I got a delivery notice for xpresspost today about one of my former daycare families summoning me to small claims court.

Here's the story...

DM comes to me and informs me that she is going to change daycares due to the fact that she wants her daughter going outside more. I live in Canada and our winters are horrible...we have lots of days were the temp is -31C or more. I just don't take the kids outside much in the winter for temperature reasons and also because it can take upwards of three quarters of an hour to bundle and unbundle all of the children and we usually only last outside for about 5 minutes before someone is screaming to go back in. So I told the daycare mom that this was fine with me but asked her to make sure she paid for her proper notice to which she agreed to.

Where I live proper noticed when terming a space is one month. In my business I ask for a deposit when a daycare family starts with me. This deposit is then put towards their last two weeks of childcare with a 6 week written notice when terming a daycare space. I do it this way because I do not refund deposits in cash (service only) and I still need a full month's paid notice to ensure I can securely fill that space before the next month begins.

When this pecticular family began care with me my computer was on the fritz and I was unable to get them a copy of my contract. I verbally went through everything in the contract with them including what would be needed for notice when it came to terming. The family agreed to follow my policies.

So after the dm agreed to honor proper notice requirements she proceeded to show up at my home the day after and demand that I refund her deposit in cash. I immediately reminded her about my policies on notice and deposits and brought to her attention that this was all agreed upon. However, she said because she didn't have a signed contract she did not have to follow my policies and continued to demand her deposit be refunded in cash. This went on and on for nearly 15 minutes before I refused to provide care for her daughter that day. My reasoning was that she already had me completely frazzled and I did not need to deal with the stress of knowing I would have to deal with her again at the end of the day. I will also note that the dad was not working that day the only reason for my services was for him to run errands so there was no reason why he couldn't take care of his daughter. At no point did I say I would not provide services the following day or that I would not finish off the month with them. I just felt it best everyone cool down and collect themselves first.

The dad them proceeding to text and harass me all afternoon, he claimed he would be coming the next morning when I opened the daycare to collect the deposit. I asked him to not come on my property and harass me and that being I have other children in my care I would take legal action if I had to if he were harrassing me during daycare hours and would not leave. At this point he threatened to take me to small claims court for the deposit plus the rest of the month that was paid for.

I talked to my friends father who is a lawyer and he advised that I take with me three signed contracts from other families in my care (past and present) to show the court how I conduct my business and prove that other families in my care are all under the 6 week written notice when terming a daycare space. Therefore providing evidence that this would have been the same policy I would have gone over with this daycare family. He feels that there is very little chance that this family will win in court even without having signed a contract with me, however I am just so stressed out about having to go through the whole process. Any advice on the matter would be greatly appreciated!

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