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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>A Letter I WOULD Have Loved To Send...
Angelwings36 08:13 AM 04-20-2012
Dear ******* & ********,
I respect your decision to not enrol your son into my daycare and I hope that you are able to find a daycare that best suits your families needs. With that being said it is not good practice to commit in word to enrolling your child in a daycare one day and then pulling out the next and I will tell you why. A daycare provider is a business lady and the daycare is the business. When we interview potential clients for a space our initiative is to fill a space. A provider may schedule in 5 interviews in a week with the intentions of only enrolling one family, the family that best fits her daycare, personality and family life style. When the interviewing process has been completed the provider will then chose which family to enrol and let the other 4 families know that she is unable to accommodate them at this time. If a family choses a daycare and the provider choses a family and a commitment is made to sign paper work and a date scheduled to submit the appropriate fees for the space this gives the provider the notion that her space has been filled, at which time she would tell all other families she interviewed that she is not able to accommodate them at this time. If a family then decides the following day they no longer want the space that they committed in word to taking, the provider would have to start her interview process all over again.
I know you are a bran new family to the world of daycare and I understand that mistakes will be made along the way but one thing that you should try to understand going into the daycare realm is that respect for providers goes a very way long way. We, as providers, have a very busy, stressful and time consuming job. We not only tend to children 9-11 hours a day, 5 days a week, but we accommodate the parents, do the appropriate daily, weekly, monthly and yearly paper work, run the daycare errands, plan the daycare events and we INTERVIEW. Interviewing is like the overtime you would put in at work to finish a project. If a project at work was expected to take 5 hours from start until finish and you put in that 5 hours of overtime and were under the impression that the project was complete, then the next day you found out all your work was for nothing and you had to start all over again putting in another 5 hours of overtime, let me add UNPAID, how would you feel?
It will be a childcare provider who cares for you son 47.5 hours a week every week, while you work. When you look at all the time a childcare provider spends with your most prescious asset it might help you to understand why it's so very important to respect childcare providers in general for what they do. Without a childcare provider you, as a parent, would not be able to go to work everyday.
With that being said, I did NOT tell the other 2 families that I interviewed that I couldn't accommodate them yet as I always wait until the paper work and deposit are in hand before doing so. I will still be able to fill my space out of this week's interviewing. I just wanted you to know what your decision could have potentially meant for a childcare provider and the importance of thinking things through prior to committing to something verbally or in writing.
Best of Luck,
********
**This was the family that I had emailed yesterday about my concerns (red flags) and who told me yesterday they wanted the space and would drop off the paper work and deposit at 4:00pm today. I didn't send this email but I would have very much loved to have done so. I wanted to share it with all of the providers out there that have had the same thing happen to them in the past.
I respect your decision to not enrol your son into my daycare and I hope that you are able to find a daycare that best suits your families needs. With that being said it is not good practice to commit in word to enrolling your child in a daycare one day and then pulling out the next and I will tell you why. A daycare provider is a business lady and the daycare is the business. When we interview potential clients for a space our initiative is to fill a space. A provider may schedule in 5 interviews in a week with the intentions of only enrolling one family, the family that best fits her daycare, personality and family life style. When the interviewing process has been completed the provider will then chose which family to enrol and let the other 4 families know that she is unable to accommodate them at this time. If a family choses a daycare and the provider choses a family and a commitment is made to sign paper work and a date scheduled to submit the appropriate fees for the space this gives the provider the notion that her space has been filled, at which time she would tell all other families she interviewed that she is not able to accommodate them at this time. If a family then decides the following day they no longer want the space that they committed in word to taking, the provider would have to start her interview process all over again.
I know you are a bran new family to the world of daycare and I understand that mistakes will be made along the way but one thing that you should try to understand going into the daycare realm is that respect for providers goes a very way long way. We, as providers, have a very busy, stressful and time consuming job. We not only tend to children 9-11 hours a day, 5 days a week, but we accommodate the parents, do the appropriate daily, weekly, monthly and yearly paper work, run the daycare errands, plan the daycare events and we INTERVIEW. Interviewing is like the overtime you would put in at work to finish a project. If a project at work was expected to take 5 hours from start until finish and you put in that 5 hours of overtime and were under the impression that the project was complete, then the next day you found out all your work was for nothing and you had to start all over again putting in another 5 hours of overtime, let me add UNPAID, how would you feel?
It will be a childcare provider who cares for you son 47.5 hours a week every week, while you work. When you look at all the time a childcare provider spends with your most prescious asset it might help you to understand why it's so very important to respect childcare providers in general for what they do. Without a childcare provider you, as a parent, would not be able to go to work everyday.
With that being said, I did NOT tell the other 2 families that I interviewed that I couldn't accommodate them yet as I always wait until the paper work and deposit are in hand before doing so. I will still be able to fill my space out of this week's interviewing. I just wanted you to know what your decision could have potentially meant for a childcare provider and the importance of thinking things through prior to committing to something verbally or in writing.
Best of Luck,
********
**This was the family that I had emailed yesterday about my concerns (red flags) and who told me yesterday they wanted the space and would drop off the paper work and deposit at 4:00pm today. I didn't send this email but I would have very much loved to have done so. I wanted to share it with all of the providers out there that have had the same thing happen to them in the past.
Blackcat31 08:41 AM 04-20-2012
What happened? Last I read, the family (#2) were all ready to sign on and follow your rules and policies? They obviously backed out....what's the story? 
Angelwings36 08:53 AM 04-20-2012
So I sent the letter that I posted on here under my other thread (Sometimes I Suck At Making Decisions) to dcm yesterday her responses were:
1) In regards to self soothing to sleep:
I do not expect you to rock my boy to sleep. ***** is turning 8 months next week, and I do want to train him to sooth himself to sleep, but I also do understand it won't happen in a day.
2) In regards to only taking the children outside if it is -10C or warmer:
As a daycare provider, I believe you understand the kids and taking care of bunch of kids better than me (a first-time mom). As I sign the contract which mean I agree the conditions and terms on the contract.
3) In regards to holding her child each time he fusses:
**** is the only child at home and he plays by himself almost the whole day long by himself. That's why I'm taking him to the swimming class and other kind of programs so he has opportunity to social and play with other babies/kids, and play some different toys.
She also agreed to meet my 4:30pm closing time on Monday.
I then sent her an email to set up a time for her to drop off the paperwork, deposit and holding fees and she committed to doing so today at 4:00pm.
We exchanged one more set of emails about a part time transition in July and came to an agreement for that.
Then this morning I got an email from her stating:
Hi *****, thank you very much for offering us the spot at your daycare. Me and ******* had a long talk and careful consideration last night, we decided we are not taking the spot at your daycare.
Once again, we like to express our gratitude for the offer and our regrets that it didn't work for us.
You have best wishes for your continued sucesses.
Sincerely,
******
I'm going to assume that her husband was not as happy with the concerns I addressed as she was and that is why they backed out.
1) In regards to self soothing to sleep:
I do not expect you to rock my boy to sleep. ***** is turning 8 months next week, and I do want to train him to sooth himself to sleep, but I also do understand it won't happen in a day.
2) In regards to only taking the children outside if it is -10C or warmer:
As a daycare provider, I believe you understand the kids and taking care of bunch of kids better than me (a first-time mom). As I sign the contract which mean I agree the conditions and terms on the contract.
3) In regards to holding her child each time he fusses:
**** is the only child at home and he plays by himself almost the whole day long by himself. That's why I'm taking him to the swimming class and other kind of programs so he has opportunity to social and play with other babies/kids, and play some different toys.
She also agreed to meet my 4:30pm closing time on Monday.
I then sent her an email to set up a time for her to drop off the paperwork, deposit and holding fees and she committed to doing so today at 4:00pm.
We exchanged one more set of emails about a part time transition in July and came to an agreement for that.
Then this morning I got an email from her stating:
Hi *****, thank you very much for offering us the spot at your daycare. Me and ******* had a long talk and careful consideration last night, we decided we are not taking the spot at your daycare.
Once again, we like to express our gratitude for the offer and our regrets that it didn't work for us.
You have best wishes for your continued sucesses.
Sincerely,
******
I'm going to assume that her husband was not as happy with the concerns I addressed as she was and that is why they backed out.
wdmmom 09:24 AM 04-20-2012
Consider it a blessing in disguise. I never 'take a parents word for it'. Money talks. Ultimately it sounds like they know the deposit was not refundable so they backed out at the last second before they really lost out on anything. Personally, i think this family would have been more trouble than they would have been worth.
DaisyMamma 09:31 AM 04-20-2012
Originally Posted by wdmmom:
Consider it a blessing in disguise. I never 'take a parents word for it'. Money talks. Ultimately it sounds like they know the deposit was not refundable so they backed out at the last second before they really lost out on anything. Personally, i think this family would have been more trouble than they would have been worth.
It seriously sounds like you dodged a bullet. I bet you will find a better family for the spot.Consider it a blessing in disguise. I never 'take a parents word for it'. Money talks. Ultimately it sounds like they know the deposit was not refundable so they backed out at the last second before they really lost out on anything. Personally, i think this family would have been more trouble than they would have been worth.
And I agree. I do not consider a space filled until I have a deposit. Which is a sentence I need to remember to communicate during interviews myself.
I had an interview two weeks ago and the lady seemed like a perfect DCM, will pick up early everyday (earlier than others I mean) and seemed very laid back. She told me twice she wanted to use me starting June 11. Told me through email later she wanted to come here and has yet to send a check, so I'm still considering it an open spot. Money does talk.
Angelwings36 09:46 AM 04-20-2012
I guess I am just a little bit gullible because I would have assumed that when you schedule a date and time to drop off paperwork and fees that the parent is serious. Thankfully the July space is a space I had the OPTION of filling or not filling (didn't need it to meet this years financial goals). I did fill my May opening on Tuesday with a 3.5 year old girl Monday - Friday 8:30am - 4:30pm and all the paper work and fees were collected for that space on the same day.
After careful thought and consideration I have decided to leave my July space open for this year. Since I filled my May space with an older child that won't take much to transition in I figure I will just save myself the transitioning on the second space as well. So unless I have a client drop out I am out of the INTERVIEW REALM! A realm I very much hate being in!
After careful thought and consideration I have decided to leave my July space open for this year. Since I filled my May space with an older child that won't take much to transition in I figure I will just save myself the transitioning on the second space as well. So unless I have a client drop out I am out of the INTERVIEW REALM! A realm I very much hate being in!
Hunni Bee 10:25 AM 04-20-2012
A spot is not filled until it has been paid for.
A family came in May of last year with 3 kids. Mom and Dad both interviewed, then came back and filled out all the paperwork, brought the children's birth certificates and ss cards, and set up for the children to start the following Monday. Never heard from them again.
Now, nearly a year later....here they are trying to enroll the children again.
A family came in May of last year with 3 kids. Mom and Dad both interviewed, then came back and filled out all the paperwork, brought the children's birth certificates and ss cards, and set up for the children to start the following Monday. Never heard from them again.
Now, nearly a year later....here they are trying to enroll the children again.
littlemissmuffet 05:02 PM 04-20-2012
Unfortunately, people's word means very little these days. I let parents know during the interview that they need to fill the paperwork and provide holding fee and first month of fees in cash before the space is considered theirs... 99% will fill the paperwork and give the money right then and there. Those who have said they will get back to me "tomorrow" or "next week" are always outraged when they call to let me know they chose me... only to find out that I already filled the space. My income doesn't wait on parents to make decisions.
My favorite is parents who say "oh we have a few more interviews, we'll let you know" to which I always reply "I have a few more interviews too, how about I let YOU know?"
My favorite is parents who say "oh we have a few more interviews, we'll let you know" to which I always reply "I have a few more interviews too, how about I let YOU know?"
smb757 08:09 AM 04-25-2012
Ugh! I had something similar happen! It was an expecting mama. I'm not planning on filling to capacity, so fortunately not a spot I needed to have filled. But, when I emailed them, then said they changed their minds. I mean, it's their choice, but would have been nice to know when they made their decision!