How long have you had a spot vaccant for?

[sweetness852010]

Here the issue

I was full in the summer. But then end of August I had THREE spaces open due to one moving and losing her job, the other one was turning 10 and mom felt she was okay for b/a that she could be on her own. And the other one wanted to put her in a preschool program. This happened while i was getting ready for hoildays and coming back. Stress has kicked in! My son birthday is around the corner along with halloween and christmas ahh!:( As to me loosing the three we dont have the extra for my sons bday party(which i feel bad for telling him we are only having some family and maybe one friend from school) and christmas. Most of the money from daycare kids go to bills. So stressing a little bit.
Last time I filled my spots in the almost 4yrs ive been doing this it took me 5 months to fill. I just dont know what to do. Ive talked to a lady down the street and shes full and still getting calls and looking for next yr. Im just annoyed as shes been doing it for a yr and where ive been doing it longer. Im i doing something wrong.
Sorry for the vent I just would like to know how long has it taken you to get a spot filled? Im running out of options here. I may have to shut down due to the unstudy income. Im fallen behind on my bills and not sure what to do:( i love doing this. i love being able to have the freedom

[mickyc]

That sucks and is so stressful when you can't fill spots. I just filled my last spot and it was the hardest to fill. I had advertised for 2 months (spot was vacant for 1 month during that time). I was getting desperate for cash too. Luckily I found someone to fill it.

What is the person down the street doing that you aren't? Is her space bigger? Is she doing more activities, more outside play, what is setting her apart from you? Is your rate too high/comparable to her's? Would you be willing to charge $1 less than her? Can you take part-time kids to fill the spots? What are her hours compared to yours? Can you extend your hours to accommodate different families? Are you advertising everywhere possible in your area - hanging posters, posting online and the local paper?

[5 Little Monkeys]

I was in your spot at the beginning of summer. I had 2 families leave to a centre/preschool and 1 mom lost her job. I had to fill 3 spots and was panicking!! It took me a little bit to fill them but I am now full and things are back to normal. It took about a month to fill the 3. It was a financially poor summer though as 2 of the spots didn't start until the end of summer and I already had 2 weeks of holidays planned.

I re-worded my ad and advertised in new places. I also asked all my parents including the ones that were leaving if they could pass my name around. I emailed everyone that had ads looking for childcare on a local website and on facebook.

It's stressful so I feel for ya but I find things always work out in the end. Good luck!!

[sweetness852010]

That sucks and is so stressful when you can't fill spots. I just filled my last spot and it was the hardest to fill. I had advertised for 2 months (spot was vacant for 1 month during that time). I was getting desperate for cash too. Luckily I found someone to fill it.

What is the person down the street doing that you aren't? Is her space bigger? Is she doing more activities, more outside play, what is setting her apart from you? Is your rate too high/comparable to her's? Would you be willing to charge $1 less than her? Can you take part-time kids to fill the spots? What are her hours compared to yours? Can you extend your hours to accommodate different families? Are you advertising everywhere possible in your area - hanging posters, posting online and the local paper? I believe so runs a french home daycare as I dont cant speak it. Im hpoing something will come soon
j

[playfelt]

I run into the French issue a lot where I am in Orleans too. Even English only family like the idea of their child in a bilingual home to get some French and especially if they intend to put the child into French immersion school. It does take longer to fill when you are English only.