My backbone is growing still & I do a pretty good job of asserting myself; however, this a.m. I blew it. DCF started a new temporary schedule this month. Basically the mom is almost ready to graduate from nursing school & this month she is shadowing a nurse. So she told me the hours she needed (& some days I will have her kids almost 11 hrs/day-roughly 2.5 hrs more than normal) so this week they are only coming 4 days but I charged for 5. She understood, I think! Today at drop -off she said I know you are not watchign the kids tomorrow but can SAG come in the morning & go to school with your kids? I WANTED to say but you didn't pay for care on Tuesday & I would prefer to sleep in rather than get up early to get SAG inside & breakfasted up, etc. My onw kids sleep in until 7:30 or so so her coming at 66:30/6:45 is a major deal IMO. That was what I wanted to say but what I said was, well she can come but she will have to ride the bus (meaning she will not be here as long). I'm mad at myself for allowing it - how can I ask for pay for this or backpedal out of it?

I meant for the title to read "How" not Hoe!!! :-)

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You are charging her for Tuesday and she is asking for an hour of care on Tuesday, which you said you'd allow. I don't see anything to do but watch her child.

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Tell her that you made tentative plans but hadn't heard back so you weren't for sure. Tell her you have to take a friend to the doctor and she'll need a driver so you won't be able to watch SAG after all. I would text this to her shortly though so she has enough time to find someone else.

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I would say something like "Since I am caring for x last minute and pay has already been made for this week, you can just add ***$$$ onto next weeks fee. Or something like that.

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NO, I do contracted hours so she is not paying for Tuesday - that was to be my day off. I charged her for 5 days because the amount of hours altogether was still going to be about 43 hrs for 4 days of care. so she doesn't just get a freebie on Tuesday, that day was supposed to be the day I am off.

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I would do it because you already said you would. Require payment for the hour or whatever and now you know, think carefully before agreeing to things last minute.

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Just tell her that you thought about it after talking to her and you aren't going to be able to do it after all. It's none of her business why. Tell her right away though, to give her enough notice to find somewhere else for her daughter to go in the morning.

Just remember, if you do that "just this once", it'll become more and more often until it's all the time. Backbone!!

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One good rule to follow is to always answer with "Let me think about it and I will get back to you" This allows you time to absorb everything.

Being as you do contracted days, maybe next time you should consider having her pay for her 4 days plus overtime and then when she or anyone else requests extra time on an extra day you can charge for the full day?

I know it sucks, but you agreed already so I think you should follow through, however, you have every right and should, request additional payment for the morning.

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maybe I am not understanding ....

Did you charge her for 43 hours or 5 full days?

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I think you should watch DCG in morning because you said that you would.

When you say "yes" when you really mean "no".....it fertilizes the growth of your backbone.

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This is true....I always say "let me check my calendar and I will get back to you."

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I love this and wish I could have it tattooed on the inside of my eyelids.

Answering too quickly has gotten me into trouble more times than I can remember so far in this business.

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Thank you for your advice. I like the "let me think about it & get back to you". I will have to use that. I have been so good about enforcing rules, etc that I could kick myself but live & learn, right? I will just go ahead & do it but I might be tempted to ask them to give me an extra $5.00

Regarding the hours, I don't charge by the hour but since her kids are typically here for about 8 - 8.5 contracted hrs a day/5 days a week we decided (well, I did) that it was only fair that since she only needed me 3-4 days a week that she pay extra on the days she was here since it was going to be a much longer day - 11 hr days (I don't have open/close hours. . . I base the amount I chrage on how many hours they are here & our previous fee was based on 8-8.5 hr days - I felt I was entitled to more since it was a much longer day) so I had given the mom her hours she had requested a week or so ago with how much I would charge for the specific days/hours she requested. So I charged her a higher amount but it was still for 4 full days of care - no care was to be provided on Tues. Hope that makes sense.

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I need to do that too!

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I read it a few time and while I think I understand what you are saying in this post. Your first post said that you charged for five days when they were only goign to be there for four. Maybe this is why the Mom thought is was ok to ask for a few extra hours? I do think you should charge more per day if the hours are longer and the number a days per week decreased. You may been to put it all in writing and sign a new contract to everyone can see what is expected hours/fee

My families who only use four days pay the full time rate. On any occasion they need care for any part of 5th day they are welcome to it. They pay for it and the spot is open so they are allowed to use it anytime.

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I only have 1 family. . . I did charge her based on what we normally charge for a 5 day week but when she gave me her hours for this month she asked me to give it back to her & let her know how much she would pay each week based on the days she needed. . . she knew it would be longer days so she expected to pay a higher fee per day despite the fact that they would only be here 3 or 4 days a week. When I returned her paperwork to her I noted the days/hours she needed & told her how much I would charge & I did mention that if she needed more than what was originally listed she would have to pay more.

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I get myself stuck in these kind of situations all the time. I say that you have to go through with it. Just be a woman of your word this time and follow through with it.

However, explain to her that this is just a favor and that if she needs you again in the future that you will require a 48 hour advance notice and a fee of $*** will be charged. Also let her know that even with pay that you will not always be avilable to assist her needs. Unless she wants to add this in to her contract with extra pay...Of course you also would have to be willing to do this...

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i agree with daycare- I think since you agreed to it, you should honor what you said.

BUT, I would let her know you were doing this as a favor to her and the next time there would be a $5 charge if it fit into your schedule.

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This is great advise and I will take that for myself thank u!!

Now it's just a matter of remembering it when put on the spot.

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