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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Need To Take A Personal Day- Tomorrow- How To Approach DCP?
2ndmom2many 11:07 AM 02-22-2012
I need some advice. I need to take a pesonal day tomorrow. I have never taken off unless I am very ill/contageous without notice. And this is not something (a topic) I want to discuss with them. How would you approach the dc parents? Thanks for any suggestions you can give
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familyschoolcare 11:09 AM 02-22-2012
simply say for a varity of reason most/all of which are out of my control and personal I will have to take tommorow off.
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JenNJ 11:09 AM 02-22-2012
Send an email right now.

Dear DCP,

I am sorry for the short notice, but I will be closed tomorrow for a personal day.

Thank You,

***XX
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daycare 11:11 AM 02-22-2012
I agree, email now and just let them all know that due to circumstances out of your control that you will need to close tomorrow.

hope that everything is ok with you and your family

DO parents have to pay you for tomorrow? If not, I would also bring that up...


Also, is it something that could wait just one more day? Sorry I had to ask
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2ndmom2many 11:28 AM 02-22-2012
Yes, we are ok but no, it cannot wait. It can not be done before or after work and must be taken care of immediately.
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saved4always 11:32 AM 02-22-2012
I would email as everyone suggested and just tell them you have a family or personal matter you need to take care of and need to close; maybe tell them you are sorry for it being such short notice and thanking them in advance for thier understanding (I always put that in my notes to dcp's, kid's teachers, etc. I feel like if I assume they will be understanding, that they will be ). Then, I would follow up with a written note to the parents at pick up just saying the same thing as a reminder.
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2ndmom2many 11:38 AM 02-22-2012
I have sick days and vacation days paid. But no, I will not be charging for this as I am not "sick/contagious" and I give at least 4 months notice for vacation. I don't feel it's fair to charge if I am not genuinely ill. If I ever need off for appointments I schedule them well in advance and do as many as I can in that one day and usually it isn't even a whole day. Usually, it's late afternoon or open at 9am-9:30am. So this is out of the norm and all my parents have been with me for at least 1 1/2. They all know this. I just feel bad about having to do it.
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Crazy8 12:04 PM 02-22-2012
Originally Posted by 2ndmom2many:
I have sick days and vacation days paid. But no, I will not be charging for this as I am not "sick/contagious" and I give at least 4 months notice for vacation. I don't feel it's fair to charge if I am not genuinely ill. If I ever need off for appointments I schedule them well in advance and do as many as I can in that one day and usually it isn't even a whole day. Usually, it's late afternoon or open at 9am-9:30am. So this is out of the norm and all my parents have been with me for at least 1 1/2. They all know this. I just feel bad about having to do it.
I am the same as you - I rarely ever close. But that hopefully means they will be even more understanding - I know my parents would be and they paid me for the day when I insisted they didn't need to.

I would have a note ready for them when they go home today as well. I know short and simple is the usual answer but I would include that thisis unavoidable and agree with another poster who mentioned thanking them for their understanding in advance.
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wdmmom 01:02 PM 02-22-2012
I got a call last Monday that I could get in and see my doctor on Tuesday due to a cancellation. Because it was a minor surgery/office procedure and was told it could take 3 hours, I opted to close.

I notified all my families by 12pm that Monday. Everyone was understanding, allowed me to take Valentine's Day off and in exchange we just did our party that Wednesday.
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daycare 01:05 PM 02-22-2012
Originally Posted by 2ndmom2many:
Yes, we are ok but no, it cannot wait. It can not be done before or after work and must be taken care of immediately.
Got it...just wanted to ask....

In that case, do as everyone suggested and email everyone as well as text and or inform at pick up. Just do it asap..

best of luck to you and your family...
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CheekyChick 01:38 PM 02-22-2012
I would send them an e-mail that states:


Hello ******,

I am extremely sorry to do this on such short notice, but I have to close tomorrow due to personal reasons.
I am truly sorry if this is an inconvenience. If I ever have to close in the future, I will do my best to give you
advanced notice.

Thank you for your understanding and see you Friday,
2ndmom2many
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daycare 01:46 PM 02-22-2012
Originally Posted by CheekyChick:
I would send them an e-mail that states:


Hello ******,

I am extremely sorry to do this on such short notice, but I have to close tomorrow due to personal reasons.
I am truly sorry if this is an inconvenience. If I ever have to close in the future, I will do my best to give you
advanced notice.

Thank you for your understanding and see you Friday,
2ndmom2many
thats a great letter, but I would make it sound more urgent than that.

Dear Families,
Unfortunately due to circumstances out of my control, I will need to close for the day tomorrow.
I am very sorry for the short notice and the inconvenience that it may caused you. Just like you, life doesn't always give us warnings, so thank you very much for your understanding.

As always, I will give you as sufficient amount of notice in the future. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to call or email me.
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SilverSabre25 01:50 PM 02-22-2012
Originally Posted by daycare:
thats a great letter, but I would make it sound more urgent than that.

Dear Families,
Unfortunately due to circumstances out of my control, I will need to close for the day tomorrow.
I am very sorry for the short notice and the inconvenience that it may caused you. Just like you, life doesn't always give us warnings, so thank you very much for your understanding.

As always, I will give you as sufficient amount of notice in the future. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to call or email me.


I would also consider telling everyone today at pickup, or calling them, so you KNOW that they have heard it from you.
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2ndmom2many 02:08 PM 02-22-2012
Thank you all so much for your help. I really appreciate it. I really don't like having to give this short of a notice, I remember what it was like when my kids were little and I depended on someone to care for them while I worked outside the home. But sometimes it is neccesary. In all of my years of child care, I have never closed without notice or being sick/ my sick kids (which hasn't been often, thank goodness!) but some things should be private. The parents tell me much more than I need to know sometimes but there are some things I don't feel comfortable sharing.
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daycare 02:10 PM 02-22-2012
Originally Posted by 2ndmom2many:
Thank you all so much for your help. I really appreciate it. I really don't like having to give this short of a notice, I remember what it was like when my kids were little and I depended on someone to care for them while I worked outside the home. But sometimes it is neccesary. In all of my years of child care, I have never closed without notice or being sick/ my sick kids (which hasn't been often, thank goodness!) but some things should be private. The parents tell me much more than I need to know sometimes but there are some things I don't feel comfortable sharing.
you don't need to explain yourself to anyone. If they ask you can just say it is a family emergency and leave it at that.

Maybe point that out in your letter too.
Many of you know that I have never closed on such short notice and I am not one to do so, unless I see it to be absolutely necessary.

Dont feel bad, you are not invincible and parents have to understand that...
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Mommy2One 07:41 AM 02-23-2012
I would like to chime in as a parent and say don't feel bad! If your parents have been with you for over a year and you've rarely been unavailable and always given as much notice as possible then I doubt they're going to be too upset (inconvenienced maybe) - life happens to everyone and great providers are hard to find.

The only time it was an issue for us, as parents, was when we had a SAHM-caregiver unable to watch our daughter 7.5 days out of 6 weeks (and she was only watching our daughter 3 days/week so that's over a third of the time), usually with notice given at 9:00pm-1:30am the night before and if I thought it was just a really bad month for her and not typical behavior I may have forgiven even that. I (and I'm hoping a lot of parents) realize that, while there are many pros to home daycare, one of the cons is that there isn't another classroom to shift the children into so there are going to be some days you'll have to use backup care or miss work.
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laundrymom 08:40 AM 02-23-2012
I disagree. I think this warrants a phone call. Right now. Hey Sally. I hate to do this but I need to close tomorrow. I will be crediting next weeks fees for the day. I'm sorry.
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2ndmom2many 06:06 PM 02-23-2012
Thanks for all the advice! You all have been awesome

Most of my dc parents are not able to get to the phone for personal calls at work, but they do text when they get the chance, while working. So I sent them all a text:

I am so sorry to do this on such short notice, but I must close tomorrow due to an urgent personal matter. There will be no charge, you will receive credit for 1 day of care for next week. I appologize for the inconvenience, but unfortunately I can not put it off. Thank you for your understanding

I also wrote them all a note placed with the children's bags/belongings and confirmed that they recieved my message in person. Everyone was good about it but I still feel bad even though I did need to get the matter taken care of- and did. I just know how hard it is for some to find alternate arrangements. These parents were all able to arrange child care by the time they picked up the kids, so thankfully no one else had to miss work.
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laundrymom 12:22 PM 02-24-2012
Yay!!!!! Glad things worked out!!!
Originally Posted by 2ndmom2many:
Thanks for all the advice! You all have been awesome

Most of my dc parents are not able to get to the phone for personal calls at work, but they do text when they get the chance, while working. So I sent them all a text:

I am so sorry to do this on such short notice, but I must close tomorrow due to an urgent personal matter. There will be no charge, you will receive credit for 1 day of care for next week. I appologize for the inconvenience, but unfortunately I can not put it off. Thank you for your understanding

I also wrote them all a note placed with the children's bags/belongings and confirmed that they recieved my message in person. Everyone was good about it but I still feel bad even though I did need to get the matter taken care of- and did. I just know how hard it is for some to find alternate arrangements. These parents were all able to arrange child care by the time they picked up the kids, so thankfully no one else had to miss work.

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Tags:day off, notice, personal days
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