Originally Posted by daycare:
I don't know what latchkey program is, but it is very common in my area to pay in full for the month in advance if you use it or not.
my program is the same.
most programs have a max capacity of kids they can take each day.
mine is 14 and I depend on funding for the full 14 daily so that I can afford the overheard of our program.
employees and insurance and food are some of the biggest ones I can think of off the top of my head. I have to pay for those if your child is here or not. so if I let everyone pay only when they came, i could not forecast a monthly budget and would never be able to pay my over head. frankly I would be out of business very fast if I didn't have this type of payment program.
It like renting a house. if you are gone for 3 weeks and don't use the house, you still have to pay for the full month. no one is going to say you only used it 1 week so that's all you pay. the house was avilable to you all month long and you could have come back to it at any time you wanted, so no matter what you pay the full month of rent.
does that make sense?
Latchkey is generic term for after school care, usually provided by the school.
What you say does make sense to a point, but you also can build in some buffer, or limited credit. I mean life happens. If I don't go to work I don't get paid, but I guess if I hire someone to do a job, and they don't do it, I still have to pay them? I mean doctors and skilled trades do have cancellation charges, and I get that, but it's usually never the full cost of the service they would provide.
This is leaving a horribly bitter taste in my mouth with daycare and am rapidly looking to get someone to watch my kids at home with bus after school. And since my mother has moved in with me, will make it better, although she's not real mobile, but at least can watch kids for 30-60 minutes after school.
Daycare is a necessary evil for working parents, and most wouldn't do it if they didn't have to because of these kinds of issues. I am realizing this is more a site for daycare workers not necessarily parents, so I'll just leave it alone. But as a parent I can say from others I talk to they aren't happy with it much either, but are stuck with it, and latchkey doesn't care because they get their money regardless.