but no one came. How sick was your child? I sometimes will let parents know that my kid is sick and leave it up to them to come or not but it's never an illness requiring exclusion as stated by my contract (fever, vomitting, diarhea etc). Whenever my child gets sick I have to take a paid sick day or an unpaid sick day depending on how many I've already used or get my husband to stay home with her...again it depends on the illness.

I would also only charge for the kids who were scheduled to be there on those days.

What illness did your child have? If it wasn't something contagious, I'd still charge for the day that they chose not to attend. I only reimburse for days that I am off or closed.

You could always accompany their reimbursement with a note explaining your reasoning so that they don't think that they can choose when to pay or when not to.

I'd only discount for the Friday unless I had a few sick days built in and agreed to in the contract.

Subtract your daily rate from next weeks tuition if they are paid in advance.

IME, As long as it does not happen frequently, the parents will not get overly worked up about it. If this happens more than a couple times a year, I would consider that frequently, though.

I try to keep it very simple and clear in my contract. I built in five paid personal/sick days into my contract. If I exceed those for any reason, than parents do not have to pay me for my time off, regardless of the reason. I think it helps them to know the parameters of my time off, and also helps me when planning my own personal budget.

In your case, I would give them Thursday and Friday without charge, as you had a sick child and then you were sick. Hope that helps, and that everyone is feeling better!