Originally Posted by MyAngels:
I agree with what Leigh said, but I personally would do a meeting with the parents. It would be an adults only meeting and we would go over, line by line, the contract that they signed. IMO a lot of the "misunderstandings" that parents have with our policies can be cleared up better with a face to face meeting rather than over email or text. That way any questions can be answered clearly and going forward things tend to run more smoothly.
Also, going forward, if you're going to do contracted hours I would never mention what your actual operating hours are. For all intents and purposes your operating hours for any particular family are whatever they are contracted for. They don't need to know that you've made yourself available earlier or later to another family.
My contract says very clearly
"I do not have standard operating hours. I work on contracted hours and provide care on week days only.
Available hours are dependent on each individual family's needs.
Care will only be available for your family during your contracted times.
Care hours will not be before 7:00 AM nor after 5:00 PM without prior approval. Additional fees may apply."
This helps parents understand that even if I am providing services to another child they don't automatically get to use the time another family paid for unless they too paid for it.