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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Do You Close For Snow?
jenh171 03:42 AM 01-27-2011
I really would like to figure out a fair policy for snow days. It is driving me nuts this winter because 4 of the five people I work for work in the schools, and the other one works no matter what the weather is. So I want to be accomodating to the one girl who does NOT work in the school, but it's a huge pain to stay open with one child here. Also, I don't have a separate area for child care, so I just hate working when my daughters/boyfriend all have off for snow. Until now, I have been just biting the bullet and working with the one little girl here, but it's seems much more sensible to perhaps close when the local school closes?

Also, I would like to know the logistics of how you go about taking the snow day. Do you let your parents know the night before? Because another issue is that when we get hit with a foot of snow, I spend all morning waiting to hear from parents if they are coming or not...and I have to be ready to work in case someone shows up. So I was thinking of maybe telling my parents that I will work with the local school...if they close, I will close. Does that seem reasonable?
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TSDaycare 03:51 AM 01-27-2011
We were posting about snow grudges at the same time! I would say it is entirely up to you-if you can afford to close that day without making her pay for care-go for it! However you may lose clients also for that reason..... There are actually alot of home daycares who run on the school schedules, but I guess it all depends on the type of parents you have (teachers, federal workers, sales, etc). If I were to do that in my area I would probably lose business-but believe me I would love to follow the school schedule most days!
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jenh171 03:55 AM 01-27-2011
I really wouldn't mind just continuing to work on snow days, but for the past two years, it has worked out that I only have this one little girl here. It just doesn't seem worth it.
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DBug 04:10 AM 01-27-2011
Do you charge whether kids are there or not? My policies say that if I choose to close for any reason, parents don't have to pay for that day. My rationale is that they may have to pay someone else to watch their kids, so I wouldn't want them to have to pay double. That's why I don't close for snow days or other issues (like our lack of heat a few days ago). That way, parents can choose whether they come, but either way I get paid.

If you do get paid whether kids are there or not, I'd say close. Or at the very least, make it a movie day if you just have one dckid on those days.
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DCMom 04:17 AM 01-27-2011
I stay open. I'm getting paid for it and more often than not my parents call in and stay home. If I do happen to have a few kids, they love it because they get the run of the house, they are outside playing in the snow or watching movies since I just do my own thing on those days (with a couple extra little bodies!)
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Cat Herder 04:23 AM 01-27-2011
I don't close. I have backup power, water and heating. I am a obsessive planner
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lil angels 04:33 AM 01-27-2011
I do not close I think if I said I was going to close on snow days they would look at me like I am crazy because I don't have to drive so way would I close. I use that as a day to get more done the kids seem to like it to because they get to do things that they normally can't do.
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ninosqueridos 04:42 AM 01-27-2011
I don't close. I have teachers who don't have school but still bring their kids. I figure, if they can get here, fine. If not, fine. The only thing that sucks is that it's 8:30 and I have YET to get a phone call if any of my dck's are coming (and DH has been cleaning up the driveway for over an hour already).
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jenh171 04:51 AM 01-27-2011
Originally Posted by ninosqueridos:
I don't close. I have teachers who don't have school but still bring their kids. I figure, if they can get here, fine. If not, fine. The only thing that sucks is that it's 8:30 and I have YET to get a phone call if any of my dck's are coming (and DH has been cleaning up the driveway for over an hour already).
I hear you! As it turns out, all of my five dck's are not coming today because of the snow, but I hadn't heard back from the last mom until 8:30am! So since I didn't know if she was going to pull into my driveway or not, I had to shower and be ready anyway. Call the waaaambulance, because yes, I am whining about it!
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Cat Herder 05:30 AM 01-27-2011
Originally Posted by jenh171:
waaaambulance, because yes, I am whining about it!
They said it would be an 11 minute ETA.....sorry, hun, that's the breaks with all the Brown outs...
Attached: medcare.jpg (79.0 KB) 
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Live and Learn 05:42 AM 01-27-2011
Jenh171:

Like you I work with all teachers but one family.

It is my policy to work only on teacher work days. They don't go to school on snow days so I don't work either.

My one non teacher family was informed of this policy when they started with me.

We rarely get snow here in paradise. Only one day this year so far...we got about an inch with a little freezing rain mix.

Good Luck.
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newtodaycare22 06:08 AM 01-27-2011
Originally Posted by ninosqueridos:
I don't close. I have teachers who don't have school but still bring their kids. I figure, if they can get here, fine. If not, fine. The only thing that sucks is that it's 8:30 and I have YET to get a phone call if any of my dck's are coming (and DH has been cleaning up the driveway for over an hour already).
That was me at 8:30 too (and DH)...I feel your pain!
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snbauser 10:58 AM 01-27-2011
My policy states that I follow our school's inclement weather policy. If they close, I am closed. But for me it is a little different than most family child care providers. I am licensed for 12 children BUT I have to have another teacher here when my 7th child arrives. So I will not put my teacher's safety in jeapardy to make them come here in order for me to open. I did just recently make an exception and opened on a day when the schools were closed but that was the first time in 8 years. And that was only after we were already closed for 3 days, my road was fine, AND I talked to all of my teachers to make sure they could safely get here.
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DCMomOf3 11:01 AM 01-27-2011
I do not close, it's up to the parents if they will stay home or not. 99.9% of the time businesses stay open so the parents are expected to work snow or not. I am in an area though that always gets a decent amount of snow.
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snbauser 11:40 AM 01-27-2011
Originally Posted by DCMomOf3:
I am in an area though that always gets a decent amount of snow.
I think that is an important point. Some areas could get a foot of snow and the schools would still be open. Here a light dusting of snow can shut down the entire city. LOL!!
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SandeeAR 11:54 AM 01-27-2011
I don't close, put don't usually have kids. 2 of my 3 offices usually close and the 3rd, Mom's a nurse and usually still has to go in, the Dad's employer usually closes too, so he stays with the kids.
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Preschool/daycare teacher 01:39 PM 01-27-2011
We've been wondering about the same thing. Does anyone have any suggestions for our case: The daycare is in a seperate building from owner's house. When it snows I usually can't get there, so the owner either has all the kids by herself (which makes for a crazy day for her! Not only does she have the usual kids, she has school agers also. Some of them never come on snow days, but others do, still making it a very crazy day for her, even if she is still in ratio).

But other times, she has only 2 or 3. Which seems like a waste of untilities and food for only 2 or 3 kids to spend all day long at the daycare building. And a boring day too, since it's just toddlers those days, doing their own little thing. plus her own school agers have to spend their day cooped up in daycare all day when they could have been at home enjoying their snow day, and her with them.

So in these two cases, what would you suggest? If she closed without pay, she'd be losing a lot of money. keep in mind, Some days she has too many to close, but she doesn't have my help to take care of them all day either, so that's a LOT of extra stress on her... and some days it's a waste to watch just 2-3 children and using up all that food, heat, and electricity...and the main thing is, her own children are BORED being cooped up there with just 2 or 3 toddlers.
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Abigail 11:34 PM 01-27-2011
Jen, I would go along with the school closings and not charge for those days. It's not fair to you for only ONE child. I would offer assistance to that family to help find a backup sitter if they didn't have one, but would not stay open. I'm sure they have a relative or friend or school-age teen who wants some extra cash.

Preschool, I would talk to the person you work with and weigh the pro's and con's. It seems like most of the time many of the daycare kids can make it on bad weather days so it wouldn't make sense to close. Maybe she could find a nearby backup helper for the days that schoolage is with her when you can't make it and it will be easier on her.
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Tags:bad weather, closed from snow, snow, snow policy, weather policy
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