So over the weekend, my family got hit by the stomach bug. By Sunday, my son was over it, but yesterday my husband and daughter had it bad so I texted DCPs and let them know that they would be staying home due to sickness. They all decided to keep their kids home as to not expose their children. Well, this bug seems like at least a 48 hour thing so both my husband and daughter will be home again. I texted DCPs again, told them they were welcome to come but that my dh and dd would be home again.
Since I haven't gotten sick (yet), I am still open for business and in my contract it says as long as I am available, payment is due.

I just received a text from DCM that she wants a credit for both days. She says that she knows I'm willing to take dcb but it's not fair to expose since my whole family is sick.

I understand where she is coming from, but I also understand where I am coming from. I need to get paid!

What would you do?
Help/advice is greatly appreciated! TYIA!

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If I am open then I get paid .
I also let my dcp know if there is an illness in my home and it is their choice to bring their kids or not . If they choose to keep their kids home it is their choice not to use your services unlike if I were to close due to illness .

I would not give a credit because you were open and it was their choice not to attend .

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I know this is a tough place to be (needing to income/but family is sick) and while I agree that any time I am open, I expect payment I do not agree with this....

I don't think it's fair to require payment from a family but then not provide the care.

I know you said you are open but you have an illness in your home and that's not really a fair option.

As a parent I would NOT bring my child either but I wouldn't view it as you being "available".....I would view it as you being available but WITH the risk of exposure....putting me (the parent) in a tight spot.

It's almost like saying "Here I made lunch but dropped it on the ground. It's still available to eat but if you choose not to, then don't complain that I didn't provide anything else"

Personally, I think as a provider you have an obligation to follow your own sick policy and either close without the payment (if that's the way your contract reads) or you close with payment and make sure you have "X" number of sick/closed days built into your contract.

But I don't its good business practice to stay open and expect parents to risk exposure but still pay if they choose not to.

My two cents....

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What does your contract specifically say about illness?

Do you have closed/personal/sick days built into your contract where parents still pay even if you are not available for services?

Do you give parents credit or not charge for days they keep their sick child home but you are still open?

Just trying to get a bigger picture of what you have going on.

This line of work is definitely a LOT of give and take but I am always careful not to tip the scales in my favor too often or parents will quickly grow unhappy with your business practices and we all know that it's the times of stress and chaos and how we manage those times that either tick a parent off or really impress then with our ability to be flexible and accommodating...kwim?

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I have in my contract that payment is due unless I am unavailable to provide care. I do not take any time off... Unless I'm sick. I suppose I should write some sick days into my contract...
I just sent her this text:

I do understand where you are coming from, so I will meet you halfway and credit you for one of the days. You are paying for a spot and I am available. Should you choose not to utilize the services that is your choice. Please know in the future that unless I am unable to provide services, payment will be due. Thanks for understanding.

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I get what you are saying but at the same time, I have my daycare in my home with my kids. One of them is in school. If I didn't open everytime someone in my family got sick, I wouldn't make any money. Plus, you are always at risk the moment you leave your home. If anyone in my home is sick and dc kids come, the sick person is completely secluded. I do my best to not expose the dck. Again, I understand both sides so hopefully DCM will understand my side.

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I see both sides too. My contract states that they have a choice and if they choose not to come, I will not charge them. Honestly, I don't really want them to come, since when my kids are really sick, they need so much more of my time and energy, so I kid of prefer the lighter load. It stinks not to get paid, but it is sort of better to make up for that with a little higher fee or something, than to deal with that situation. The parent is sort of damned if they do and damned if they don't. If they bring the kid, they may get sick and miss more work l ater on when they have to stay home with their sick kid. If they don't bring their kid, they have to miss work and pay for daycare anyway and their is still a chance their child will catch it and they will need to miss more work later. This actualy just happened to me. My whole family was out last week with a stomach bug and I had no kids on Thursday and Friday as a result (parents chose not to come). I lost out on $130 of income, but the next week, dcg came Mon. and was out on Tuesday with the same illness, so I would have felt really bad had she paid all those days. I cleaned like a crazy person too, but sometimes sickness just hits and inconveniences everyone. I just feel like we have to accept the brunt of that since we are doing business in our home. Comes with the territory I guess.

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In the initial contact I would have told the parent how I plan to isolate the ill child, and what extra precautions I would take to prevent germ transfer (gloves for personal contact & food prep, the other parent caring for the sick child, extra disinfection steps or whatever you plan to do).

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Yes I will need to rewrite my sick policy to cover issues like this. Although, I am hoping DCM will be thankful that I'm compromising with her

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Maybe I see things differently since all my kids are 11 yrs and older . They can isolate themselves on another floor of the home and not be in contact with the dck.

The one problem I see is that by not charging for the dcp's decision to keep their kids home is that this opens up the issue of the dcp asking for more days without paying for any reason they feel they should not pay. We all know how bending a rule once can quickly lead to problems down the road .

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I think this is fair. If they don't come due to illness in the provider home, then don't charge.

If the child (daycare child) is sick and doesn't come, I would still charge.

Another fair option is to build into your contract X amount of days in which you can close WITH payment.

If you go beyond those allotted days, then you take the loss or pass it off onto the parent I guess but I do think there has to be some give/take so that the provider isn't out a lot of income and so that the parent isn't the one always having to take the loss.

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I have all part timers, so it might be a little different
My dc got hit by a bad cold and then a stomach bug followed (this was the first major sickness if the year, fortunately).
Anyway, dcm kept dcb home with a cold (she paid), and decided to Keep dcb home again towards the end of the week because she knew the stomach bug hit the daycare, and she didn't want to catch it (she's also pregnant).
She didn't hassle me about payment whatsoever, and they are a wonderful family.
What I decided to do was to let dcb pick up an unscheduled day the next week, for free. I figured dcm had a lot to catch up on at work since she missed a few days.
Honestly, I felt it was a gesture of good will- they are so good to me, so what's an extra day of their wonderful kid when I'm already open and have space, kwim?

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My kids are young adults that don't live at home and even when they were younger, they just stayed home so I never had to experience this at all... but I don't view this as bending a rule, I view it as something that should be in place before the situation arises...kwim?

I think a provider needs to either not charge for services not provided or close WITH pay for this kind of thing. I just don't think its fair to give the parent a choice about attendance but no choice on payment.....that's where I am having an issue understanding.

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I have in my contract that fees are due 52 weeks per year....regardless. I have never had to close for my own sickness but I have closed a week per birth of my 2 children, a week when my dad passed and a few times for funerals, my brother's heart attacks, etc. I went to 52 weeks because of the hassle....got tired of " do I pay for this day but not this one" and clients take that too far if you let them. Just my two cents

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I think contract should clearly state one way or the other!

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My contract says I get 5 paid sick days per year. It also specifically says that if I go over that amount, I will credit their account for that closed day.

I also specifically discuss my sick policy for myself, my own kids, and daycare kids before enrollment so parents aren't taken by surprise when the situation arises, as let's face it...kids get sick!

I haven't had a problem with my current families so far. They keep their kids home when they are sick and don't try to push it as they would rather their kids recover quickly at home than drag it out by sending them to daycare and potentially be termed.

On the other hand, if I am sick I either tough it out or, more recently, I close early...parents like this as it gives them more time to work.

If my kids are sick, I close. I don't give the parents a choice for a couple of reasons.

One is that they can't honestly tell work that they have to stay home with their child because they are sick or daycare is closed...their boss is much less understanding if they keep their kid home as a precaution rather than for a more solid reason...such as a daycare closure or illness. If I text them and tell them I am closed, their boss is more willing to excuse the absence.

A second reason is I'd much rather focus on my kids when they are sick...they are both young and can't really be separated while still providing adequate supervision for everyone. Plus they just want mommy.

Another very important reason is that the parents don't feel like I am trying to sneak in extra paid sick days. It would be like them trying to sneak in their sick kids.

It is super important to thoroughly discuss your policies with parents up front and consider what works for your business when dealing with unforeseen circumstances. If you're too inflexible, you'll lose families...too flexible and they'll walk all over you. You gotta find that happy medium.

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Thank you to everyone for their replies. I will definitely be redoing my policy hb.

As I stated above, it states in my contract that they are paying for a spot and unless I close, payment is due.

That seems pretty clear to me, but like I said, I will be rewriting to make it more clear and specific.

But, today, in my position now: do you think I have offered a fair compromise?

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It's tough to cover everything.

If you are happy and parents are happy then it sounds like it worked out.

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I think you offered a fair compromise. If it is your contract, they agreed to it, so hopefully they realize you are helping them out by compromising on your policy. If not, then I would just remind them it is in your contract and they agreed to it, so they can either pay for both days or take your offer and pay for one

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I feel as though they are not happy still...

They replied saying "yea but we brought DCk to u last time and DCk and our whole family got sick"

I responded saying "unfortunately that's the risk you take when your child goes to do or school. All of the families have exposed the other families to sickness at some point. It happens. I apologize for any inconvenience it caused u, it has inconvenienced me as well"

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You handled this well! I think your compromise was good.
I think you should point out that you DID compromise already and that your contract does specify that if you are open there is a charge.

If they push the issue, I would simply say that they already agreed to the policy and that you will be amending the policy for FUTURE occurrences but this particular incident is not up for further discussion.

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I would let them know that illness is an unfortunate part of group care and since your business is in your home, it may affect daycare availability at times, but per our contract, you have agreed to pay your fee even when X, Y, Z happens. If this situtaion no longer works for you, I understand and we can discuss your future plans with my daycare at our next meeting. or something similar.

And if you plan to change your policy, then let her know. Just say, starting in "month", I will no longer charge for days when you do not attend due to an illness in my family.

Your NEW fee starting "same month", will be X amount of dollars. (If they question the rate change, just say you are trying to make your policies easier for working parents, but also secure your own income.) Then give them the choice to stay or not and if they stay, they must follow your current offer in compromise and pay.

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