Experienced Home Child Care Providers Help Please!!!?

Question

I am a child care provider and have had a parent contact me about caring for her 15 month old and 3 year old. The issue I am having is that she is a teacher (work which I truly respect) and she is off 3 months in the summer. She has asked if I could charge a registration fee to hold her children's places in my care so she could bring them back in the Fall. She would be paying me approximately $1600 a month in tuition, which would pay for part of my bills (mortgage, utilities etc.) that will not go away during summer. It would be very difficult for me to find children just to replace her 2 only for the summer. What amount of money would be fair to ask her to pay? I need to be able to make a living. I have also thought about asking her to assist with finding children to take her children's spots for those 3 months. Or maybe pay more the rest of the year so that I can save it for when she is off in summer. Are there any child care providers who have experienced this before?

Answer 1

Hi there,

My mom was a licensed provider and she would make families pay the same fee per week throughout the year, no matter if they came or didn't come.  It's only fair that a parent needs to pay for the full-time slot - besides, during the summer I'm sure the parent will want to go to the doctor, take a day off from the kids to go shopping, etc.  I strongly advise you to follow in my mother's example because it will simplify things and you won't be stuck in an uncomfortable situation of trying to make up for that deficit.  If the parent doesn't like that arrangement, best of luck to her finding someone who will take the hit for the summer!  Good luck to you!

Answer 2

I think it is great that you would get about $1600 a month for caring for 2 children. Early Childhood Education Professionals don't get paid what they are worth. In my state, for 2 kids you're lucky to get $800 a month. I am almost finished with my BS in ECE and I thought about opening an in home daycare but it wouldn't pay enough for me to do that after all the money I have spent on tuition. I agree with everyone else. Either she pays or she loses her slot unless you want to charge her 1/2 times rates or something but what she is asking is not fair to your family. If she were at any other day care facility, she would have to pull them out for the summer and hope there was space available in the fall. The only other suggestion I have is to put an AD in the paper close to school letting out saying that you have space for two school aged children for the summer and see if you get any bites and tell her that you being able to keep her slot depends on if you can find some children who only need summer care. Good luck!

Answer 3

yes, but the answer has always been, 'unfortunately no'. You cannot change your income based on her vacation time. Just as if she were to go to the beach for 2 weeks, she would still be required to pay for the full month. If she decides to leave, you can find other kids, but you will have great difficulty finding kids that only need care for 3 months.

The only other solution I have ever done is to provide a discounted fee, about 25% off to keep the kids 3 days a week (or some other % and days that work). She will need to go to school meetings throughout the summer, prepare her classroom, go shopping, rest, housework, yardwork, etc. She can do these things on days when she doesn't have the kids and you still recoup most of your money.....I have only done this when I really liked the kid and the parents. Otherwise, I would suggest you look for new students. good luck!!

Answer 4

I agree with Teach---

school-age childen are out of school for the summer. If parents don't put their youth in a day camp...there is a need for summer care...such as what you offer.

If school-agers aren't the age you usually care for---

go to http://www.After-School-Care.com

Anything and everything "activity related" in working with school-agers (age 4 to 14) can be found there! :-) Just look in the talk forum ...and you' find many fun ideas!!!!

Answer 5

I am not a child care provider, I am a parent. It may not be that difficult to find 2 children for the summer as a lot of working parents look for more affordable care while school is out.  I wouldn't pay any money for a spot being held she should contact you in August and see if you are available and if not, find other arrangements. If you are not willing to hold her spot, I would question your loyalty and probably wouldn't bring my kids back anyway.  If you are charging $1600 a month she can easily contact her local Y and pay less than that and even find a nanny who would come to her house for 1/2 that price or at least $600 less. I would certainly not pay more throughtout the year. I hope it works out for you, but be careful because you may end up losing in the long run.

Answer 6

Well, they pay for the slot, not the time that they are in your care.  I would let the teacher know that she has to pay you the entire price, unless the spot gets filled for the summer.  If you find children that can come in the summer, then you can cut her a break.  Otherwise, you should charge her for the spot.  I have been on both sides of the fence in this situation, and I didn't like having to pay for care when I didn't need it, but It kept my children in a quality child care setting when I did.

Answer 7

I own a daycare and face the same problems during the summer.   What you should do is take deposits when the children enroll.  If you take a months deposit then you have that to hold on to during the summer.  Also, this usually gives the parents incentive to return in Sept.  It would be a horrible thing if you hold their spot and they do not return. It happens often.  So if you hold a deposit they usually come back guranteeing that you have clients next year. Also, look into a summer program and advertise for watching kids for only the summer. This way you can enroll children but have a contract that their enrollment ends by the last week of August.  Summer program is easy.  Just put a sprinkler and a baby pool up and call it a camp.

Answer 8

You should not have ANY problems finding children to watch in the summer. That's when most people need it..

Answer 9

I find it hard to believe that you would have a hard time finding children who need daycare in the summer.

As for how much to charge her, it's not her duty to cover your summer expenses. She should be charged exactly what any other person is charged on a monthly basis. If you were to charge me a higher fee just because I took care of my own kids for a few months, I would be highly insulted and infuriated.

Answer 10

I had an in home daycare for 2 years.  The kids parents had to pay me whether or not their children were in daycare or not.  I had my children in a christian daycare and I was told the same thing.  I was only allowed to give a 2 week notice if taking the kids out for a 1 or 2 week vacation, which was allowed only once a yr.  Other than that...we paid for the daycare services whether the kids where there or not.  

Just because she is a school teacher doesn't give her any special privileges than the other parents.  She needs to either withdrawal the kids for the summer or pay you for the summer.  You can easily replace those kid's spots if she withdrawals them, so if she wants to keep her spaces reserved she had better pay....Or she can call you when the summer is over and see if you have any spots open for her kids then.....