I've been in a similar situation before and it sucks to find out you've been taken advantage of.

What I do is set my hours and observe them.
If I don't clients wont.
If I allow time outside my regular hours I charge for it.
I charge enough so that NO MATTER the reason a parent is using or needing the extra time I feel compensated.

If I begin to feel used or can't provide the extra time I simply tell the parent it no longer works and I stop.

The idea that DCG is thriving with you or that you like the family etc isn't really relevant as a business.

Don't take the "me time" comment personally.

You allowed yourself to be swayed by her situation (single mom etc) and we've all done it before so it's a good lesson that "most" (NOT all) parents will take if you allow it.

NEVER do anything outside of your normal services that you won't normally do for any reason.

This is one of those areas where you must separate the emotional aspects of this profession from the business part of it.

A wise friend once said;

"~to be responsible, keep your promises to others.
~to be successful, keep your promises to yourself."

That has helped me separate business from emotion many times over the years.

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