Originally Posted by Unregistered:
I am on here because I am considering getting into daycare, but I just had to jump in on this. I am a teacher currently and I walked away from 2 daycares because of paying when care is not provided or available. The first person only took teachers kids. She did not charge over the summer, but she did have me bring in wipes, lunch, snacks and on parent teacher conference days, or professional development days she made me find someone else to watch dd and yet charged me for a full week (did not tell me about this when I choose her). She also would not watch her the extra 30 minutes on days I had staff meetings (originally said she would). She then changed her pick up to 15 minutes after the last bus picked up and that was the last straw and I left. When I went looking for DC again I refused to pay when bringing my child was not even an option. Now I do think that paying something even when I am not taking dd over the summer is fine, but full price is not. Care is not being provided; my daughter is not being feed by my provider. When I went looking I was about sold on this one provider, but she was not willing to let me pay a lower rate over the summer and I walked away. The provider currently watching dd does not charge me for the summer, but I give her "bonus money" at the end of the school year because I love her and she loves my dd and I pay her the normal rate when I have to take dd in because I am doing professional development. She likes the lighter load in the summer so she can go places with her group and she has said that my dd is easy and I am easy too so maybe that is a factor as well. Last year she filled dd spot over the summer with a school aged kid that parents did not want home alone all day.
I watch only teacher's children and I am very upfront about the fact that I do not ever work past 4 p.m. I only watch teacher's children because I did not want to watch children over the summer, on school holidays or for long hours after my kids got of the bus. Because I only watch teacher's chilren and that is for my convenience, I personally do not charge over the summer. My husband makes enough to support us so I do not HAVE TO work so any money I make is used for non-essentials. So, I can afford to be choosey and not charge except when I actually have kids here. I do not think I am the norm.
That being said, you need to look at this from the point of view of a provider who only has a certain number of children they are allowed to watch, period. Most providers do childcare because they NEED the money to meet bills ALL YEAR ROUND. They charge for the SPOT. You are taking up a spot with your child(ren) whether the child is physically there or not. It may sound like a no brainer to you that the provider can fill your spot just for the summer and you can get it back in fall so you shouldn't have to pay to keep your spot. BUT, it is NOT that easy. I have a friend who also watches children for teachers. EVERY YEAR, she tries to fill those spots with kids that just need care for the summer. She has rarely found any, and, when she does, it certainly is not the number of children she would need to make the same money she does during the school year. There are a lot of affordable summer camps in this area. Many parents send thier school age children to these during the summer rather than using an in home provider.
So, please try to look at it from the provider's point of view. Your attitude is why many providers do not watch teacher's children at all.