Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
I charge them the same weekly rate in the summer as I do during the school year. Some come and some don't. I think it depends on the family.
I had one last year that goes out of town for the summer months and she asked if I would be willing to discount her summer care and what I did was take what it would cost her all summer ...something like $1700 and said if she paid me $1100 all at once before leaving or $450 on or before the 1st of each month I would be fine with that. I didn't mind being out a bit of money as it was worth not having that extra kid here every day. (especially because they had just turned 2)
I have also given a teacher mom who had a baby (under age 12 months) a break in the summer too and only charged her 50% rates all summer if she agreed to keep him home all summer. NOT having a baby in the summer makes the days so much easier for me that it is totally worth the loss in income.
So I guess for me, each summer is different and I am always quick to let my families who work seasonally know that what worked for me one summer may not always work for me the next so if they just plan to pay like normal, things will be fine.
If I am in the position to do anything "special" for them, they will be the first to know.
This basically sounds like how I've been doing it. As long as I can fill the spot with a SA'r sibling then I wasn't worried about it. I wasn't going to charge my teachers full rate and basically get double income by filling their spot in the summer. That's not how I roll either. But, now I can't fill the spots, so really only the one family will be shorting me $110 a week, but if it gives me a little bit of a break then oh well. It's really not that long because the teacher I have works 1/2 of June and goes back the 2nd week in August and I have 2 weeks off in between. Oh yea, plus I have a baby starting in July (sibling of current dcb).