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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>The Nerve of Some Parents
kayla 02:05 PM 12-08-2011
Ok so my mother in law does daycare also. Shes in MN. Well a couple she does daycare for are on assistance. There assistance ends soon. She called me and began telling me this story on how they told her a social worker told them that if they put their business up for sale they could continue to get assistance. Well apparently that hadnt worked out well for them. So their older child attends preschool, and the dad was able to work out a deal exchanging business for the tuition cost for preschool,well the mother told my mother in law this the other day. Well then yesterday apparently the dcd asked my mother in law if she gave gifts to her daycare parents, she said yeah well he then went on to ask if she would take some of there pottery for exchange for daycare. I laughed the nerve of people, She told me Im sorry but i only get them small gifts and cant afford to do that. I just cant believe anyone would ask that... so i guess my question is what are some of the craziest things you guys have been offered in exchange for daycare???
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Michael 02:09 PM 12-08-2011
A forum thread on daycare bartering. https://www.daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22915
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small_steps 02:49 PM 12-08-2011
My uncle and I bartered for childcare for his daughter when I first opened. I charged $100 per week for her age (4) and he mowed my lawn every two weeks or so. It wasn't a fair deal in my opinion because after he stopped I found someone else that could do my lawn for $60 and he was basically getting $200 childcare for $60. But I always try to help out family and after he moved away he gave me a fridge that was in pretty decent condition for free so I figured we were close to even.
I'm not sure I would do it again, but when I remodeled my garage I tried to find someone that could barter the labor for the conversion for childcare. I had a couple of bites but ended up going with my bro-in-law and just paid cash. I can write it off anyway.
Any offers I would be willing to consider I guess. It depends on how good the offer was and how bad I wanted it before I could say if I would barter anything again.
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Meyou 03:55 AM 12-09-2011
I barter a drive to school for my dd from one of my DCD's for a DC discount right now. I offered and he accepted, not the other way around. It works out well for me and it's on his way to work.

I'm not sure I would want to barter fulltime for DC but I don't mind some trade-zee's now and then. I do alot of sewing and I often barter my sewing skills or work for other things I need or want. My bff trades me babysitting time for sewing gifts frequently too. I make a baby shower gift for her and she takes my kids to the movies or something.
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MarinaVanessa 08:25 AM 12-09-2011
I've been offered Mary Kay, Tupperware, jerkey, flooring labor, painting labor, formula, toys, meals, knitted scarves and hand made quilts. I think that's it. Of course we've never actually gone through with it because I expect to be compensated for what my DC services is worth so for example if I charge $160 a week then I would expect $160 worth of knitted scarves and what am I supposed to do with that many scarves .

I have however bartered child care for child care but mostly on weekends. I've had some DC parents ask me if I'm available on weekends or evenings and instead of charging them we exchange a day for a day for the same amount of hours. They like it, I like it and I feel comfortable doing it (with certain clients). I havn't done it in a while with clients but only because I've been doing it with my SIL and her kids.
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3kidzmama 08:48 AM 12-09-2011
I have a dcp that cleans my house every other Friday in exchange for a discount on the weeks she cleans. So every other week she pays full price, alternate weeks she receives a discount.
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Michelle 08:50 AM 12-09-2011
someone once offered me a case of sparking water and their wic checks
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bice99 09:04 AM 12-09-2011
I have a family who owns a farm. When their stand is open, we get all the fruits/veggies/pumpkins we want and I keep a running tally of what we owe them. Then we subtract that off of what they pay me We've been doing it for 3 years.
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cheerfuldom 09:05 AM 12-09-2011
I have never been offered bartering for daycare, although i wouldn't mind it.

For awhile I had one mom help me in the daycare and I watched her son for free but that did not work out....very bad idea because the little boy was a terror so it was not worth the assistant help. But in this case, it was my bad idea

I don't take assistance pay and all my daycare families are very middle class, until recently, all my daycare families had a much nicer standard of living than I had so there was no need to barter on their end.
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sharlan 09:11 AM 12-09-2011
Originally Posted by kayla:
Ok so my mother in law does daycare also. Shes in MN. Well a couple she does daycare for are on assistance. There assistance ends soon. She called me and began telling me this story on how they told her a social worker told them that if they put their business up for sale they could continue to get assistance. Well apparently that hadnt worked out well for them. So their older child attends preschool, and the dad was able to work out a deal exchanging business for the tuition cost for preschool,well the mother told my mother in law this the other day. Well then yesterday apparently the dcd asked my mother in law if she gave gifts to her daycare parents, she said yeah well he then went on to ask if she would take some of there pottery for exchange for daycare. I laughed the nerve of people, She told me Im sorry but i only get them small gifts and cant afford to do that. I just cant believe anyone would ask that... so i guess my question is what are some of the craziest things you guys have been offered in exchange for daycare???
I see this from another angle.

Ok, this family is having financial problems. It appears that they are doing what they can to survive. I can totally understand him asking your mil to trade daycare for pottery. It didn't hurt anybody or anything for him to ask. If his pottery is out of her price range for gifts, than all she had to do is say no. It cost him nothing to ask, and it was her right to refuse.

I've never been asked to barter daycare.
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Ariana 09:16 AM 12-09-2011
I agree with sharlan. It looks like they're trying to be creative and a lot of people barter for services. My hairdresser trades haircuts for all sorts of things including childcare!!
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kayla 09:22 AM 12-09-2011
I guess i just thought it was rude. I would never walk into the electric company and ask if i could trade them daycare for service.
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sharlan 09:29 AM 12-09-2011
A home daycare is not a major corporation.

I, personally, wouldn't have found it rude. I would have considered it being a parent trying to provide for his kids.

My dh has been out of work for 18 mos, no sign of employment in the future. Last Christmas he did inventory for the boat place where he stores his boat for 3 mos of storage fees.
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kayla 09:33 AM 12-09-2011
Originally Posted by sharlan:
A home daycare is not a major corporation.

I, personally, wouldn't have found it rude. I would have considered it being a parent trying to provide for his kids.

My dh has been out of work for 18 mos, no sign of employment in the future. Last Christmas he did inventory for the boat place where he stores his boat for 3 mos of storage fees.
These people are not out of work they own there own business. I guess i should add that they also asked if she could bill the childrens real father, she told them no because her contract is with them not the dad and i agree with her. In my opinion they are not people trying to get by these are people that just dont want to pay there bill.
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erinalexmom 09:36 AM 12-09-2011
I agree that its ok. Honestly hate to admit it but I was wanting to figure out a way to barter instead of get paid. I know its crazy but I would rather not have to deal with the "income" side of it. I dont want to do the taxes (dont worry I am claiming them) dont want to have my home owners insurance as "a daycare",ect. Just want to watch a few kids for my friends in exchange for things they could do for me. Of course it would never work out that way. But I liked the thought
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laundrymom 09:38 AM 12-09-2011
If it snows I have one dropped@430am. Because dad runs a plow/ salt truck In return his dad clears my drive, sidewalk. I feel an hour of sleep lost is way worth two Outside shoveling. Lol. I hate shoveling. Truly despise it.
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sharlan 09:42 AM 12-09-2011
I agree with not billing the dad. You bill who the contract is with.
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Meyou 09:45 AM 12-09-2011
Originally Posted by laundrymom:
If it snows I have one dropped@430am. Because dad runs a plow/ salt truck In return his dad clears my drive, sidewalk. I feel an hour of sleep lost is way worth two Outside shoveling. Lol. I hate shoveling. Truly despise it.

Oooo! That's a good one. I would totally do that. I pay random teen boys to shovel but they aren't reliable. lol
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kayla 09:45 AM 12-09-2011
Originally Posted by laundrymom:
If it snows I have one dropped@430am. Because dad runs a plow/ salt truck In return his dad clears my drive, sidewalk. I feel an hour of sleep lost is way worth two Outside shoveling. Lol. I hate shoveling. Truly despise it.
i would do this one. i just thought it was rude it wasnt worth the trade they wanted ,these people charge 50 per plate, my mil was not going to get each parent an item for 50 bucks thats rediculous.
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laundrymom 10:01 AM 12-09-2011
If it were me I would offer a value of $10 per plate, towards their bill up to however many she needs be it 1 or 16. They can't expect retail price for bartered trade.
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Lianne 10:17 AM 12-09-2011
I often barter extra hours with parents. I have one client who cuts hair. Sometimes she needs an extra day and in exchange for that extra day, she'll cut my hair for me. One family I'm good friends with pays me for babysitting services by buying my dinner when we meet for our weekly Friday dinner out.

One child's father works for a restoration company restoring houses after a fire, treating mold, etc. Last year when I needed a home repair but didn't have the money, he offered to do it for me in exchange for one evening/month of childcare so he & his wife could have a date night. We agreed on a price for the job needed in my house ($600) and the expectations to getting it done. Then we agreed on an hourly rate for my providing care ($10/hr) and set a cap of hours each date night would last (5hrs/date night). We booked a couple date nights at a time based on our schedules and each date night had to take place within the calendar month. I owed them 12 date nights @ $50/5hr date night. If they didn't stay out the entire 5hrs we just wrote the extra time off, it didn't get added to the next date night. If they arrived after the 5hrs they paid me cash @ $10/hr. There were two occasions over the year that they needed an entire weekend day's care so we used two of the 12 date nights in lieu of the day's care. We had everything written down, dated and signed, just in case but the whole deal went smoothly. I doubt I'd do something like that with another family but I'd do it again with this one.

When I do barter, it is never for contracted childcare. It's always for extra hours or services outside the contract.
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BigMama 10:21 AM 12-09-2011
I did trade one family a week of child care for a very large air conditioner. Best deal! I would love to barter some home repairs for child care services...but I can't see how I would do that. "Hey, do you want to paint my bathroom/fix my front door/put in a new window instead of paying me?" Could be weird YKWIM?
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Meeko 10:28 AM 12-09-2011
I bartered for some work done on my house, but it didn't work out. It was the boyfriend of one of my clients (and the father of the day care child). He did wonderful work, but he began trying cheating us. We would hear the saw etc going on all day (we were having an addition put on our new home) but we really wouldn't find much work done. Turns out he was drilling holes and cutting scraps of wood to make it sound like he was working to pad out his hours for child care. We ended it and finished it ourselves. My husband didn't want to have to babysit HIM while he worked!
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kayla 10:42 AM 12-09-2011
Originally Posted by laundrymom:
If it were me I would offer a value of $10 per plate, towards their bill up to however many she needs be it 1 or 16. They can't expect retail price for bartered trade.
I like this idea much more.
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countrymom 11:08 AM 12-09-2011
dcm is a hairdresser so we do hair cuts (I cannot believe how much hair cuts cost for kids and I have 4) and she highlights my girls hair too. Dh goes and cleans their driveway (he has a atv) or I pick things up for her kids, works out great for us.
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Tags:bartering, gift exchange, subsidy
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