Available Spaces, How to Handle This?

[Baby Beluga]

I am seeking your advice and wisdom please

I legally have 4 daily spaces. Right now I have 2 DCK's who are full time and the remaining spaces are shared between part timers. The past few months this has worked out great and I have 4 children daily.

In August my part timers are leaving to go to K. This leaves me with the following openings.

M - 1 opening.
T - full (2 full timers and 2 half day siblings)
W - 1 opening
Th - full (2 full timers and 2 half day siblings)
F - 1 opening

The parents of one current DCK who goes to K in August wants to start paying now to reserve the spot for their infant. She is 5 months now. I will enroll as young as 12 months, if certain developmental milestones have been met. I have expressed that it is too early to reserve their spot (who wants to pay for something months before they can use it?!) but they have expressed they are willing to pay as early as they need to reserve the infants spot. Right now I have 1 opening on M W F. They would prefer full time enrollment.

I also just enrolled another DCB beginning in August on a M W F basis. Mom is a lawyer, and they would also prefer full time enrollment but "because they like me so much" they are okay with part time for now. Mom has expressed numerous times though that she would prefer full time.

If I term my 2 T/TH half day students, that would leave me with 4 M-F full time students. I would prefer this myself. As keeping track of who is here daily, sending out emails to everyone, etc is getting a bit confusing. Having 4 of the same full timers M-F would just be easier for me mentally.

But, I don't want to hurt the family of my 2 half day kids. They are a wonderful family. How do I term, but do so on good terms?

I don't have room for them to go full time. Nor would they want to. Mom is an esthiecian and works very part time from home.

[Play Care]

Does your contract say anything about FT trumping PT?
If so you could use that.

[Baby Beluga]

Originally Posted by Play Care

Does your contract say anything about FT trumping PT?
If so you could use that.

It does not. Learning lesson for future contracts, for sure!

[BrynleeJean]

I would, very soon, change my policies or handbook or rates or wherever you have it and state that you only do full time.
That you just can't afford the PT anymore unfortunately and of course give them a two weeks to decide or whatever you term policy is is what id do.

Id say we are changing to a flat FT rate, you don't have to use the other days or whatever, but the services are offered, your open for business MWF and need to get paid for those days too and if they aren't willing then they make the choice to find care elsewhere.

At the end of the day, this is your job, and you need to do what is financially sound. I get that terming the pt parents wouldn't be ideal, and they could understandably get upset, but if you give them at least a two week- months notice, it should be no problem.

I also stopped doing pt care because it makes no sense to me financially.

[Baby Beluga]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

At the end of the day, this is your job, and you need to do what is financially sound. I get that terming the pt parents wouldn't be ideal, and they could understandably get upset, but if you give them at least a two week- months notice, it should be no problem.

I also stopped doing pt care because it makes no sense to me financially.

Keeping the 2 part timer half day students vs enrolling 4 full time M-F students is a difference of $550 per month. There would be no difference in time worked either. My earliest student M-F is contracted for a 6:30am arrival and my latest departure is 5:00pm. So... it's not like keeping the 2 part time half day kids would give me less hours worked. Otherwise, I would consider keeping them.

I have two options:

1) Notify parents now, that beginning in August I will no longer be accepting part timers. Enroll my MWF kid who is starting in August on a full time basis and allow the family who wants to reserve a spot for their child to begin paying to reserve the spot (50%) of tuition.

Or

2) Notify parents now that beginning in Jan I will no longer be accepting part timers. Keep my DCK beginning in August on his current MWF schedule and notify mom that he can go full time the beginning of Jan. See if she is okay waiting. I am not sure that she is. She is looking for a position within a firm and is unsure she can find a part time lawyer position. Tell the family who wants to pay to hold their child's spot to pay a deposit and allow them to pay full time tuition in Jan when she is chronologically eligible for enrollment.

[gumdrops]

Originally Posted by Baby Beluga

Keeping the 2 part timer half day students vs enrolling 4 full time M-F students is a difference of $550 per month. There would be no difference in time worked either. My earliest student M-F is contracted for a 6:30am arrival and my latest departure is 5:00pm. So... it's not like keeping the 2 part time half day kids would give me less hours worked. Otherwise, I would consider keeping them.

I have two options:

1) Notify parents now, that beginning in August I will no longer be accepting part timers. Enroll my MWF kid who is starting in August on a full time basis and allow the family who wants to reserve a spot for their child to begin paying to reserve the spot (50%) of tuition.

Or

2) Notify parents now that beginning in Jan I will no longer be accepting part timers. Keep my DCK beginning in August on his current MWF schedule and notify mom that he can go full time the beginning of Jan. See if she is okay waiting. I am not sure that she is. She is looking for a position within a firm and is unsure she can find a part time lawyer position. Tell the family who wants to pay to hold their child's spot to pay a deposit and allow them to pay full time tuition in Jan when she is chronologically eligible for enrollment.

I would be careful with promising the FT spots before you talk to your PT parents first. They may want to upgrade to FT then you'll have 2 families expecting the spot.

[racemom]

Sounds like the best option is #1. Let the current families t know you love having their kids, but that it is not feasible for you to have spots open 3 days a week. I wouldn't offer them the full time spots unless you are willing to have them full time, which it sounds like you are not.

[CityGarden]

I make more financially with PT spots because I charge more for them but I agree with you that having the same children everyday has huge advantages and there a good reasons for FT having priority over PT.

Less cubbies / space needed to store their stuff
Less parent to interact / communicate with
Consistent group energy
Consistent environment (i.e. I have to change mine every other day as I have one child 2-days a week who puts things in his mouth the rest of the gorup does not and can handle and likes small items like legos, etc.)

I would be honest with your PT family and give them the choice of increasing days. If they cannot / do not want to it gives them plenty of time to make other plans as PT care is not easy to find. The only downside I see to this is they may pull sooner than August if they find something sooner - but you would also be getting 50% tuition for the infant so that may not be a loss financially.

Although I make more financially I feel FT will trump PT going forward in my program as it makes life easier on me. In your case it also is better financially.

Best of luck!!

[Baby Beluga]

Originally Posted by gumdrops

I would be careful with promising the FT spots before you talk to your PT parents first. They may want to upgrade to FT then you'll have 2 families expecting the spot.

I agree and I wouldn't promise any full time positions until I had already termed my part time half day students.

Problem with offering them a full time position, is I don't have one. I haven't had one for a long time. The child I just enrolled beginning in August is enrolled MWF. In order to offer my current part time half day kids a full time spot I would need to term the child who is slated to start in Aug. So there really is no option to offer them full time. I either have to term them in favor of 2 other full time families or keep them and have 1 part time opening unfilled.

[CityGarden]

Originally Posted by Baby Beluga

I agree and I wouldn't promise any full time positions until I had already termed my part time half day students.

Problem with offering them a full time position, is I don't have one. I haven't had one for a long time. The child I just enrolled beginning in August is enrolled MWF. In order to offer my current part time half day kids a full time spot I would need to term the child who is slated to start in Aug. So there really is no option to offer them full time. I either have to term them in favor of 2 other full time families or keep them and have 1 part time opening unfilled.

I think you know you have to term them then. If you know you are terming them then I would secure the full time spots before you term - just to CYA from the potential FT families changing their mind after you already gave notice to the PT family.

[Baby Beluga]

Originally Posted by CityGarden

I make more financially with PT spots because I charge more for them but I agree with you that having the same children everyday has huge advantages and there a good reasons for FT having priority over PT.

Less cubbies / space needed to store their stuff
Less parent to interact / communicate with
Consistent group energy
Consistent environment (i.e. I have to change mine every other day as I have one child 2-days a week who puts things in his mouth the rest of the gorup does not and can handle and likes small items like legos, etc.)

I would be honest with your PT family and give them the choice of increasing days. If they cannot / do not want to it gives them plenty of time to make other plans as PT care is not easy to find. The only downside I see to this is they may pull sooner than August if they find something sooner - but you would also be getting 50% tuition for the infant so that may not be a loss financially.

Although I make more financially I feel FT will trump PT going forward in my program as it makes life easier on me. In your case it also is better financially.

Best of luck!!

I agree with the bolded. When I first started I had 4 kids from 6:30 - 4:30pm M-F. The consistency was wonderful.

Now that I have so many part timers it's a bit crazy. I would like to simplify a little bit. I recently made a thread about brain fog and looking back I think the part timers and inconsistency play a role in the professional brain fog.

Financially, if I term the 2 half day kids, enroll my DCK who is started in Aug 5 days and have the family of the infant pay 50% of tuition I will make $50 more than the way things are now.

[Baby Beluga]

Originally Posted by CityGarden

I think you know you have to term them then. If you know you are terming them then I would secure the full time spots before you term - just to CYA from the potential FT families changing their mind after you already gave notice to the PT family.

Absolutely.

I think I am going to hold off on saying anything until I see how my new one in August is. He is in care now, so he is not new to being in care, which is good. But I have a 4 week trial period in his contract because mom is concerned about naps. The provider future DCB is at now has DCB sleep in her own son's crib and she sleeps her son in a swing....Mom was concerned about how he would transition to sleeping on a cot in a room with others. I would hate to term my half day kids and half to not continue after the trial period for my guy starting in August if he doesn't fit well.

This is all planning for August. I suppose I wait, gauge the interest in full time spots once I know new DCB will fit well with the group, sign those full time contracts then term my half day kids.

[Jo123ABC]

I would give your pt families the option of paying for a ft spot first if that would be something you're okay with. They will likely decline anyway but since it was their decision they will (hopefully) not be upset. Express to them that as much as you enjoy them, you need to fill your positions and have a steady ft income/schedule. Maybe they'll love your care so much you get a full check for a pt kid, or maybe they'll opt out. As long as you're okay with either scenario, you'll get the income you need/want and you won't have to feel bad for terming.

[Jo123ABC]

Originally Posted by Jo123ABC

I would give your pt families the option of paying for a ft spot first if that would be something you're okay with. They will likely decline anyway but since it was their decision they will (hopefully) not be upset. Express to them that as much as you enjoy them, you need to fill your positions and have a steady ft income/schedule. Maybe they'll love your care so much you get a full check for a pt kid, or maybe they'll opt out. As long as you're okay with either scenario, you'll get the income you need/want and you won't have to feel bad for terming.

Update:
Nevermind, I should have read through your post and comments more thoroughly! I would go with the best schedule for you... I avoid pt because I prefer a steady income and less stressful schedule!