So earlier in the weekend I posted about a family that interviewed on Saturday with a daughter that was "prone" to choking on food.

Well they were very positive about my daycare and gave me the impression they wanted to start right away possibly today or Wednesday. The mom asked to take my packet home. At that point I hadn't even mentioned paperwork or my packet yet. But I thought ok...she seems really serious about joining. I went over my packet...she seemed in a hurry (just take packet and go). She stammered when I asked what she did for a living.

I was ok with the interview but it did seemed "rushed".

Fast forward to yesterday...I call to follow up and left a message asking if they did indeed want to start today as I would need to meet with her to go over a contract.

She texts...thank you for meeting with us, but we've decided to keep her with our church daycare

I am so over it....what a WASTE of my Saturday morning (I rescheduled to accommodate THEM!!

She just wanted my packet

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Call her back and ask if she would mind dropping your packet back off. UGH~

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I agree with 3cents. Ask for the info back.

Good rule of thumb is to never send home your information until they are ready to sign on.

I go over my handbook page by page so that they parents FULLY understand what my policies and rules are.

If they (and I) decide that the family is going to enroll, I ask them to come over and sign paperwork, leave their first payment and their written schedule and then when they leave, they can take the packet with them of the other things I send home.

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I am sorry you were feeling so down yesterday too! I hope you are feeling up and positive again soon!

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I'm better...my husband was supportive too which helped. We invest so much of our time into this business and its so violating when someone just wants to take your info and run.

I think I will text her now to drop off my packet today.

Why would she ask for it if she wasn't really decided yet....OH WAIT I THINK I KNOW WHY!

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I try not to beat myself up when someone does not sign up.Sure, I have wasted Saturday mornings on a family or two. It's part of the job. We have to put in the time to enjoy the rewards. There was one time when I honestly had no copies of my handboook, and had to tell a family that if they decided to enroll I would have paperwork for them. They ended up enrolling. Now that I am reading responses about withholding info unti enrollment it sounds like a great idea.

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So what do you do if they ask for a copy so they can look it over with their spouse? And as far as filling out the paperwork, you have them fill everything out in your presence? They don't take it home to fill out? I'm just wondering because in my experience, I have always been given the paperwork to take home and fill out or bring to the doctor's office, etc. and then I brought it back on the first day of attendance.

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I don't know if this would work for you but I have all my policies on my website and refer parents to that if they want more info. Then after that if they are still interested I proceed with filling out paperwork and payment.

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Yes, but I'm assuming you know for sure they are enrolling?

I have them take it home and fill it out. In this case she gave me the impression they were interested in enrolling and starting right away.

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I try to set up my interviews so BOTH parents are in attendance.

If they outright ask me if they can take my packet home, I say no. I tell them why and tell them that we go over my rules/policies pretty thoroughly during the interview and if they want to take notes, they surely can but my paperwork is saved for parents who sign on with me.

There is some paperwork they can bring home and fill out and just return it the first day of care but even then, that paperwork isn't given out until they have actually signed on with me.

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I made a copy of my handbook/policies and have been going over it with the parents when they interview. I also have a website that has everything on it, however, I will give them a hard copy of it when they sign on and the first payment is made.
I know how you feel though. I had on interview last week or the week before and the woman sounded so excited to come and meet me. She emailed me a few times and then called. Well I waited around and she never called or showed. I had another one set up an interview for a Sunday (coincidentally she had a choking issue with her son too) so I made my schedule around her and she never came. She did call an hour before at least.
And then I had one yesterday who sounded like she needed full time care and when she got here she said well we need care in March, April we probably don't. Then the husband said they might need care in April. They weren't sure. Then they proceed to say that a family friend might have room for them in the summer so they needed care for March. Unbelievable! It is frustrating, but I try not to let it get to me. I do have an interview for Friday. Hopefully it goes well. The right families will come around someday for us!

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I also stopped giving my handbook out after initial interviews. It started getting far too costly between the paper and the ink alone.

I now require 3 in person meetings prior to signing on a new family.

Initial interview I go over policies and go over my handbook page for page and rule for rule. We discuss rates in advance so there is no surprise there.

2nd interview I require both parents to attend (if applicable) and child if possible. They tour, and there is a q&a session to cover anything we might have left out during the previous interview. I also offer references during this time. At this time families are welcome to secure a deposit to start services.

3rd interview is to sign on. Fill out necessary paperwork, provide deposit if they haven't already, meet the child (if new baby), get a start date, and go over a normal daily schedule, and send them with a copy of the handbook and any other necessary paperwork.

Believe me, cutting back on who you provide paperwork to will reduce your costs significantly (if you pass out your handbook and interview often.)

I have done 1 Saturday appointment in my life and will NEVER do it again! I don't work weekends, therefore I don't interview on weekends.

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I would be very careful about giving packets or business information to families who have not signed up yet because there is a chance that it is a new provider that is fishing for information so they can get a feel of what their compitition is like and how they can top them.

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this.....exactly!

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This is true, but it doesn't bother me if that's what others' intentions are. I have a website with my handbook and policies on it so that families can look at it and see if they are interested in my program. I am proud of my daycare and if others want to top me or copy me, then so be it! Someone on here once said that it's a compliment if people like your stuff and want to use it-that's just me. But with that said, I do see your point too!

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I would NEVER view the other providers in my area as competition.

We are all in this together and the more we work together the better it is for everyone who uses or needs child care.

I mentor new providers in my area and the very first thing I do is give them a copy of ALL my paperwork and encoruage them to use any or all of what I have.

There are plenty of kids needing child care that daycare shouldn't have to be a cut throat business. Maybe in some areas, but not here and I am grateful for that.

I have also had many providers here on the forum ask to see my handbook. I have e-mailed my copy out to almost everyone that has asked.

I don't give out my handbook to prospective clients until enrollment simply as a cost saving measure. My handbook is several pages long and if I simply handed one out to anyone who asked, I'd go through tons of paper.

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That is great! I just wish people wouldn't set up interviews solely for the purpose of getting the handbook/policies, but as with any profession, there are ups and downs!

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I am ALWAYS open to helping other providers and never feel competitive. What I feel bad about is the sneakiness that other providers feel they need to resort to. I would LOVE to help another provider or a provider trying to get set up with the business, but why don't they just ask?

Its the sneaking around and being dishonest that gets under my skin.

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While I can't speak for everyone, I suppose most providers feel as though they HAVE to be sneaky about it.

I would think that if a provider worked on their rules and handbooks for countless hours and then another provider asked to see it, she would more than likely say no and feel as though that provider was trying to hone in on her territory....I don't know as I am only guessing but if you EVER get the feeling that someone is just being sneaky, call them out on it and then offer up your stuff. That's what I would do.

Sometimes when they call to set up the interview or even during the interview you can see/hear little clues about whether they are really a parent or a provider...kwim?

For example, you mentioned this mom kind of hesitated a bit when asked where she worked. After awhile, you get really good at recognizing whether or not they are being truthful or not.

But you are so right, it is the sneaky and decietful ones that ruin it for everyone else.

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I'm like BlackCat and that's one of the reasons that I don't mind having my forms and information on my website. I'll even e-mail potential clients a copy of everything that I include in my Parent Packet. I'm like most here that on't however hand over a hard-copy of the packet until they are ready to enroll. I e-mail everything to them first so they can read everything (and so I have proof that they received everything) at their leisure at home and then when they are ready to sign I have them come back and we go over everything one last time before they sign the contract. This is when I give them a hard-copy of everything. I do it this way to prevent waste and expenses on my end.

If it's a child-care provider fishing for info they'd have more benefits if they just straight out told me that this was why they were calling. I'm the Vice President of our local child care association so I regularly show providers my forms and documents and give them tips on how to make improvements to their programs or how to get started. Even when I wasn't a part of the association I had help starting my DC and so I didn't care if people used my stuff for ideas ... I thought about it as paying it forward.

I don't however think that a person should copy something word-for-word or plagiarize. I've had THAT happen to me once when a provider copied me entire website word for word and even used the same layout and colors as I did . That I had to put a stop to.

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Like everything else it depends on your area- I currently live in a town with a small population (like 30k) and their are home daycares, preschools (public and private), afterschool programs, and centers everywhere and many actually have to close down do to low enrollment. A lot of people here also have more money and can afford to have a SAHP or even WAHP. I was taking a FCC administrations class and many of the providers who had daycares in my town were saying how competitive the area was that their are some providers (or SAHM's who didn't even do daycare) who mostly live on their husband's income and can afford to charge low rates. The friend I had whose mom did daycare, she planned on opening one too and she told me that she doesn't care if I had a daycare but she would if I opened one in the same town as her- even though she lives in a bigger city (population 400k-500k). Although that can be taken as she sees me as a threat because she did always make me do most of her work. At one point she wanted me to be her assistant- but I know she would just make mer her 'B!+c# Monkey' and I would mostly be doing the paperwork and cleaning anyway .

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exactly what I was going to say. Especially because she was acting fishy when asked what she did for a living

edit: wanted to add that I would let other providers see my handbook and what not for ideas. Just don't lie to me and waste my time pretending to be a potential client

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