How Many Of You Are Off Today?

[MomBoss]

Providers- are you taking a paid holiday today?
All my parents are off today but one still brought their child. Im thinking of adding MLK day and Presidents day to my paid holidays since all my parents are off. At first i thought i would be causing problems for families that needed to still work, but now i realize most people have this day off.

[Blackcat31]

Originally Posted by MomBoss

Providers- are you taking a paid holiday today?
All my parents are off today but one still brought their child. Im thinking of adding MLK day and Presidents day to my paid holidays since all my parents are off. At first i thought i would be causing problems for families that needed to still work, but now i realize most people have this day off.

I am open as normal. I am sure several of my kids that are here have parents that are off but I guess I choose not to care. I am paid for the day so they can use it if they want. Especially true for those that pay for their own child care. Those on CCAP or EL scholarships have limitations for certain days but either way I am open.

I feel sorry for the kids who's parents dump them but its been this way since the day I opened two and half decades ago so I assume it's always been this way. Sad and annoying for sure but like I said, I choose not to care.

On the flip side, if I need or want time off, I just take it and don't care if any of my families approve or not. I am paid 52 weeks a year. Regardless of absences or closures.

Makes it much less stressful.

[MomBoss]

Originally Posted by Blackcat31

I am open as normal. I am sure several of my kids that are here have parents that are off but I guess I choose not to care. I am paid for the day so they can use it if they want. Especially true for those that pay for their own child care. Those on CCAP or EL scholarships have limitations for certain days but either way I am open.

I feel sorry for the kids who's parents dump them but its been this way since the day I opened two and half decades ago so I assume it's always been this way. Sad and annoying for sure but like I said, I choose not to care.

On the flip side, if I need or want time off, I just take it and don't care if any of my families approve or not. I am paid 52 weeks a year. Regardless of absences or closures.

Makes it much less stressful.

Im thinking of adding paid vacations too. How much do you allow yourself?

[DaveA]

I'm open but have 2 kids and they're early pickups. Going to do some rotating toys and maybe throw a movie in during naptime.

As for paid vacation- I added 4 days (birthday, anniversary, and days after Thanksgiving & Christmas) to my holidays instead of doing paid vacations. As for taking time off I'm with BC. I take off what fits me and my family. I explain to parents from the interview that this really helps me provide a better product/ service to clients. Parents who have an issue with this generally don't last long with me.

[Blackcat31]

Originally Posted by MomBoss

Im thinking of adding paid vacations too. How much do you allow yourself?

I take a week in the summer (usually around the 4th of July) and the time between Christmas and New Year's.

I also take:
Thanksgiving and Black Friday
Friday and Monday for Memorial Day
Friday and Monday for Labor Day
Friday and Monday for Easter

I also "reserve" 5 personal days for what ever I need whenever I need them.


So in a nutshell:

2 week long vacations (12 days)
4 long holiday weekends (8 days)
5 personal unspecified days (5 days)
TOTAL 25 days off

I have closed on occasion on other days when needed and sometimes I've credited families and other times not. I guess it depends on how much notice I am giving.

I don't do it often (close outside of my scheduled days off) but I have done it when needed and most my families are pretty respectful about it since I am pretty reliable and open with communicating these days in advance.

I don't close when school does and I don't close for bad weather either.

As I get older though I can see adding in additional days/time off. Not so much because I need it but because I used to be able to get a lot of my trainings and paperwork done during the day but I have to say these kids now days are so darn needy and helpless at far older ages than in the past that I don't a chance to much of that during my work hours any longer so I can definitely see myself adding in a few "in-service" days.

[MomBoss]

One of the newer families i have, paid for my vacation. The contract i gave them did not say anything aboutt paid vacations or my time off.
I did this on purpose to see if she would ask. When i announced my time off , she did not ask about payment and paid my normal amount. Some of the other families who had a contract that said my vacations are upaid, still asked how payment worked.
It gave me a good idea of how it will go once i add into my contract paid holidays.

[Blackcat31]

Originally Posted by MomBoss

One of the newer families i have, paid for my vacation. The contract i gave them did not say anything aboutt paid vacations or my time off.
I did this on purpose to see if she would ask. When i announced my time off , she did not ask about payment and paid my normal amount. Some of the other families who had a contract that said my vacations are upaid, still asked how payment worked.
It gave me a good idea of how it will go once i add into my contract paid holidays.

Yes, don't ask. Just take the days you need off and require payment. It really does eliminate the feelings of annoyance when parents dump their kids on their off days.

There is so much in my own life to stress about that I am certainly not going to give any of my valuable time to any of my daycare families by stressing over what they do/don't do. If they want to throw away time with their kids, that's on them. If I choose to take time for MY family it's none of their business.

You will never have a full boat of clients that believe keeping their children home on their day off is the right thing to do so change how YOU operate instead.

[KarenSue]

Originally Posted by MomBoss

Providers- are you taking a paid holiday today?
All my parents are off today but one still brought their child. Im thinking of adding MLK day and Presidents day to my paid holidays since all my parents are off. At first i thought i would be causing problems for families that needed to still work, but now i realize most people have this day off.

I’m working today but take several weeks off a year. When I interview I always tell families they need to have back up care because I do take time off. I take 4 weeks a year off-spring break, a week in summer, the week of Thanksgiving and the week of Christmas. I used to feel bad about it but that didn’t last long.

[Second Home]

Two dck today , both families have the day off

[Hunni Bee]

Not me, not ever

But my kid is, and we got notice. No robocall, no flyers home, no verbal reminder from the school. All the surrounding school systems are open for snow day make-up. Except ours, randomly.

[CountryRoads]

Typically, I would be open today but since none of my families needed care, I decided to close. One of my families still would have brought their kids, and I really wanted a day with my own child.

I don't charge for days I close, it was worth it to me to take the loss so I can spend the day with my youngest.

[Msdunny]

All my Monday parents are working, so all 3 dcks are here. It really doesn’t matter to me, because dh is also working. I tend to close on the days he will be off.

[Jupadia]

Yup, closed for day.

Many of our provinces celebrate family day this weekend and its considered a stat holiday here in Canada. Alberta had it since 1990 but Ontario started in in 2008, it took me forever that year to figure out what new holiday people were talking about since I moved just a few weeks before that from Alberta. My kid also had Friday off for a development day at school so he got a four day weekend.

[Ac114]

I’m opened but wish I had closed. Only have my twins here today but their mom is off work so technically none of my families needed care. I would have taken the cut in pay if I had known in advance ����

[e.j.]

I'm off today. I take all of the Monday holidays the schools have off - Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veteran's Day, MLK Day, President's Day, Patriot's Day, Memorial Day as well as Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day and 4th of July. All are paid. I take 2 unpaid vacations per year - one in July and one between Christmas and New Year.

When I first started out, I didn't take the "little" Monday holidays off. I decided to take them when my kids were in school so I could enjoy them and they could enjoy their home with no other kids there. I had also started to resent the parents who had the day off but would drop their kids off for me to watch my own kids and theirs while they left to have fun. I decided I wanted the holidays off, too, so I changed my policy to include them.

[storybookending]

School is out here today (isn’t always its a scheduled personal development day for teachers) so one of my usual 4 Monday kiddos is gone but the other 3 are still here and all have both parents working. I let them play in my exercise room/office which they thought was the greatest thing as they NEVER get to go in there and I got about an hours worth of filing done.

[happymom]

Both me and my husband have to work. My school ager is out of school and our daycare is open for both our kids. They only charge $12 extra per day on days schools are closed since he is normally transported/after school only.

[Pestle]

I opened with the assumption that most of the families looking for daycare had "typical" jobs like my previous jobs were: M-F 8-5 with a few major holidays off.

Nope. I have a bunch of people who work remotely from home, so they are at their house but they still have to be available and working during their employer's hours. I have several who are self-employed and work long hours but fewer days. And then there are the folks in healthcare, whose day starts crazy early and ends late, and who are on rotating schedules that give them three days off in the middle of the week but then 10 days straight on either side of it.

So nope, none of my families have this holiday off from work, either because the holiday is irrelevant to their employer, or because the holiday is irrelevant to themselves.

[CityGarden]

I am off today and paid.

My program follows the local school district schedule for closures so if the school district is closed then so am I.

We are closed one week at Thanksgiving, two weeks at Winter Break, one week Spring Break and all federal holidays observed by the school district all paid.

I also close for summer (unpaid).

[MomBoss]

I guess until im able to ask the questions " why are you bringing your kid if you have off? Dont you want to spend time with your child?"..i will forever be frustrated with this, because i just cant understand it.

[Blackcat31]

Originally Posted by MomBoss

I guess until im able to ask the questions " why are you bringing your kid if you have off? Dont you want to spend time with your child?"..i will forever be frustrated with this, because i just cant understand it.

Question #1: "why are you bringing your kid if you have off?"

Answer: Because you are open and I am paying for it.

Question #2: "Dont you want to spend time with your child?"

Answer: I just spent the entire weekend with them. Hence needing to bring them to daycare today.

[Pestle]

Originally Posted by MomBoss

I guess until im able to ask the questions " why are you bringing your kid if you have off? Dont you want to spend time with your child?"..i will forever be frustrated with this, because i just cant understand it.

Yeah, but half the threads in this forum are "I can't stand it when parents have their kids in my program on days the parents aren't working" and the other half of the threads in this forum are "This child is only here three days a week and isn't adjusted to the program and I'm losing my mind/It's Monday and the kids are little wild creatures after a weekend off of my schedule."

[e.j.]

Originally Posted by e.j.

I'm off today. I take all of the Monday holidays the schools have off - Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veteran's Day, MLK Day, President's Day, Patriot's Day, Memorial Day as well as Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day and 4th of July. All are paid. I take 2 unpaid vacations per year - one in July and one between Christmas and New Year.

When I first started out, I didn't take the "little" Monday holidays off. I decided to take them when my kids were in school so I could enjoy them and they could enjoy their home with no other kids there. I had also started to resent the parents who had the day off but would drop their kids off for me to watch my own kids and theirs while they left to have fun. I decided I wanted the holidays off, too, so I changed my policy to include them.

That was clear as mud, huh? lol I was trying to say that I had started to resent watching parents go off and have fun on holidays while I stayed home and watched my own kids plus theirs. There were also holidays when I ended up opening for one child - usually the one with behavior problems. When I started to feel resentful, I decided to take holidays off so that I could enjoy them and so that my kids could, too. To further clarify...I don't usually care whether parents bring their kids to me when they have time off from their jobs. It had just started to feel as though everyone had those holidays off except me and I needed the break, too.

[Cat Herder]

I was off yesterday and it was a productive day.

I wrapped up my fingerprint/background check renewal, got in two annual doctors appointments (all good!), went out for lunch with my DH and enjoyed a lazy afternoon of movies together followed by a nice dinner, long soak and an early bedtime.

I feel refreshed this morning. The daycare kids should be arriving shortly.

I take all the federal holidays off, paid. It is part of my stress reduction plan. It actually gave me QRIS points.

[lovemykidstoo]

I actually didn't even realize it was a holiday until I read this yesterday hahaha! So, yup I was open. I had one of my worst babies yesterday for 8 1/2 hours and realized dad was off when he came at 4;30 to get him in his jeans. lol but his house is clean he said so yea! Mom of same child just texted me that she's bringing screaming child at 9:00 (30 minutes later than norm) because she's off today. I forgot when she works all weekend, she gets a couple of days off during the week.

[Cat Herder]

2019 Federal Holidays, Paid

New Year's Day: Tuesday, January 1st
MLK Jr. Day: Monday, January 21st
President's Day: Monday, February 18th
Memorial Day: Monday, May 27th
Independence Day: Thursday, July 4th
Labor Day: Monday, September 2nd
Columbus Day: Monday, October 14th
Veterans Day: Monday, November 11th
Thanksgiving Day: Thursday, November 28th
Christmas Day: Wednesday, December 25th

I also take Black Friday (Nov. 29th) and Christmas Eve (Dec. 24th), unpaid.

2020 Federal Holidays, Paid

New Year's Day: Wednesday, January 1st
MLK Jr. Day: Monday, January 20th
President's Day: Monday, February 17th
Memorial Day: Monday, May 25th
Independence Day: Friday, July 3rd * (Undecided)
Labor Day Monday: September 7th
Columbus Day: Monday, October 12th
Veterans Day: Wednesday, November 11th
Thanksgiving Day: Thursday, November 26th
Christmas Day: Friday, December 25th

Also Black Friday (Nov. 27th) and Christmas Eve (Dec 24th), unpaid.

I used to take the week of Christmas and a week in Summer when I had kids at home, but now that they are adults I take a week in Spring and a week in Fall (Unpaid); when airline and hotel tickets are cheaper.

[ShellsByTheSeashore]

Originally Posted by MomBoss

Providers- are you taking a paid holiday today?
All my parents are off today but one still brought their child. Im thinking of adding MLK day and Presidents day to my paid holidays since all my parents are off. At first i thought i would be causing problems for families that needed to still work, but now i realize most people have this day off.

Neither my husband or I had the day off yesterday or MLK day, so I'm glad my daycare was open as usual. He works in telecommunications and I work for a software company. The only parents that get off must work for a bank or school or something like that, so this is quite interesting to think about. Thanks for the thoughts.

[ShellsByTheSeashore]

Originally Posted by lovemykidstoo

I actually didn't even realize it was a holiday until I read this yesterday hahaha! So, yup I was open. I had one of my worst babies yesterday for 8 1/2 hours and realized dad was off when he came at 4;30 to get him in his jeans. lol but his house is clean he said so yea! Mom of same child just texted me that she's bringing screaming child at 9:00 (30 minutes later than norm) because she's off today. I forgot when she works all weekend, she gets a couple of days off during the week.

"One of my worst babies" sounds like my sister when she got dropped off at daycare, haha. Bless you for providing care!

[lovemykidstoo]

Originally Posted by ShellsByTheSeashore

"One of my worst babies" sounds like my sister when she got dropped off at daycare, haha. Bless you for providing care!

lol oh my gosh even mom says he is so bad haha! I thought he was sleeping all night. Mom explained today that he's not. I knew he wasn't since birth, but thought for the last couple of months he was. She said he's up 3 to 4 times a night and that she has gotten into the habit of walking around the house carrying him in the carseat for 40 minutes in the middle of the night! Wow!!!!