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Great Beginnings 11-29-2013 12:58 PM

Help Responding
 
So I posted an ad on craigslist to replace the family that had an issue with me being pregnant and that affecting her children. Today I saw I have an email from that ad from another parent. How should I respond?

I am tempted to respond, so do we agree this is officially your two weeks notice?

I don't want to be caught off guard so I would rather just term them now right?

JoseyJo 11-29-2013 01:04 PM

I'm confused (maybe too much turkey!) - you placed an ad to replace a family and that same family responded to the ad not knowing it was you?

Great Beginnings 11-29-2013 01:11 PM

Lol, unfortunately it was a different family. I told families I was expecting in June and I have not had favorable results :(

I only have 2 during the day right now and a few school agers so I am not sure why they are so concerned about me having a baby. It's ridiculous and not like I have too many children to handle an infant.

JoseyJo 11-29-2013 01:20 PM

I would interview the other family and if they are a good fit I would offer them the spot saying it was available on Dec 16th (2 weeks from now) and give your current family 2 weeks notice- last day being dec 13th.

I would not give current family notice until you have another family for sure lined up (unless you don't need the income and just want to be rid of them)

A lot of times I think a family will be a perfect fit after the phone interview but when they come to the in-person interview things are different than presented by email/phone and they are not a good fit. It depends on how picky you are :D

Great Beginnings 11-29-2013 01:25 PM

No lol! The person that responded to my ad was another daycare parent that I currently have now. I am wondering how to respond to the family since they are currently in my care and apparently contacting me for daycare.

Unregistered 11-29-2013 01:26 PM

The responses from her ad was her OTHER CURRENT daycare family that is apparently shopping around for another provider.

snbauser 11-29-2013 01:39 PM

At a minimum I would respond with something along the lines of "Is there something I should know or something we need to discuss?"

julie 11-29-2013 01:56 PM

How about this?

Hello,

Thank you for your inquiry. You have requested information about new care from your current provider. All the answers you seek, including proper paid termination procedures can all be found in your parent handbook/contract, or you could just be upfront with your stressed, pregnant provider who has until this point had no indication that you were unhappy with the care or the announcement of her pregnancy. It would be helpful to advertise the exact amount of spots she has available if there will be a sudden, unplanned departure in the not too distant future, especially with Christmas around the corner.

Respectfully Yours,
Provider

Great Beginnings 11-29-2013 02:05 PM

Lol! I love that! They pay me through minute menu and have yet to pay me today. All payments are due by 5pm so I sent them a reminder. I am waiting to get paid before sending them the response :p

momofboys 11-29-2013 02:58 PM

Originally Posted by Great Beginnings:
Lol! I love that! They pay me through minute menu and have yet to pay me today. All payments are due by 5pm so I sent them a reminder. I am waiting to get paid before sending them the response :p

I loved the letter the other poster provider but I would not state that you are STRESSED. I just think that sounds inappropriate & probably to them means you can't handle the job.

Great Beginnings 11-29-2013 03:05 PM

Originally Posted by momofboys:
I loved the letter the other poster provider but I would not state that you are STRESSED. I just think that sounds inappropriate & probably to them means you can't handle the job.

Good point! I am a little stressed at how aweful some people feel towards babies. I even had a parent tell me this was an inconvenience and would probably affect her children :(

Evansmom 11-29-2013 04:35 PM

I had something similar happen once where I happened upon and ad on CL one of my clients had posted about the DCM starting to advertise her own new home daycare. She had not mentioned to me that she was doing this and had not mentioned pulling her two girls either. So I may be evil but I created a fake email account and emailed her asking all the regular questions that a prospective client would ask. :o I just wanted to make sure it was my client. Yep! It was! She had never worked a day in child care and said everything she learned was from her current provider (me, because this job is so easy II can figure it all out during drop off and pick up :lol:).

Anyway, I gave them their 2 week notice and told them I knew about the ad. And you know what? I would have totally helped her if he had told me about her plan. I could have really given her a lot of advice. But since it was so sneaky on their part I just termed.

If I were you I would term them. I'm sorry you're going through this OP.

e.j. 11-29-2013 05:20 PM

If it were me, I might respond with, "DCM, it's me e.j. It appears that you are looking for alternate care. I'd appreciate the chance to speak with you before you make any final decisions. Will you have time to speak with me Monday morning?"

Given that it's a holiday weekend, I might even let her assume I was away for the weekend and wait until drop off on Monday to respond to her in person so I could ask her directly about her concerns.

MarinaVanessa 11-29-2013 07:08 PM

I wouldn't keep them. I would write up a written two-week termination notice and hand it to them on Monday morning. "Hi Susan. I had put up an craigslist ad for new clients and I got your inquiry for it. I'm figuring that it's because I am expecting a baby and if you feel so strongly about finding alternate child care arrangements that you have to do so this early on and without communicating with me I just don't feel comfortable continuing with our arrangement. Finding daycare is hard so I'm giving you two weeks notice so that you can find child care." And hand her the notice along with her response to your craigslist ad, but make the notice generic.

At this point they are so unhappy that they don't want to continue care with you and I for one would be very uncomfortable with this arrangement. They could leave at a drop of a dime if they stay and many times when a client has it in heir head that they are no longer happy they may disregard policies.

MyAngels 11-29-2013 09:41 PM

Is there any chance they are looking for back up care or care for your maternity leave?

I agree that while it might come off as underhanded to be looking for new care without telling your current provider, you also have to look at it from their point of view. They could be looking just to see what's out there in case your pregnancy does happen to affect your ability to provide care. I wouldn't tell my current provider that I was looking into alternative care unless or until I had definitely decided to make the change, either.

childcaremom 11-30-2013 02:20 AM

Originally Posted by MyAngels:
Is there any chance they are looking for back up care or care for your maternity leave?

I agree that while it might come off as underhanded to be looking for new care without telling your current provider, you also have to look at it from their point of view. They could be looking just to see what's out there in case your pregnancy does happen to affect your ability to provide care. I wouldn't tell my current provider that I was looking into alternative care unless or until I had definitely decided to make the change, either.

likethis

I agree. We don't have family around so if I found out my provider was pregnant I would need to find something for when she was taking time off for the new baby. I would also want to have something lined up 'just in case'.

Also, as a parent, I wouldn't expect a dc provider to be able to have a baby and then a short time later, come back to watching a group of other children. As a provider, I would know differently.

I would suggest reassuring your current parents of what your intentions are leading up to and after the new one's arrival.

Great Beginnings 11-30-2013 06:20 AM

Originally Posted by MyAngels:
Is there any chance they are looking for back up care or care for your maternity leave?

I agree that while it might come off as underhanded to be looking for new care without telling your current provider, you also have to look at it from their point of view. They could be looking just to see what's out there in case your pregnancy does happen to affect your ability to provide care. I wouldn't tell my current provider that I was looking into alternative care unless or until I had definitely decided to make the change, either.

No, not the case. I already have a plan for the last month leading up to delivery and a month after delivery that they are all aware of. There will be no time off for them or needing to find backup care at the last minute.

momofboys 12-01-2013 11:07 AM

Did the DCP ever get back to you with payment? If you have been happy with them as clients I would consider a heart to heart but honestly if they are seeking other options I see it as they could bolt at any minute and are not comfortable with you :( which is sad. I would draw up a 2 week notice. I would make sure they had paid me what is past due first!

lovemykidstoo 12-01-2013 11:59 AM

Why are they freaked out about you having a baby? I don't get that part.

Great Beginnings 12-02-2013 06:13 AM

Originally Posted by momofboys:
Did the DCP ever get back to you with payment? If you have been happy with them as clients I would consider a heart to heart but honestly if they are seeking other options I see it as they could bolt at any minute and are not comfortable with you :( which is sad. I would draw up a 2 week notice. I would make sure they had paid me what is past due first!

Yes she finally paid me and I in return responded to her email letting her know I accept this as her 2 weeks notice.

I have not been happy with them. Their child is very disruptive and stressful. He is 7 but rules the roost. Decides what he wants to do, eat etc. He doesn't get along with any of the other children. Makes loud noises in everyones faces for attention. The mother has the nerve to ask me to take down Halloween and Christmas decorations because the boy is "scared". I think it's just attention personally though. We have temper tantrums at least twice weekly where we throw, yell loudly, threaten to rip my mail, tell me to shut up etc. The mother refuses to punish him at home because he gets time out here and that's punishment enough. She doesn't like when I place him in time out, she likes him to be redirected. Sometimes though redirecting makes the tantrum worse and to be honest I just need a break from him. She thinks if you ignore the tantrum he'll get bored. Ok but your also teaching all the other children the inappropriate way to behave and handle things. I was hoping they would be too embarrassed to finish out the 2 weeks but unfortunately they showed up today :(

I think maybe because all of the "attention" this child needs is why they are having issues with me having a baby. But sorry, because you can't control your own kid and refuse to get him evaluated does not mean I shouldn't be allowed to have my own. :rolleyes:

DaycareMom 12-02-2013 06:30 AM

How did the DCPs respond/act when they saw you after accepting their 2 week notice?

MotherNature 12-02-2013 07:35 AM

Originally Posted by Great Beginnings:
But sorry, because you can't control your own kid and refuse to get him evaluated does not mean I shouldn't be allowed to have my own. :rolleyes:

happyface

MarinaVanessa 12-02-2013 10:43 AM

Originally Posted by DaycareMom:
How did the DCPs respond/act when they saw you after accepting their 2 week notice?

Yes I'm curious to know what you said and if she responded. Also was drop off awkward at all??

Great Beginnings 12-03-2013 05:25 AM

Ugh, I was hoping that they wouldn't have the guts or be too embarrassed to show up but they did lol! Dad dropped off and acted like nothing was wrong. I figured, well maybe mom didn't tell him what was going on. So I decided to check with mom. She played dumb at first and then wrote me this long message that she was just seeing what was out there for when the baby came and she wasn't interested in leaving. bla bla. Well I know who else is advertising in town so I called them both. I charge her $140 a week. The one wanted $180 and the other wanted $225. So basically she see's that she's screwed out of a lot of money now. She wants to stay but honestly I'm upset that my baby is such an issue for her and don't want her around any longer. I will at the very most be nice and give her until after the holidays but I think I would prefer to start the new year off fresh. I'm just too upset and insulted to continue on professionally at this point.

originalkat 12-03-2013 05:51 AM

Originally Posted by e.j.:
If it were me, I might respond with, "DCM, it's me e.j. It appears that you are looking for alternate care. I'd appreciate the chance to speak with you before you make any final decisions. Will you have time to speak with me Monday morning?"

Given that it's a holiday weekend, I might even let her assume I was away for the weekend and wait until drop off on Monday to respond to her in person so I could ask her directly about her concerns.

likethis This is probably more like what I would say as well.

originalkat 12-03-2013 05:54 AM

Originally Posted by MyAngels:
Is there any chance they are looking for back up care or care for your maternity leave?

I agree that while it might come off as underhanded to be looking for new care without telling your current provider, you also have to look at it from their point of view. They could be looking just to see what's out there in case your pregnancy does happen to affect your ability to provide care. I wouldn't tell my current provider that I was looking into alternative care unless or until I had definitely decided to make the change, either.

likethis Yep, I agree.


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