Holding a Spot

[Shelldt66]

I am not sure if I am in the right place, but I have a question regarding holding a spot. My ex-husband gets the kids for his visits and my daycare is saying that while he has his court ordered visits, they will not hold the spots for our kids unless I pay them. Can they do that? He will be getting them for 2 weeks uninterrupted time and I cannot force him to take them to daycare. His mother watches the kids which is great but I don't want to lose their spot in daycare when they get home. I live in Utah and any help would be great.

[JackandJill]

What does the contract you signed say? I know I charge regardless of attendance, so here you would have to pay to keep their spot.

Think of it like your gym membership, you pay the same amount regardless of how many times you go!

Maybe you could talk with your ex about splitting the cost?

[happymom]

Check your contract, but that sounds correct to me. They may offer a "free" vacation week that you do not have to pay for but can use (but sometimes you need to reserve it in advance).

I also live in Utah and my daycare offers one vacation week per year for families who have been in attendance for more than 3 months.

[Chickadee-Tree]

Absolutely, they can do that. How do you propose that the daycare makes money while they have an empty, unpaid spot for two weeks? Oh wait, you have more than one kid, so multiple empty, unpaid spots!
Then, another parent wants to do the same thing, while her kids visit their grandparents. If they give you the privilege of holding your kids' spots for free, they have to do it for everyone...and believe me, summer is short. Many families take vacations on the same weeks. If I held spots for free, I wouldn't be able to pay my bills during the summer!

[Snowmom]

Originally Posted by Shelldt66

I am not sure if I am in the right place, but I have a question regarding holding a spot. My ex-husband gets the kids for his visits and my daycare is saying that while he has his court ordered visits, they will not hold the spots for our kids unless I pay them. Can they do that? He will be getting them for 2 weeks uninterrupted time and I cannot force him to take them to daycare. His mother watches the kids which is great but I don't want to lose their spot in daycare when they get home. I live in Utah and any help would be great.

Yes, they can.
It's pretty typical business practice to require payment regardless of attendance.