Thank you for all the replies!!!!! As I was reading them at naptime yesterday she showed up unexpectedly and I was thrown completely off guard-grrrr!!!
Here is the thing. It would rip my heart out and my other daycare kids if dcg left. I have an extremely tight knit daycare and I can't imagine what it would be like without her. So I am trying to balance it out.
DCM came in practically crying about dcd being mad at her about money, charging up credit cards,etc... This is nothing new. She has complained non-stop about him since the interview two years ago. I know way too much about him and their personal/financial/sexual life.
So I listened and waited for her to stop talking so I could say something but she was still talking as she was out the door and going down my sidewalk with dcg.
So I sent a text and basically said I was sorry she was having a stressful day but she would need to talk to her husband at some point on vacation and let him know that I am strict with my pick up time and I have terminated care for late pick ups in the past. I don't want it to come to that so he is going to have to find a way to be here on time.
There was SO much more I wanted to say. But here is what really bothers me, so many of you pointed out that she is being passive agressive and it made me think about things she has said before under the umbrella of "dcd says.....". I think you all are right, she must think the same way.
So when she gets back I am going to approach it the same way. That she should really let her husband know he is entitled to his opinion but in all reality he is not my employer and I have the right to choose which people I do business with and I cannot do business with someone who feels they are my employer. That she needs to make sure he can accept that or we need to end our professional relationship.
These are the type of people who really don't appreciate what I do because they have never been anywhere else for care. In eight years I have never once closed for anything other than a holiday or scheduled vacation. I never even close early. My sister is my sub so I can make appointments and not disrupt anyone's schedule. All closings are scheduled at least one month in advance. I take four weeks of vacation each year (two paid and two unpaid) and this family complains every time I am closed even though they know about it well in advance. I provide exceptional loving care to their daughter, have an awesome preschool program, take these kids on tons of field trips and am underpriced for this area. We live in a fairly upscale suburb. I do this job because I love it. My husband makes enough money that I don't have to work. I could easily let this family go and not care financially. I do this job because I love it and consider myself lucky to have such an amazing profession! So when people like this feel they have a right to tell me how I should do my job it really, really makes me mad. They have no idea how good they have it.
I would LOVE to let them go so the parents can get a strong dose of reality. Trust me, I was tempted to give a 2 week notice and refund all of their money so they couldn't come back but honestly, the mom scares me. She is crazy, evil and vindictive. She paralized her husband's dog while he was at work so he would be forced to put it down when he got home. And told me about it. C-R-A-Z-Y. She has tried so hard to be my best friend to the point that I got 79 texts in less than four hours one day, CRAZY. Ugh...the stories I could tell about this nut job. I don't put anything past her so I have kept them way longer than I would have.
Again, thank you all for your responses. I appreciate it so much!!! And I plan to read through them all again before she returns in two weeks so I am armed and ready.
Although as I sit here writing this I am getting upset again and am so tempted to send a 2 week notice........