So You Stay Open If ...

You only have one child for the day?

No one else showed up so I have one kid who is board and has no one to play with.

[Blackcat31]

I do as all my families pay for the full week, regardless of attendance 52 weeks a year so even if only one child is in attendance, I am being paid for all of them.

[Gemma]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

You only have one child for the day?

No one else showed up so I have one kid who is board and has no one to play with.

I do stay open for just one child. I don't lose anything since I charge full time no matter what, and I can plan the day making it special for the little one that's all alone

[Sunshine69]

Yup. If they’re full-time kids paying for their spot, absolutely.

If it’s just one drop-in kid, No.

[Cat Herder]

Yes.

They also pay the full rate when they are not here.

Fair is fair.

[e.j.]

I'm a 'yes", too. It's important to me that dc parents view me as a reliable provider. I think the fact that I'm as reliable as I am helps parents to be more understanding when I have to close due to illness or unavoidable situations like jury duty, family emergencies, etc.

It can be hard to keep a single child from getting bored, though. It can make for a long day for both of us.

[Jupadia]

Yes. I am only allowed 5 kids max. My kids use to be included in my ratios before they where 6 and 4 (age for my kids counting changed btween kids). So if my enrollment was low (or kids out sick), and my kids where at school and going nanas for the day I sometimes ended up with only 1 kid. No way did I close just because I had 1 kid. I did change our routine a bit these days. For example I'd bring the daycare kid upstairs and let them play in my kids room while I did a vacuuming up there or another chore.

[Josiegirl]

It's a business. Unless it was an emergency closing(sickness, etc.) or planned(vacation, day off) I always stayed open. Yeh, it kind of is a pain just having one child but you have to look on the bright side. I always took that opportunity to do something special with them.

No, but it's in my contract. I don't babysit (one child) and I don't take children in certain weather (not getting stuck over night).

[Snowmom]

Yes, unless it's bad weather. Then I sometimes opt to close.

[Meeko]

I'm being paid for all of them regardless.
However, I DO let parents know that although I am open, their child will be alone for the day. Then it's up to them.

[CountryRoads]

I stay open...but I don't like it lol BUT, I get paid regardless and I like to have a reputation as being reliable. It also RARELY happens.

Like pp said, I also let the dcp know (if I know ahead of time), that their child will be the only one here.

A small rant - I had it happen last year and I let dcm know that it would only be me and dcg the next day. She offered to keep her home since her older siblings could watch her and so I could spend time with my own kids. I left it up to her. I really thought she would keep her home, but no. Showed up the next morning with a stack of work for me to do with her "since she's the only one". Um, NO THANKS We did a "free day" and I got some housework done

Logged out for privacy.

So, I just had this situation come up. I only had one family scheduled for Friday, but they will be out of town, so I have no kids on Friday!

THEN, the child who was supposed to be gone all week, and who dcp told me would be staying home on Friday (since dcd isn't working), showed up today. I asked dcp if dck would be coming on Friday, and dcd said he didn't know, but maybe. I let him know that she would be the only one here, so I just wanted to make sure if I was going to have kids or not. He said if dcg was the only one, he would keep her home. He said this reluctantly.

Should I still charge that family? Everyone else is out of town, but for some reason I feel like I shouldn't charge them because I'm betting dcg would be here if I didn't say she would be the only one. But, I did ask, I didn't say that she couldn't come. Thoughts?

[Blackcat31]

If they weren’t on the schedule for the whole week already I wouldn’t have allied the to just show up today without prior approval. Payment guarantees a spot but a schedule of planned attendance is still required. I don’t allow changes unless it’s an emergency type situation or if they discussed the change with me prior to the change. Short notice schedule changes aren’t something I accommodate easily.

If I were you I’d charge as you normally do (don’t know if you charge for off days) but I’d tell the latent you are t available on Friday and it’s not an option for them to attend due to their own schedule

Originally Posted by Blackcat31

If they weren’t on the schedule for the whole week already I wouldn’t have allied the to just show up today without prior approval. Payment guarantees a spot but a schedule of planned attendance is still required. I don’t allow changes unless it’s an emergency type situation or if they discussed the change with me prior to the change. Short notice schedule changes aren’t something I accommodate easily.

If I were you I’d charge as you normally do (don’t know if you charge for off days) but I’d tell the latent you are t available on Friday and it’s not an option for them to attend due to their own schedule

Thanks!

I do charge regardless of attendance if I'm open. This family pays for 5 day a week care. I am open on Friday, but won't have any kids in attendance. I gave dcd the option, so I'll still charge since he could have still brought her (I wouldn't of been happy lol), but he has the option. He said he would just keep her home so I can have a long weekend.

I may need to add something like that in my policy. I was shocked to see here show up today since I was told she was not going to be here. Now, I'm short for snack :/