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nannyde 05:10 AM 02-26-2011
You got got from the go.

Your first mistake was allowing the Dad to drop off in the mornings on the original schedule. If the Mom didn't go into work until nine and she has a fifteen minute drive then his drop off originally should have been 8:45 not 7:30 a.m.

You allowing an hour and a half of me time in the morning is what let her know how valuable her me time was. Once she saw that she was so much happier without him in the morning her next step would be to be so much happier without him in the evening too.

From what you are saying it looks like the need child care from 6:45 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. That will cut your day but nearly three hours of awake time with him.

I would just call her and tell her there was obviously a misunderstanding and that you don't provide services to parents while they are not working. Tell her that you need to adjust his hours of care to her work schedule as she is the last to go in and the first to get home.

Remember when they dramtically changed your total number of hours and didn't offer to increase you salary? That same mind set needs to be applied when you dramatically decrease their hours. It's no big deal to have so much more. It should be no big deal to have so much less.

Really consider not doing more than 9 hour days per family. It will save you a lot of grief in the future. These guys can easily do nine hour days so switch them to it.

Remember how sweet and bubbly she was when she told you she was enjoying her decompression time? Use that sweet and bubbly when you cut their hours to what they need. Do the same approach as it works so well for her. It's a language she does understand very well so speak it.

IMO, it's unethical to have a kid in child care twelve hours a day. Kids need AWAKE time with their parents every day. These guys can easily get five solid hours of awake time a day and they have put off three and a half of them on you for no additional fees.

Buckle up ladies because this is our future. Having parents be straight up front that they want and must have me time and that they are comfortable with a hour or so a day of time with their kid is becoming pretty socially acceptable. WE have to be the ones to say "no thanks". If you are going to do it make them PAY a LOT of money for it.

Do not EVER allow a parent to tack on extra time without extra pay. They added on a full days worth of awake time work per week to you and didn't have to spend a dime. Can you imagine what the Mom would have done if her job would have done that to her?

This wouldn't have happened in my world because I allow a nine hour day only and they pay an extra four dollars per hour for any hours used after three p.m.

The only way to make their me time less valuable is to charge so much money for it that keeping their money is more important than decompressing. As long as you do it for free you will have a significant number of parents who will keep their kid in care for as long as you will do it for free.
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