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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Feeling Discouraged
kpa0627 08:40 PM 08-17-2010
I was so happy because I had 6 full time little ones enrolled for when school starts back up (I can have 7 but I want to do only 6). Well, yesterday I had 2 moms give me a 3 week notice. One of the moms had her work hours cut back and changed to evenings and she's friends with the other mom so she's gonna watch the other moms kid for cheaper than I am willing to do. So there goes 33% of my income in a blink of an eye. I HAVE to find 2 more children hopefully by their last day or very shortly after for financial reasons. I put an ad on craigslist and just put an ad in the newspaper. I am just freaking out! Anyone have similar stories. What were some things you did. Did you do drop in care until you could find full time kids? Any advice please!!
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melskids 03:46 AM 08-18-2010
i'm sorry you have to go throught this. daycare is feast or famine, and it always seems to happen at the worst times. we've all been there, i'm sure. i went through it last year. all my kids left at the same time, either moving, or job changes, etc. i resorted to using my credit cards to keep our heads above water. i even went so far as to almost have to get a job. then all of a sudden....boom! i'm full, and turning kids away. (i even have the managers kids of the job i was going to get...go figure...) what stinks now is i'm making good money, but its now all going to pay down the CC debit i accumulated last year. its a vicious cycle!!!!

hang in there....i'm sure things will turn around. maybe you could get a part time job until things pick up.......
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MyAngels 04:58 AM 08-18-2010
Don't forget the power of referrals and word-of-mouth advertising. Mention to your current parents that you have openings and to refer you out to anyone they know. I give a one time credit to any family that has referred me out if the new family enrolls. Don't hesitate to mention that you have a daycare with current openings to anyone else you come into contact with, either. I get phone calls all the time from people who have been given my name by someone that I'm acquainted with outside of my daycare as well.

Also check with any large companies in your area to see if they have an internal referral service. I know there are two large companies in my town that do, but you have to ask to be put on their list.

Good luck!
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tenderhearts 06:30 AM 08-18-2010
I know exactly how you feel. I was full up until end of June, I lost 1 the end of May and lost 2 the end of June. I knew it was going to happen with 2 of them but I thought I had until end of summer but all of the moms lost their jobs so I was stressing big time. I did fill one spot pretty quick and the other 2 took awhile. I posted on craigslist with my website and offered a special. For some reason in my area infants are the high demand. I didn't want to take infants but after 2 months of only very part time preschoolers I finally had to take the 2 infants, so I'm full right now, I will be losing one more in september and hoping I fill his spot quickly too. I think the special helped some, but one of my new clients didn't say anything about it and payed me the regular amount but I knew she saw the ad on craigslist so I didn't feel right not telling. I took $25 off first 2 weeks of care and waived the enrollment fee.
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kpa0627 03:12 PM 08-19-2010
yeah i was full all summer and making a pretty good income but starting September 13th I will only have 4 full time little ones and 3 school agers (but only on days school is closed). I really wanted to have 6 full time children or else I think I might have to get a part time job or something. I've put ads on craigslist, submitted one in paper(although it hasn't run yet), told all the parents to tell everyone they know and hung up flyers at various places and put a thing on my facebook that I have openings. I don't know what else to do. I'm new to this. Is this normal to have fluctuations of tons of kids then hardly any kids? How do you prepare for this?
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SilverSabre25 07:43 PM 08-19-2010
I just got one more girl to put me up to full, and the day she started, another mother gave me her two weeks' notice. Now I'm scrambling to fill *her* spot, and all I'm getting is parents who need care for infants...next January/February/March.
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Tags:drop in care, fulltime
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