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New Members - Welcome to the Daycare.com Forum!>Recovering From First Immediate Termination
Unregistered 04:10 PM 01-10-2020
Hi Ladies & Gents, family child care can be a lonely life , finding those who can relate difficult so I've been reading for a while but this would be my first post. These parents were a nightmare from day 1 mom was at the door at 7, dad told me 8 the week before. First 2 pick ups were 2 minutes before close which left me with no conference time and then day 3 the inevitable "no, you may not pick up 3 minutes after closing time." We just moved to have a bigger play space. Between proof of address, application, fingerprints & inspection It took 3 months to get relicensed! So I was trying to get headcount back. The dck, 4yrs, was good but found out quickly the parents had no respect for boundaries, policies or contract. I think the issue was they were center transplants with unrealistic expectations. Of course mom went online to complain about my backbone - how dare I tell them they couldn't push me around. After the interview my gut told me it would be a bad match but we needed the money. I'm so sad. I keep trying to put it down but keep rolling it around in my head so here looking for sage words and/or hugs.
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Cat Herder 05:04 AM 01-11-2020
Relocating and the stress of rebuilding the business from the ground up is always so hard. I have done it four times, myself and struggled too. That alone would be enough stress to lose sleep but to compound that with a difficult client is a lot to deal with. I am glad you let them go, life is too short for that.

Most termed parents lash out at being told no and file false complaints and online bad press. There is no cost to it for them, that they are aware of. They forget we generally know each other and talk pretty regularly.

Her bad attitude will come back to her in her life, don't you worry about that one little bit.
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BumbleBee 05:48 AM 01-11-2020
My first immediate term was a stressful event as well. Like you I had a gut feeling during/after the interview but took them because $$$.

Showed up early the first day, late multiple times, etc. Kids were ok. It took me entirely to long to term them. I kept them for a year.

Mom ran her mouth about me in town. But she also showed her true colors to the same people so it didn't end up having a negative effect on my business.

The stress was unreal. I learned a lot from the experience and my backbone grew.

Things will settle down and it will just be a distant memory. Keep doing what you're doing.
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Annalee 08:39 AM 01-11-2020
Originally Posted by BumbleBee:
My first immediate term was a stressful event as well. Like you I had a gut feeling during/after the interview but took them because $$$.

Showed up early the first day, late multiple times, etc. Kids were ok. It took me entirely to long to term them. I kept them for a year.

Mom ran her mouth about me in town. But she also showed her true colors to the same people so it didn't end up having a negative effect on my business.

The stress was unreal. I learned a lot from the experience and my backbone grew.

Things will settle down and it will just be a distant memory. Keep doing what you're doing.
Oh yes; we never forget that first termination. Mine was a family member and it was on a Friday evening. An immediate dismissal. I will never forget that Saturday morning when
I woke up and I was still mentally drained. Then I knew I would see them at church the next dayso I couldn’t relax. It’s been many years now though and all
Is well and I am a much stronger child care provider
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Unregistered 11:34 AM 01-12-2020
Thank all for your kind words!!! It makes me feel so much better to hear the encouragement and relatable stories.

I'm sure this too will pass with time but in the meanwhile im really afraid the review DCM posted will impact our ability to fill openings:

First she said our home was great and her son loved it here but then her complaints were all are about not following our contract which she said she read:

#1 She was upset that I didn't answer the door at 7:05 when we discussed a 8ish drop off the Friday before. (With my other family is arriving about the same time that day at 7:05 I was soaking wet just out of the shower!)

#2 She was mad that I told her husband in order to protect after hours family time I needed pick ups done before the end of contract time (this may be the last time I waive a late pick up charge or try to appeal to to a parents humanity -no good deed) (And Yes I have after work hours obligations like everyone else). She said that traffic was an issue (pretty sure he was working from home that day)
She said I should have a 5 minute grace. Ugh, the 5 minute grace is 5 minutes before the end of contract time!

#3 She was mad I termed them (for not understanding and/or following policies & contract terms.) Said they had no where to take the son the morning I termed because of it. (she already said the evening before she was taking the day off to look for other child care since I was too strict with policy)

#4 she was mad that I did not refund the last 2 days of the week after the term (I did after her compaint but reminder her under our contract I had no obligation -you pay by the week and not following contract terms is grounds for immediate termination. )

#5 She posted this one as a second 1 star review with a spam account-ive reported-hopefully it will be removed. She admitted she thought our policies were unreasonable-(so why did you agree to the contract?)

THEN...I asked some of my graduate families if they could leave a nice review....and so far crickets. It's all so discouraging; I've been doing this for 10 years and love working with kids but when something like this happens....

I feel SO jaded- I don't think I will ever waive a fee again OR try to be friendly w parents again. It will always be about the child at pick up and drop offs - no more friendly chat chat and no more waiving first time late pick up fees.

I left my response to the review quick & short (I know what I really wanted to say but due to HIPPA I'm really not sure that I could add too many details and don't want searching parents to take it the wrong way):. "I am very sorry for any misunderstandings of our child care homes policies and contract. A refund for the remaining 2 days of care is being sent out today. I am sorry that our child care home did not meet your families needs."

I hope any prospective parent reading the review would see that this person clearly did not follow the contract, might be a sociopath, and felt entitled to get something that I do not offer - I run a family home child care - not a center.
But then some people don't even click when they see 1 star reviews and now there's 2.

I'm thinking as a marketing strategy I may ask new parents for reviews after their trial period. But then part of me doesn't even want to bother because our business and parent base is so small that it could backfire.
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Blackcat31 06:37 AM 01-13-2020
Honestly I think it's easiest to not have any type of advertising or social media that allows parents to leave reviews.

If you need references, ask former clients that left on good terms to write something you can read BEFORE posting on your website or advertising page or just keep and copy it and provide to prospective clients when asked.

The ability to allow anyone to write a review on-line is nice but it sure opens the doors to alot of issues when someone feels slighted or is upset.
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Unregistered 08:54 AM 01-13-2020
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
Honestly I think it's easiest to not have any type of advertising or social media that allows parents to leave reviews.

If you need references, ask former clients that left on good terms to write something you can read BEFORE posting on your website or advertising page or just keep and copy it and provide to prospective clients when asked.

The ability to allow anyone to write a review on-line is nice but it sure opens the doors to alot of issues when someone feels slighted or is upset.
So TRUE, I think what makes it even more difficult is parents find it really hard to justify the cost of childcare and even worse some imagine we do nothing all day with our "easy" work from home jobs. So no matter how we bust our butts everyday some parents will feel like they are still not getting their money's worth.
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Tags:associations, childcare provider groups, terminate - 1st time, terminate - bad behavior
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