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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Question for Unlicensed Daycare?
Denise 06:57 AM 06-07-2012
Hello!
I am a SAHM in So Cal and I babysit two children (one family) during the day in my home.
I am NOT a licensed daycare home (California does not require a daycare license if you are only caring for the children of one family plus your own or relatives) and am VERY new to caring for children (who aren't my own, family, or close friends).
This family is a military family and the mom and the children are VERY sweet. They signed up with me and I began caring for them about two and a half weeks ago. When we began, we agreed to hours of 7am-6pm and a pay of about $3/hour. It seemed a little low to me (not sure what you charge) but since I am not a licensed provider, I felt like the mom was justified in requesting a lower rate.
In the 2 1/2 weeks that I have been watching these (AMAZING) kids, DCD has been LATE picking them up 7 times.
I'm not talking like a few minutes, he shows up around 6:30 or 6:40. He says that it is because he works so far away and gets off at 5:00 and with traffic... he just can't get there any sooner. When he picked them up late last time, he said, "I didn't make you late for anything, right?" and when I answered no, he replied, "Oh okay then." -___-
I am super non-confrontational and we really need the money BUT... I feel like he is taking advantage of me. I'm thinking about talking to the mom about it (she is the one who set the hours, discussed pay rate, tells me about what's going on with the kids, etc.,) but before I do, I wanted to get some opinions. I was thinking about offering her a couple solutions: #1, we change the pick up time from 6pm to 7pm and I will charge an extra $20/week OR I can keep the weekly rate the same and start charging $10 every time he is late more than 10 minutes.
The reason this family came to me is because their old daycare provider dropped off/picked up one of the children from school everyday. There was a car accident (no kids were in the car and no one was hurt, thank goodness) and her car was inoperable for a while so DCM brought the kids to me. My fear is that if I try to charge late fees or charge an extra $20/week, the family will go back to the old daycare provider since it is now summer and they won't need her to drive to/from school. :/ Like I said, we could really use the money so I don't want to do anything that will make me lose this account BUT at the same time, I don't want to be taken advantage of.
What are your thoughts...?
I am a SAHM in So Cal and I babysit two children (one family) during the day in my home.
I am NOT a licensed daycare home (California does not require a daycare license if you are only caring for the children of one family plus your own or relatives) and am VERY new to caring for children (who aren't my own, family, or close friends).
This family is a military family and the mom and the children are VERY sweet. They signed up with me and I began caring for them about two and a half weeks ago. When we began, we agreed to hours of 7am-6pm and a pay of about $3/hour. It seemed a little low to me (not sure what you charge) but since I am not a licensed provider, I felt like the mom was justified in requesting a lower rate.
In the 2 1/2 weeks that I have been watching these (AMAZING) kids, DCD has been LATE picking them up 7 times.
I'm not talking like a few minutes, he shows up around 6:30 or 6:40. He says that it is because he works so far away and gets off at 5:00 and with traffic... he just can't get there any sooner. When he picked them up late last time, he said, "I didn't make you late for anything, right?" and when I answered no, he replied, "Oh okay then." -___-I am super non-confrontational and we really need the money BUT... I feel like he is taking advantage of me. I'm thinking about talking to the mom about it (she is the one who set the hours, discussed pay rate, tells me about what's going on with the kids, etc.,) but before I do, I wanted to get some opinions. I was thinking about offering her a couple solutions: #1, we change the pick up time from 6pm to 7pm and I will charge an extra $20/week OR I can keep the weekly rate the same and start charging $10 every time he is late more than 10 minutes.
The reason this family came to me is because their old daycare provider dropped off/picked up one of the children from school everyday. There was a car accident (no kids were in the car and no one was hurt, thank goodness) and her car was inoperable for a while so DCM brought the kids to me. My fear is that if I try to charge late fees or charge an extra $20/week, the family will go back to the old daycare provider since it is now summer and they won't need her to drive to/from school. :/ Like I said, we could really use the money so I don't want to do anything that will make me lose this account BUT at the same time, I don't want to be taken advantage of.
What are your thoughts...?