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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Do You Do Weekend Care?
Little People 06:36 AM 01-24-2011
I am wanting to do weekend care, but I have a few questions that hopefully someone here can help me with.

Do you do drop in or do contract those hours?
Do you have a weekend handbook or use your regular handbook?

My thoughts was to do contracted hours for the weekend, this way I will always know who is coming and what time and also the amount I will be paid each weekend.

Weekend care must be paid on the previous Saturday for the next weekend. And I would do a small handbook for my weekend care.

Then if I had openings that were not filled a parent could be a drop in, but would let the parent know if I get a contract for weekends, then I would not have room for them.

I was thinking about charging $25.00 a day for 9 hours my regular rates are $21.00 a day.

What does everyone think??
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SandeeAR 06:39 AM 01-24-2011
Make sure you don't burn yourself out working 7 days a week. I don't know what I would do without my weekends off to rest and energize!
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SilverSabre25 06:41 AM 01-24-2011
I care for one daycare kid on Saturdays. One and only one, because that's all I can transport. He is contracted Monday through Saturday, but only here 4 or 5 of those days depending on his parents' variable days off. For them I charge normally because Saturday is part of his normal schedule and they pay me the full rate whether they use all the days or not.

Before I got this boy I was planning on taking on one Saturday kid and charging about $5 more/day for Saturday (so $35 instead of $30).

I use my regular handbook/contract, but verbally tell the parents that Saturdays are different. There's no routine, no set schedule, we go places, we run errands and go to birthday parties, we often eat lunch out, there's more TV and more junk food. They're cool with it. My DCF actually really appreciates that dcb gets the chance to go to storytime with us and to the zoo and children's museum and things like that.

That's a long-winded answer to your simple question, lol.
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Little People 06:44 AM 01-24-2011
Originally Posted by SandeeAR:
Make sure you don't burn yourself out working 7 days a week. I don't know what I would do without my weekends off to rest and energize!
Thank you, but I have so much energy to burn, sometime I don't know what to do I am one of those lucky people that can sleep 4/5 hours and my eyes open and I am ready to go!! I am NOT a TV watcher and I read. The weekends are just me and my DH, and I find I miss my Dcg's on the weekends and I am bored. I only have 3 full time girls and 1 after school girl during the week and these girls are all excellent girls. I am never tired when they leave.
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Little People 06:47 AM 01-24-2011
Originally Posted by SilverSabre25:
I care for one daycare kid on Saturdays. One and only one, because that's all I can transport. He is contracted Monday through Saturday, but only here 4 or 5 of those days depending on his parents' variable days off. For them I charge normally because Saturday is part of his normal schedule and they pay me the full rate whether they use all the days or not.

Before I got this boy I was planning on taking on one Saturday kid and charging about $5 more/day for Saturday (so $35 instead of $30).

I use my regular handbook/contract, but verbally tell the parents that Saturdays are different. There's no routine, no set schedule, we go places, we run errands and go to birthday parties, we often eat lunch out, there's more TV and more junk food. They're cool with it. My DCF actually really appreciates that dcb gets the chance to go to storytime with us and to the zoo and children's museum and things like that.

That's a long-winded answer to your simple question, lol.
We just bought a Van and it has the 3rd row seating!! I saved for this van (thank you Dave Rasmey) and was able to pay cash for it! So I have 4 car seats installed now.
This is just what I was thinking to put into a weekend handbook and then on payment for Holidays would be the same as my regular handbook, if Holiday falls on weekend, they still pay.
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AnythingsPossible 06:57 AM 01-24-2011
I would definitely charge more for saturday care and I would limit how many I watch on the weekends. You need to have time to do your errands, shopping and such, so I would only want to watch as many as I could easily transport and supervise with my own children. I personally need a break from daycare, so I couldn't see myself doing weekend care unless I was in deep financial need. Don't burn yourself out!
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Childminder 07:44 AM 01-24-2011
I used to be open 24/7 but found that other than occasional overnights it wasn't needed. I now am open M-Sat 6am-midnight with hours being contracted based on a regular 40 hour work week. Most of my Sat use is for moms that work retail or waitress and get scheduled for weekends. Sundays would be utilized if I were open but I decided to keep one day for me and my husband. I charge the same for Sat and evening or overnite care - based on contracted hours. $35 per day if part time slot is open no matter whether day is 4 or 10 hours. $5 per hour if over 10 hours. $175 is my full time slot price for consistent contracted hours/week.
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MarinaVanessa 07:45 AM 01-24-2011
Originally Posted by Little People:
Do you do drop in or do contract those hours?
I do weekend care but because I didn't want to get stuck doing daycare 7 days a week I offer it on an as needed basis and if i'm available. Because of this it's more like drop-in care and the fee is in addition to whatever they pay a week. If I have a FT client that comes M-F and they need me on a Saturday then they pay me extra for that Saturday.

Originally Posted by :
Do you have a weekend handbook or use your regular handbook?
I use my regular handbook and just add the weekend care policies in there since my contracted clients may use me on weekends and also because non-contracted clients (drop-ins) have to follow the same policies that my regular clients follow.

You can always do whatever you feel comfortable with but I just want to point some things out. If you offer it as contracted hours then you are locked in to work weekends, meaning that if you get a M-F client and then a client that wants you on weekends, even just one day, then you could be working 6-7 days a week. What about family time and family functions etc?

I agree that you should charge more for weekends. And just to give you an idea, I charge a weekly FT rate which breaks down to $31 a day. PT breaks down to $35 a day and drop-ins during the week is $37 a day and weekends are only charged by the hour at $5 an hour so if they did a full day on a saturday or sunday (10 hours) it would come out to $50. Just trying to show you that your weekend fee should be considerably more than your normal rates.

I do like that you would ask for payment a week before. I don't particularly do this but I do ask for payment in advance. When a client reserves a weekend I don't consider it to be locked in until it's paid for in full. You should also think about making a cancelation policy. What happens if they don't need you afterall or don't show up but have already paid you?

Here's what I have (just so you get an idea).:

Additional Services
Drop-in, before/after-hours and weekend childcare is available. These additional services are not included with regular tuition rates of the scheduled hours and separate payment is expected for each of these.
This kind of care requires that you make a reservation which must be pre-arranged. A spot is not guaranteed and depends upon availability and the ability for the childcare provider to meet your needs.

To make a reservation please speak to the provider in advance. A specific date and time period will be needed and full payment must be received at the time that the reservation is made. Immediate payment is required to ensure both to the provider and the client that care will be offered at that time. A reservation will not be considered to be confirmed until it is paid for in full and so the provider will be free to schedule personal appointments or fill the spot.

To cancel a paid reservation and to receive a full refund, a minimum of 24 hours’ notice is required. If a 24 hours’ notice is not given, a cancellation fee of $10.00 per child will be deducted from the amount paid and the balance will be refunded. A reservation cancelation cannot be made after the actual start-time of such reservation. If this or a “no show” should happen payment will not be refunded so please be sure to cancel any reservations in advance. We are a very active family and planning for a day where we expect to care for a client’s child only to have the child not come is very inconvenient. Please be courteous and mindful of this.
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Weekend Care
Care on Saturdays and Sundays is considered weekend care and has a 10 hour maximum per day. Because weekends are usually reserved for family time with my family, weekend care is only available at an hourly rate and has a minimum of 4 hours of care even if your child is not here for the full 4 hours. Since weekend care is during non-business hours the regular daycare routine will not apply. We will still have a meal and sleep routine like a normal day; however we will not have curriculum activities. The children will participate in family activities if any are planned.

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countrymom 07:51 AM 01-24-2011
heck no! I have them 5 days a week, I think children can spend at least 2 days a week with their parents (its different if you have to work, but its not every sat.)
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Childminder 10:12 AM 01-24-2011
Originally Posted by :
heck no! I have them 5 days a week, I think children can spend at least 2 days a week with their parents (its different if you have to work, but its not every sat.)
Some people only work 3-5 days a week it is just that they're scheduled for Sat. I get why you would not to be open more than five days a week but I choose too cause my family is grown, I'm here anyway and I need the income.
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Michael 01:38 PM 01-24-2011
A couple other posts on the subject: https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.php?tag=weekend+care
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