Well, this is ongoing drama with the child's father, DCM's personal issues having her take off time from her retail job (no work=no pay), and poor money management skills. She's always been upfront about her financial situation, too upfront sometimes. When this all started I told her if one of them was home from work and they did not send DCB then I would forgive them that day's payment. I'm not hurting for money and I'd rather they just keep him home without paying than send him and get further in the hole with me. We've worked so hard to get this boy to adjust to coming here that the couple of days she's done that have sent him backwards. So it's a lose-lose situation either way.
She told me that she can't go to work today because she doesn't have money for gas, but she's going to maybe send him here because she has things to do and it will be easier if he's not around. I had to get all backboney on her about if she's not working today, she can't afford to have him here today. Plus, since my son has EI group today I thought that my DD would probably appreciate having some 1-1 time with me that she almost never gets.
That she understood and agreed with. We do have a good enough working relationship and she understands I have been working with her and giving her a better deal than anywhere else around. She was really trying hard to turn her life around and I was trying to help.
I did try the whole barter method, but the father wanted 2 free days of daycare to mow my lawn! It's a 1/4acre covered mostly by house, pool and driveway. It takes my husband 45 mins to mow. With his commercial mower, maybe 30 mins. I thought it was outrageous. Thankfully I only have the contract with DCM not him!