I really need one more family, finiancially speaking. I got a call today and they just want 12 hours a week in 3 days, they asked me if I could charge less because is a lot less time, I am thinking about it. What would you do? And if you would go lower, how much?

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For me, it would depend on what hours a day. From 700 am until 1100 am?? From 2:00 to 6:00 pm?? During nap time? Afternoon? Are the three days in a row? During a meal time?

If it were me, I would divide my weekly into a daily and charge that. That's only if the exact hours worked for me and my program. It's really an inconvenience to have a child here only four hours each for three days. It's still three full days of preparation potentially.

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I do charge less for 3 days verses 4 or 5 but personally would I do it? No.

I would not but if you HAVE to do it, I would make sure you have some provisions in place...

What happens if a full time family comes along (or any family wanting more than 12 hours of care) and you don't or won't have room?

Will you term the 12 hour per week family or just keep them?

How old is the child?

Do they want care over nap time or lunch time? Those are the two hardest times of the day for most providers so if ANY hours of care are required during those times, I bill for a FULL day.

Will their schedule be the same each week or will it rotate and vary from week to week?

I guess if you really need the income, some money (for 12 hours of care) is better than no money but I would NOT commit myself permanently to this situation just in case someone needing more regular care comes along...kwim?

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She only needs from 8:00 to 12:00 that includes bkfst and lunch. I guess that I can tell her that if another family asks for the full time space I will let her know so she can decide to go full time or move to another place. I think dividing the weekly rate sounds like a good option.

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In my experience making acceptations like this only leads to headache and resentment. If you did it, I'd make sure to tell them full time has priority and you can't guarantee this arrangement long term.

But the extra money in the mean time would be nice.... I wouldn't like the noon pickup time very much either...

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If they're using a full-time slot, they should pay a full-time rate. I allow only 1 part-time kid at a time at my house, and I offer a 35% discount off full-time for that. Even if the other kids are part-time, they pay full price (I do have another part-timer that pays my full-time rate). When a part-timer goes over 20 hours, they pay a 50% premium per hour of care they go over. When a child is consistently over 20 hours per week, they are considered full-time, and must go to my full-time rate.

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I charge "less" for part-time care in the sense that my weekly clients pay a lesser amount per week than my full time clients pay but at a higher hourly rate.pick-upe this is how I charge and it is not an exception, it's just how I charge.

A client coming Mon-Fri 7am-5pm pays $165/week
A client coming 3 days a week 8am-12pm would pay $84/wk

But this is because I charge based on part-time pick-up time starting at 3pm. In other words if you pick up earlier than 3pm it's still $28/day and for every pickup after 3pm add $2 for every 30 minutes. Add up each day's rates and this becomes the set weekly rate.

Here it is on my website:
http://myhelpinghandschildcare.webs....on-information

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800 to 1200 would be ideal for me as far as timing goes. However, they will be there for two meals and a snack if you do a morning snack. So I'd consider that in my rate.

I always tell part time parents that full time ALWAYS trumps part time but that if that happens I will give them he option of the spot first.

If it were me, I'd accept them with a two week trial at a part time rate. My full time rates are $100-125 a week so in her case I'd charge at least $60 a week maybe a little more. Of course that depends on what yur typical rates are.

But certainly if I were having issues finding full time that would be ideal hours for me and I'd do it if the family were a good fit and they understood about full time vs part time.

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Great advice. If you do do it Id charge a premium fee for it at least 5$ and hour or more

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What I do when I run into situations like that is explain to the parent that they can be on a drop in basis where they pay hourly instead of for a full day. So say my hourly rate is $5 per hour but for a full day it is $30. If they parent only needs 4 hours, I'll charge her $20. I explain the problem as simply as I can and offer two choices. They can either pay for the full time spot to reserve their child's place in the daycare even though they only need a few days OR they can be on a drop in basis and pay for hours or days needed but run the risk of being let go should another child need the full time spot. Parents have been very understanding of this as this is my means of income and I have to do what I must.

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I would charge them my daily rate for those three days. I would explain that the odds of you filling the second half of the day is nearly impossible so therefore they are taking up an entire day even if they are only using half. I would also let them know that full time has priority over part time.

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I do charge for a half a day program from 830 to 1230. The child will attend our preschool class session only.

I only deduct 8$ from my whole day rate, because I have daycare insurance that is pretty high in cost so it cost me the same amount if they are there for 2 min or 12 hours.

I also have in my contract that all FT families have priority over PT and that they will be given the option to go FT should I need to fill their spot or they can chose to move to a different schedule if one is available.

I like having a lighter load of kids after nap time, so for me this works out just fine. Plus, I can let my assistants go earlier and don't have to pay out of pocket so much in employee expenses.

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this is how I do it too. I don't do half days. I do offer a lower rate for less hours in some cases but the daily rate is still enough for me to make it worth it and I love the shorter hours (I offer a 9:30-3:30 rate vs. a full day rate). It has helped me to get those people inquiring about half days to do this type of "full day" instead.

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I'm not sure if this helps but I have an early pickup incentive. I close at 5:00 but if you pick up your child by 4:00 every day I take $5 off the rate, per day. But that's what works for me. I do it because I want kids gone at 4:00 regardless of income loss.
Will you resent this decision when you have a lot of families and know you could be making more? Are you willing to term them later to replace them with another family willing to pay more.
If I needed the income I would do it. But I would let them know that full time spots take precedence so they might lose the space later.

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I just did this for a family of two. I did it because I really enjoy the hours. The dcks leave before my children get home and that is of so much benefit to my family. I understand that I could make more with a full time family of two, but my family benefit outweighs the money benefit. It is entirely up to your situation. I understand why some providers choose not to bring in part-timers, but it just really worked for me. I have said family set up to pay a certain amount each week, slightly lower then full time rate, for a certain pu/do time each day, 4 days per week. They pay just like everyone else, whether they are here those 4 days or not. It just works great for me.

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I have figured a daily rate for full time, and then an hourly rate for part time. Part time care only applies to children in my care for less than 5 hours per day, totaling no more than 25 hours per week.

What I did was take my daily rate and divided it by 5 hours to make that my hourly rate. So a child in my care for 4 hours would be pretty close to my full daily rate, but there's still a little bit of discount so that parents aren't charged a full day. I kinda feel it's a win/win that way.

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I do exactly the same.
Feel for the less pay and taking up a full time slot, it has to be worthwhile.

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