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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Evening/Weekend Care
busymommy0420 07:34 PM 01-30-2012
I have been operating Monday-Friday 7:30am-6:00pm solely since I opened. I decided to offer evening and weekend care to help make some extra money but was worried I wouldn't have any takers. I had one DCG Saturday overnight into Sunday last weekend and have a different DCG Friday night this week. I was kind of surprised because the two familes use my daycare fulltime but am grateful for the business. The DCG (3) that slept over last weekend slept from 8:30pm-9:30am here. Daily her parents tell me she is up to 11pm or later, so it made me feel good that she slept well for me. 
Does anyone else do evening/weekend care? If so what do you charge? I am doing it for an hourly rate with no charge for sleeping hours (8:30pm-8:30am) if overnight care is offered. It is nice because I can claim meals for the children cared for during weekend care including my three!
**We are doing a 550 sq ft addition on our home, so I am trying to save money to help with the costs. (Just paid $600 to the architect.)
Does anyone else do evening/weekend care? If so what do you charge? I am doing it for an hourly rate with no charge for sleeping hours (8:30pm-8:30am) if overnight care is offered. It is nice because I can claim meals for the children cared for during weekend care including my three!**We are doing a 550 sq ft addition on our home, so I am trying to save money to help with the costs. (Just paid $600 to the architect.)
Mary Poppins 08:26 PM 01-30-2012
Originally Posted by busymommy0420:
I have been operating Monday-Friday 7:30am-6:00pm solely since I opened. I decided to offer evening and weekend care to help make some extra money but was worried I wouldn't have any takers. I had one DCG Saturday overnight into Sunday last weekend and have a different DCG Friday night this week. I was kind of surprised because the two familes use my daycare fulltime but am grateful for the business. The DCG (3) that slept over last weekend slept from 8:30pm-9:30am here. Daily her parents tell me she is up to 11pm or later, so it made me feel good that she slept well for me. Does anyone else do evening/weekend care? If so what do you charge? I am doing it for an hourly rate with no charge for sleeping hours (8:30pm-8:30am) if overnight care is offered. It is nice because I can claim meals for the children cared for during weekend care including my three!
**We are doing a 550 sq ft addition on our home, so I am trying to save money to help with the costs. (Just paid $600 to the architect.)
I don't offer it, but I am curious why you don't charge during the hours they are sleeping? You are still "on duty" and should be compensated, I would think? Or do you charge a higher hourly rate during waking hours than normal?I have been operating Monday-Friday 7:30am-6:00pm solely since I opened. I decided to offer evening and weekend care to help make some extra money but was worried I wouldn't have any takers. I had one DCG Saturday overnight into Sunday last weekend and have a different DCG Friday night this week. I was kind of surprised because the two familes use my daycare fulltime but am grateful for the business. The DCG (3) that slept over last weekend slept from 8:30pm-9:30am here. Daily her parents tell me she is up to 11pm or later, so it made me feel good that she slept well for me.
Does anyone else do evening/weekend care? If so what do you charge? I am doing it for an hourly rate with no charge for sleeping hours (8:30pm-8:30am) if overnight care is offered. It is nice because I can claim meals for the children cared for during weekend care including my three!**We are doing a 550 sq ft addition on our home, so I am trying to save money to help with the costs. (Just paid $600 to the architect.)
Beach Baby 09:35 PM 01-30-2012
I agree...I think you should be charged for the sleeping hours, even if you wanted to charge a little less per hour. You are still on duty, and still caring for that child, even if you are both sleeping. Would you mind sharing how much you charge? I have offered evening hours, but I have only been watching kids on an as needed basis. Daycare will be opening very soon and then I will only do evenings and weekends when I feel up to it.
GretasLittleFriends 06:24 AM 01-31-2012
I used to offer 24/7 services. I am slowly working on getting my weekends back to my family now. I will still take existing customers on weekends, but no new ones. I charge hourly. I do not lower the hourly charge if the child is sleeping at night, just like you wouldn't lower the rate during nap time. 
SilverSabre25 06:41 AM 01-31-2012
I would charge at least your normal daily rate for an overnight, maybe set specific hours....are you including dinner? A bedtime snack? Breakfast?
TBird 07:26 AM 01-31-2012
Originally Posted by busymommy0420:
**We are doing a 550 sq ft addition on our home, so I am trying to save money to help with the costs. (Just paid $600 to the architect.)
Been there!!! Doing daycare in my addition now. Not to scare you but you'll also be saving for those little 'incidentals' that always seem to pop up every 5 minutes, so let the saving begin!!!**We are doing a 550 sq ft addition on our home, so I am trying to save money to help with the costs. (Just paid $600 to the architect.)
Countrygal 12:42 PM 01-31-2012
We cannot be open any longer than 16 hours in our state.
I do offer weekend and evening hours. I'm open 5:30 am to 9:30pm. Ironically, I have only gotten responses for the weekend hours, noone for eves yet.
If we COULD do overnights, I would definitely do a charge, but I would do a flat rate for sleeping hours. Prolly around $15.00. And regular rate up to that point.
I do not charge any different for evening or weekend at this point. Our daycare programs (state) do not pay any more than for weekdays. I may in the future consider charging more, I don't know.
I do offer weekend and evening hours. I'm open 5:30 am to 9:30pm. Ironically, I have only gotten responses for the weekend hours, noone for eves yet.
If we COULD do overnights, I would definitely do a charge, but I would do a flat rate for sleeping hours. Prolly around $15.00. And regular rate up to that point.
I do not charge any different for evening or weekend at this point. Our daycare programs (state) do not pay any more than for weekdays. I may in the future consider charging more, I don't know.
busymommy0420 03:03 PM 01-31-2012
My daily rate is $32, this is for a 10.5 hour day (7:30-6:00) my normal operating hours. I am asking for $5.00 an hour for evening care/weekend care. I figured no charge while they sleep with sticking to my children's bed schedule of bedtime 8:00pm to 8:00am which would then leave 12 hours (8am-8pm) of care at $5.00 an hour totaling $60.00 (almost twice my daily rate) that is why I did not add in sleeping hours because who could afford that? I think this is a fair price for care.
~My first overnight was last Saturday, we took the DCG (3) to Disney on Ice with us and had the parents pay for her ticket.
~My first overnight was last Saturday, we took the DCG (3) to Disney on Ice with us and had the parents pay for her ticket.
MarinaVanessa 03:10 PM 01-31-2012
I offer evening and weekend care but not overnight. I'd have to be awake during the hours that the kids were sleeping, either that or have an assistant do it (as per licensing, can't sleep on the job ... not even during nap-time).
The only takers I get during the week is Fridays usually for date nights, sometimes I have parents take night classes and they ask for evening hours a few night a week. Mostly I get takers on weekends. Sometimes parents have to work extra hours or they get invited to the occasional wedding or adult party and no kids are allowed.
I charge a flat $5 per hour fee for evenings and weekends. The evening/weekend rate starts at 6pm Monday-Friday and on Saturday and Sundays it's all day. I also have a 4 minimu of 4 hours paid, meaning that the child has to be in care for a minimum of 4 hours or I at least get paid the $20 minimum even they aren't. If a client already has a child here during the day those hours count towards the 4 hour minimum. Overall it works great for me. They just have to understand that evening and weekend care is not a typical day. We'll watch movies, go on errands etc. The kids will do whatever my family and I do. It's much less structured.
The only takers I get during the week is Fridays usually for date nights, sometimes I have parents take night classes and they ask for evening hours a few night a week. Mostly I get takers on weekends. Sometimes parents have to work extra hours or they get invited to the occasional wedding or adult party and no kids are allowed.
I charge a flat $5 per hour fee for evenings and weekends. The evening/weekend rate starts at 6pm Monday-Friday and on Saturday and Sundays it's all day. I also have a 4 minimu of 4 hours paid, meaning that the child has to be in care for a minimum of 4 hours or I at least get paid the $20 minimum even they aren't. If a client already has a child here during the day those hours count towards the 4 hour minimum. Overall it works great for me. They just have to understand that evening and weekend care is not a typical day. We'll watch movies, go on errands etc. The kids will do whatever my family and I do. It's much less structured.