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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Extended Hours Feedback
blessed mom 08:42 AM 02-06-2013
Ok, I need some feedback please. I have a single mom who needed some extended hours. One to two days a week she needs care til 7pm instead of til 6pm when I close. I was willing to do it, and mom is ok with hubby being here for that last hour if I had an appointment. The child is two and I have had her since she was 8 months old. I usually end up giving her a bath and then feeding her dinner. She is so sad that everyone is gone and she is just waiting for mom so I started giving her a bath and it helped mom and kept the child busy and happy for that last bit of time. She is also occasionally late stopping at the bank or traffic...up to about 30 minutes. We agreed on $30 extra per week for this extra time.

However, now mom is bringing her on her day off. So one week I had her for 65 hours, not including her late time!! I had a talk with mom and she was willing to pay more if she went over 45 hours, not including her late days because she was already paying extra for that. Normally I charge an extra $25 per week if you are over 45 hours. Last week she had someone come pick her child up early on one day so she didn't go over. This week the child was here on her day off for eight hours, and today will be a 12 hour day. So my question is how much extra should I charge for going over the 45 hour week rule when I already have her paying $30 extra per week for leaving the child late a few days each week. Stay with the $25 rate? Seems like a lot, and I don't want to loose the child but at the same time I want to discourage leaving her here for so many hours.
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canadiancare 09:03 AM 02-06-2013
I say if you want to keep this child and work the extra hours you need to renegotiate your terms with the mother- in writing. Tell her that the original agreement was based on X amount of hours/days and you need to know exactly what your schedule with this child will look like to plan your daycare numbers.
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cheerfuldom 09:13 AM 02-06-2013
since you asked for an opinion, i would never keep a child for 65 hours a week especially when a significant portion of this, the mom could be taking care of her. this is just outrageous to me. to be gone from a child so young and gone for so long (basically almost all of her waking hours) to me is definitely neglect and I would have no part of it. I offer up to 50 hours a week, period.

If you are willing to do more but not as much as this mom wants, you need to charge more so she has incentive to keep her daughter home....although it is soooo sad that a parent needs an "incentive" to spend time with a child.

I would do one flat weekly fee for up to 45 hours of care, your usual weekly fee. Then I would charge $5 per hour for time above that. That will start totalling up fast. The mom does not "need" 65 hours of care. You said she is regularly late to pickup and sends her child to daycare when she is home anyway so she should easily be able to stay close to 55 hours if not less.
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MarinaVanessa 09:36 AM 02-06-2013
The only way to discourage DCM from leaving her child in your DC for more than what you are willing to care for the child is to either not allow it and say that you simply won't do it or you charge premium prices for the extra hours like you've been doing with the extra hour you stay open for her.

For example: I charge a flat weekly rate for both FT and PT and then I have the option of drop-in care at a daily rate or an hourly rate. Both FT and PT are very specific as to how many hours the fee covers.

FT is 4-5 days a week, no more than 50 hours a week and no more than 10 hours per day.
PT is no more than 3 days a week, no more than 30 hours a week and no more than 10 hours per day.

Both are based on CONTRACTED DAYS AND SCHEDULE.

Any time beyond their contracted hours is charged at my drop-in hourly rate, any extra days they need beyond what they are contracted for is charged at my daily drop-in rate. Any time that is before or after my opening or closing time is charged at my hourly drop-in rate (if they contacted me before and I agreed to do it) etc. Any time that they are late and did not discuss it with me is charged $5 for every 15 minutes (or part thereof).

So for example based on the assumption that your client is with you FT 4 days a week with 2 days a week needing an extra hour beyond my closing time (overtime), she was late 30 minutes to pick up (picked up at 7:30pm) because of traffic and she needed to bring her for an extra day (her day off) this is what I would charge her (based on my rates):

4 days a week is still FT so $160 per week.
2 hours a week of overtime $10 per week.
30 minutes late to pick up $10
1 extra day added.......... $40
......................................$220 for that week

Of course you would charge her based on what your rates are but I would definitely charge her more for the extra drop-in day unless she regularly needed the day in which I would have her sign a new contract with her new schedule. You need to make is so that leaving her for so many extra hours is not worth her while and she is turned off of wanting to leave her for so many hours per week.
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EntropyControlSpecialist 10:00 AM 02-06-2013
Why are you not doing a late fee? $1.00/minute.
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Willow 10:07 AM 02-06-2013
I agree with cheerful.

There is no amount of money that would be worth doing such a thing to me.
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boysx5 10:31 AM 02-06-2013
Originally Posted by Willow:
I agree with cheerful.

There is no amount of money that would be worth doing such a thing to me.
I agree
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blessed mom 11:12 AM 02-06-2013
It is very sad that mom leaves her for so long. I get that doing chores and errands with a toddler is hard but that is part of being a mom! I don't mind helping for an extra hour twice a week for the agreed amount but dropping her off when it's just convenient and not working is taking advantage. Since mom said she was willing to pay more for it because she didn't want to "take advantage" I just had to get some feedback to see if I was on track with how I feel about this. In the end I don't mind having her here, but not at the same rate. Emotions have definitely played in this. I have had her child since 8 months and well...of course I love her and feel sorry for her being left when mom isn't working. I seriously need to utilize this site more often. I wish there was a working mobile app! I really appreciate all your feedback! Thank you!
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countrymom 11:34 AM 02-06-2013
I think you need to draw up a new contract outlining mom's hours. Maybe if she saw it on paper it may click in too. And thats alot of hours for a child to be at someones house. But this is where you need contract hours, what does mom do for a living that she needs so many hours.
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blessed mom 02:33 PM 02-06-2013
Originally Posted by countrymom:
I think you need to draw up a new contract outlining mom's hours. Maybe if she saw it on paper it may click in too. And thats alot of hours for a child to be at someones house. But this is where you need contract hours, what does mom do for a living that she needs so many hours.
Mom commutes an hour and a half to work, and she is a store manager so she has to close sometimes. My contracted time is $160 for up to 44 hours. 45 plus is extended care and $25 more a week. Since she needs the extra one hour and that cuts into my family time one or two times a week I charged her $30 per week. That is me staying past my hours of operation. Also covers her if she is a little late due to traffic or stopping at the bank to pay me. A little late is up to 15 minutes. Bringing her child on her day off is pushing it into a lot of hours unless she get someone to pick up early. Often she says she will come early on her day off but doesn't.
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Blackcat31 03:11 PM 02-06-2013
If I were in your shoes I would charge her for an 8 hour day and bill her overtime for anything beyond the 8 hours.

For example, charge her $25 for an 8 hour day and then charge her double for any hours beyond the 8 she needs.

I would also really encourage her to spend her day off with her child and let her know you already feel the amount of time the child spends in care is long so spending her day off with her child will help her stay connected to her.

I would also really push her for exact hours. She can stop at the bank or do eerrands AFTER she picks up her child. If you originally agreed to give her an extra hour after you close, stick to that hour ONLY and don't allow even 5 extra minutes.

In my opinion, I think it is fine to do "special" as long as YOU set and enforce the boundaries and don't let the parent take advantage or slip through the cracks trying to squeeze a little bit more out of you.

You can still give her a 45 hour max per week but I would definitely stop allowing her to leave the child when she is off work.
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kitykids3 04:18 PM 02-06-2013
I agree with previous posters that I would not be watching a child for that long, 60/65 hours a week. I think even 50 hours is too much for such a little one to be in daycare.
After 47.5 hours (9.5 per day) I charge $6 per hour to try and discourage it. I would not be staying open that late, but if you want to, that's your choice.

Why does she need to stop at the bank, run errands etc. in the evening making her a little late when she now drops dck off on her day off. Doesn't she run her errands then? If not, why is she dropping dck off with you on her day off??

Maybe leave the rates as you have, plus the $30 for the 2 evenings, but the days she's 'a little late,' charge her. I charge $5 per 15 minute increment they are past their contracted hours (late). Then, for her days off that she wants to have you watch dck, charge crazy per hour rates, like $7 per hour.

If you really don't want to, just give her a maximum limit of hours per week she can have, no matter what, like 55. Either way, write up a contract based on your new decision and have her sign it. Poor kiddo.
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countrymom 05:27 PM 02-06-2013
I just can't get over that she is driving an hour and a half for work, she must be making alot of money if you factor in all the costs. To me, thats a bit ridiculous. I would charge like this

9.5 hours is 30 dollars anything after those hours is 5 dollars a half hour. You need to remember its cutting into YOUR family time, which by the sounds of it, she really doesn't care.
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blessed mom 06:15 AM 02-07-2013
She does cut into my family time two days a week, but I agreed to do this for the extra $30.00. It's only an hour over, and I can use the money. Normally she is closer to 45 hours a week but lately she's been bringing her on her day off to get "stuff done" and I just want to make sure that if she is over I am being reasonable in charging her. She's a single mom trying to work and do the right thing, and she doesn't have much help. I can respect that but her child needs time with her, even if it's a pain to do chores while the little one is running around. I get that...I do it every day with a bunch of them! Ha ha! I want to encourage mom to stay home with her child, and if not then at least I am being compensated a reasonable rate. Thanks guys, you have been VERY helpful!!!
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