I charge families the same no matter if the child is sick, on vacation or with grandma. The only time I do not charge is when I take vacation.

What are your policies? To be honest I could not pay my bills if I didnt charge all the time and have a consistent income.

Do you think my policies are fair?

Thanks...trying to get a backbone for issues that I know are going to come up this afternoon....

Reply

I charge unless I close. I changed this last year I use to only charge if the child was in my care but I needed steady income. I had a few families give me grief about it. I just told them good luck in their search for a new daycare and one that didn't charge for the spot not for days used. They all stayed when they knew I wasn't changing it or doing favors for them. No one even looked for another daycare they just wanted to bully me and make me do what they wanted. I don't think they way you charge is unfair. Stick to your policies .

Reply

I take 2 full weeks of vacation and charge my dcps at half rate. That way I only have a week of unpaid vacation of don't have so much guilt of taking 2 week's vacation.

I don't charge the dcps for a week of vacation. I should mention that I treat a vacation as "5 days consecutively" to keep them from using their days for sick days.

So throughout the year, I have 2 weeks that I don't get paid for. I totally understand about needing the consistent income. I need it too. I've heard about families taking their vacation when the provider takes a vacation, so I don't think your policy if unfair at all. You aren't charging them for when you close. Every provider is different and you need to do what's right for you!

Reply

I charge parents half day rates for any time missed during their normally contracted times.

I do not charge for times that I am closed.

The only difference to my half day rate policy is for planned absences. I do not charge for maternity leave or teachers summer, spring, christmas break.

If your policies state that they pay regardless, when the issue is brought up have a copy of your policy and their signed contract. Tell them that they knew the policy when they signed up for care.
The stress of dealing with the parents will be easier then the stress of trying to decide which bills to pay if the income isn't there!

Reply

I charge for the space. Whether a child is in attendance or not the parent's know they have to pay for their child's space. When I first started up I didn't run by this policy and my income was all over the place, absoloutely no stability! I also charge for all stat holidays which I take off, almost all of my parents get paid stat holidays so even if I did stay open I would only have one to two children which to me is not worth it I would only be making $4.76 an hour based on a $550/month full time fee at a 10.5 hour day.

Where I live the majority of home daycares take paid holidays. I just changed my contract this year and added in 3 weeks of paid holidays. No one was upset by this as this is what most daycares do in my area. I take one week paid in the summer and 2 weeks paid at christmas. During my christmas holidays there are also 3 stat holidays so I'm really only taking 12 paid vacation days a year at most on top of stats. To be honest I could not afford to close for a week or two unpaid or pay someone else to fill in for me. Last year my contract stated that I got paid 50% for two weeks of holidays at Christmas, that was it. I could not take any extra holidays in the summer because it just was not feesiable and I found myself completely broke at Christmas every year which means I didn't even get to enjoy my time off.

If I take a sick day (which isn't often) I do not charge. But I have also been thinking alot lately that I should change my policies on that as well as I lose a lot of income when I am sick, which causes additional stress. Most daycares in my area do charge sick days I just haven't had the courage to incoperate this into my policies yet.

Reply

Currently my policy is I get paid for any and all child absences... AND I get paid for 2 weeks of vacation each year. I used to do the half rate thing, but decided I needed full control of my income. Knock on wood, never had a family balk at it and I am always as full as I want to be. The only days I don't get paid for are unplanned sick days on my end or days I need off beyond the 2 weeks (which is rare) . Most of my families, by their choice, will even pay me in full when I am out sick.

Reply

I charge no matter what. All parents are required to pay for the entire month of care on the first day of each and every service month. Parents pay for all statutory holidays, all days that child(ren) is/are absent be it due to illness, vacation or any other reason, all my sick days (I average only 5 sick/personal days per year) and 2 weeks vacation for myself. I've never had any complaints.

Reply

I do not think your policies are too strict at all. I always explain it by saying "Look, I have 10 kids here if they all took a weeks vacation without paying me, I'd be out over two and a half months income".....most get it when I put it that way.

Reply

I charge families regardless of whether their child is in care or not. I don't charge if I close the day care for my own vacation weeks, any sick or personal days I might have (but that's a rare thing).

Reply

Funny thing happened yesterday, dcm comes at p/u with check for the following week(their vacation week). I just assumed I would have to have a "talk" about my policies.

Some parents do read contracts and policy books! I love this dc family! whoo hoo

Reply

Awesome!! Nice that you were prepared but even nicer that you didn't have to actually do/say anything! Nice way to end the week!

Reply

I have the same policy: they pay if I am open. If I am closed, they don't pay.

Here's my dilemma with this. I only have one family with 3 kids and I want to take a week's vacation to see my family in CA during the summer. I'm waiting for them to tell me when or if they will be taking vacation so I can take it at the same time to avoid closing! But I think they are secretly waiting for me to announce my vacation so they can take theirs at the same time so they don't have to pay!

Reply

I charge for two week long vacations that I take one week at a time. I do not allow the parents to take their 6 free days during my vacations.

Reply

The only time I dont charge is when they take their 1 week vacation, their 2nd week is 1/2 rate. They must use 5 consequtive days when they do vaca time. For my 1 week vacation, I plan when a family of 3 take their time off in the summer is when I take mine, But I still remain open with my assistant in charge. Everyone has the choice to take the same week vacation with me
(but it still counts as their vacation time), or to sign up to stay w/ assistant that week. When I post my vacation time, they have to decide fast cuz my asst can only watch 6 kids. But it usually works itself out cuz we have 11 kids and like I said I take it when a fam of 3 of them take theirs.
The only time I'm completly closed is for major holidays. And those are always listed in my phb, and are paid holidays

Reply

I offer my full time families 5 days of unpaid vacation time. Any other vacation days/sick days/time off is paid. Unfortunately, I am not in a position to offer a lot of "free" days of care. I get 8-10 paid holidays from my families built into the contract but any other time I choose to take off is unpaid.

Reply

I'm the same as you... I charge whether they are here or not. Only difference is, I charge for when I'm on vacation too. I only take the regular holidays (8 of them) and 5-7 other days. They know about ALL these days before January 1st, as I give them all a "holidays and closed days" schedule at the beginning of the year.

I didn't used to do this when I started 17 years ago, but I've learned to look out for myself first. Nobody has ever complained about this way of doing business. Once I decided to do this, I only started it with new clients.

Good luck with the backbone thing. It feels great!

Reply