Why did I do this....UGG!!

Soooo,

I have a family going on mat leave in the fall (not sure what month yet). So I found a flexible family who can start sometime in the fall and are willing to wait for the other child to leave.

Now I find out that he might be leaving in May!!! I just screwed myself out of at least three months worth on income if this child goes through and leaves in May....

The other family only wants to start in Aug... What would you do? Ask them to pay to hold the spot or tell them that you will have to charge them to keep it?

Sigh, I dont know why when I am trying to do a nice thing I always get the bad end of the deal....

Any suggestions?

What reason is the family giving for him leaving so soon if mat leaves doesn't start till the fall or does it start now but he was going to come for part of it? Make sure you hold the parents to the total notice period in your contract for sure since they are the ones changing their minds.

In terms of the replacement family. If it is easy to find kids in your area then you do have time to tell the new family that since there has been a change in your situation that you have made the difficult decision to return their deposit and advertise to fill the space for May assuming the current parent gives you notice. If you can make a compromise with them to stay till the end of June then it is only 4-6 weeks till new family starts and sometimes having less in the summer is nice if the budget can handle it.

For sure let the new family pick their date and tell the current family that they are done as of that date since it appears they are able to pick and choose when they leave. So only fair to the new family to give them the date they need.

Unfortunately in our business no matter how much we try not to let it happen this is a very common scenerio. One of the reasons it is a good idea to conduct your affairs so that you only need part of your daycare income to make ends meet so that you can still get through down times like this.

When I 'pre-book' a space like this I always verbally as well as in the contract they sign when they pay the deposit to 'hold' the space sign off on something alone the lines of:

'Based on current enrollment projections the security deposit is to hold the space for a tentative start date of X. If something changes between today's signing and X date and the projected space opens up early than expected I, as the undersigned, acknowledge that I have to either commit to starting at the earlier date and pay full fees or pay fees of X to hold the spot in lieu of starting or I would forfeit the space this contract pertains to and have to go on a waiting list for a future space. Under such circumstances where the spot is filled by someone else before X date I have been assured that my security deposit would be returned to me by the provider. If circumstances change and I, the client, choose not to enroll on X date for whatever reason I understand I will loose my security deposit unless an alternative client can be found by the provider before said date.