Discussions

Talking to a few other providers and it made me curious....do you like your daycare contract and agree with it or just agree with it because finding quality care can be tough?  
 
Do you get charged for your providers sick time? Holiday time? Do you agree with it?  
 
Do you feel penalty fee's (for picking up or paying late) are a deterrence or do you just pay the fee and do it again?  
 
Be honest what do you like and dislike about your contracts and policies!

Hey there,  
 
I opened my home daycare approx. 8 months ago and have learned a lot. As a parent, I hated the policies and contracts. As a provider, I am finding out the hard way that policies and contracts are needed. When I opened I tried to be extremely flexible with parents, not charging when the child was absent or picked up late, parent holidays, etc. however I can now see why providers do charge. This is my livelihood and I rely on a pay cheque to support my family. I still offer a lot of flexibility but I had to change a few policies in order to continue. Also, when opening a daycare the red tape and required policies are endless. Contracts and policies are mandatory when opening a licensed daycare.  
Thank you!  
Jackie

As a parent I didn't appreciate having to pay for stats when the daycare was closed. I had no problem paying for missed days and my holidays and late pickups. As a provider I did not charge for late pickups (never became an issue) stats or days I was not available. I have been self employed for over 17 years and those were employee benefits not self employed benefits. Daycare providers are self employed, therefore I don't believe they should charge for stats when they aren't open. Something else that bugged me was anything four hours or more was considered a full day. Provider would close early after four hours and we still had to pay the whole day. I appreciated my provider so I didn't complain but it was frustrating.

is like business and if in more demands well the price will be up there too. Also own a business involves be in charge with responsiblities that customers may not realized otherwise may as well work for someones else, be done with your shift then go home and done with your day.

To answer your question about late pick up fees. They were atrocious but who wants to work late? I work retail and people think if they get in before you close they can stay as late as they like. Most say thank you for staying late, but what am I supposed to do walk out and leave them there? Then they force you to say its OK when its not. Charging a late fee wouldn't deter me because a couple times we were late, but it was miscommunication on our part. I would never purposely leave my kid there late with a fee or not. But I suspect some would and at the end of the day providers want to be done.so yes I think you need to charge a late pick up fee.

I have also been on both sides of this, we used to pay for daycare, and now my wife runs a daycare. I think that when you are only making $25/day or even $3.00 per hour, per child, then you realize that the caregivers are not making a lot, and really do bank on every dollar. I think they should get paid for Stat Holidays, I don't think it should matter if they work from home or not. They still run a good business, Sick days to my knowledge are mostly un paid days. Remember these people are raising your kids for a short time so you can earn enough to put a roof over their heads, so it shouldn't be to much of a question whether its worth the extra few dollars here or there.

I have also been on both sides as well. I worked at a daycare center for 8 years, and had a home daycare for 3. I currently have a child in a home day care that i love. We pay for stat holidays as its a business, and not only that, home day care providers deserve the paid holiday! They normally do the work of 2-3 people depending on how many children they care for, everyday, usually without a break. Also, children for the most part, spend more time with their daycare providers than they do at home,so a paid stat in my eyes is well deserved. Self employed or not.  
 
When i worked in a center, daycare closed at 530, and if a parent arrived at 525, or later, it was automatically a $10 late fee. As a parent i understood how rushed getting from work to daycare on time can be, so when i started my home daycare, i didnt enforce the late fee at first. After a while I sure did. Its quite annoying when daycare closes at 530, and parents show up at 530 or later, unless arranged ahead of time. They usually dont get out the door for another 10 mins. Keep in mind most home daycares have their own families to take care of, plus,they most likey have had children from 7am on. They still need to tidy up from the day and deal with their own families. I now understand how disrespectful lingering at your daycare providers door is! On the other side of things, parents showing up before daycare opens was a pet peve of mine. parents assuming you will let them in 10 or 15 mins early is rude! I had a rule that my door was locked until 730 am. In the center, same rule, doors were locked until 730.  
 
My day care provider also has one rule that i completely agree with. If a parent purposely drops a child off knowing they are sick, but doesnt inform her bc they dont want to take a day off, then next thing you know everyone is sick ( unbeleivable how many parents actually do this), then in turn my provider gets sick and has to close daycare bc of it, that is a paid day for everyone. Sick time other than that is not paid. But i think that is completely fair, considering a sick child needs to be at home! Since this rule was put in place, we have barely been sick or had to miss work or daycare

How does your provider know a family purposely dropped off a sick kid and how do the prove it? I am a provider and yes there are always the kids that come that likely should have stayed home but kids do get sick during the day and get sent home. I am just wondering how your provider decides that someone actually sent the child sick on purpose?  
 
I am curious about people's ideas on taking paid days off - holidays or sick days. What are thoughts on that.

Its fairly easy to tell which kid has been pumped with advil or not. Being in childcare for a very long timr myself, im pretty good at being able to tell as well, especially if you spend a lot of time with a child. If i could tell a child is sick a few minutes after drop off, then their is no way a parent can not. I assume its the same for her. Last year, she had a certain parent drop a child off on two separate occasions who had been puking at home, and the childs sibling told her this as soon as it continued at day care. This continued thoughout the year,with 3 tummy flus, and a bad case of strepthroat, until they were no longer in her daycare. After they left, the rule was put in place, and i beleive only enforced once since

A paid statutory holiday is an employee benefit. Business owners do not have paid stats. If they take that day off but their business is open, they pay someone else to do their job. If they close their business they lose the sales for that daylus they pay their employees for stats. So my question is, do daycare providers consider themselves employees or business owners? This is how I base my opinion on stats. I agree that daycare providers have a hard job. So do lots of other jobs. Providing day care for 5 years allowed me to stay home with my child. Each provider has a right to determine how they do business and I am by no means saying they shouldn't charge for stats I'm just saying I didn't and this is my reasoning.

I agree it is easy to tell in some situations which children are sick when they walk in the door but without a parent being honest or older siblings to say child was sick it isn't always easy to determine that mom knowingly brought sick child.  
 
As for stats I do get paid for them. It is in my contract as I am self employed. Being self employed I get to set my terms. All of my families get the day off paid, not sure why I would be no different.

Thanks for all the replies!! I have a home daycare so it's obviously interesting to me to read what parents (and other providers!) think.  
 
Jackie....yes! Contracts are a must and I've said before, I'd be leery to do daycare without one!!  
 
Xanthe...that's understandable! I charge for a full day regardless of their hours here but if I close early, I charge full rate if lunch has been served unless otherwise noted. It's usually been closer to 5 hours though  
 
Personally, I do charge for stat days off and have these days listed in my contract as paid days off that a parent agrees too before starting with me. I don't charge for my holidays or sick days and probably never will. Like others, I just don't feel it's right if I'm not open. It's stressful enough having to close for illness or appointments and I'd feel too guilty charging the parents!! I've seen and heard of a few daycares that do and if that works for them and their clients than great!! I was just curious as to what parents thought of things like that or any other policies. Sometimes it's not easy to understand why a provider has a rule in place but there's usually a reason!  
 

if DC rates weren't regulated then I would say that as a business owner you do not get paid stats or holidays (yours or theirs) or anything else but you would up your daily rate to cover such expenses, since most DC are regulated as i understand, then i can see being paid a stat but holidays do seem like to much, as well how do you handle shorter clients, meaning ones who have only been at your center for a few months?  
 
my child is long out of DC but one thing i liked was only having to pay for the days my kid was there, i was a part timmer tho so im not sure what the rules were for full time, i did have to submit my scheduled a month in advance and priority was given to full time then first enrolled, it was only ever a problem once tho  
 
one thing I did not like is that once i did submit my schedule or phone in and request a day i had to pay no matter how much notice was given, i once booked and found out my husband found someone to switch shifts and cancelled within half an hour for two weeks away and was charged, that was cheap imo, other centers had a week or 2-4 days cancellation policy and i thought that was fair  
 
I did not use a home DC tho and I do know those have unique challenges, the center i did use was great but of course a few policies i didnt like, for a center i also liked that the fund raising crapola was optional, sell if you can ect, im all for bake sales but HATE the reseller crap companies pawn off on kids organizations...ill quit there because thats another wall-o-text lol