New To Edmonton area

I am new here, to both the forum and the Edmonton area. :) I decided to open a private dayhome but am having a hard time filling up here. I have one DCK under 2 so far but don't seem to have much interest beyond that so far. It's been only 2 months though.

I am in a smaller community here and hear there is a huge line up for the licenced facilities in town, so I am going to try out being with an agency. Only thing is, I may lose the little one I have already... I don't think her parents can afford agency rates, but on the flip side, I really like the little one, but her parents drive me bananas.

She is here for a good 10-12 hours most days, other days her father waffles on when he is coming for drop off making me wait until late afternoon before he either shows up or cancels. ugh. I don't have much to do, but sometimes it would be nice to know I have the day off so I can run errands, or even know when she is coming so if I am making lunch, I can cook for her too.

He does that for pick up too, he will drop her off and say he won't be long, then I am not sure if I should nap her or not etc, and then before you know it, it's almost 6pm and her mom is picking her up.

She was supposed to orginally come at 6am then her mom said she wouldn't be anymore because dad changed his work shifts, but then I get text messages at 5:30am saying she is coming at 6! I have my phone on silent when we are sleeping, my hubby is a really light sleeper! Then a few more texts after that and she ends up cancelling drop off in the morning and dad drops her off early afternoon. She did this a few times so I asked her to give me notice if she is dropping off at 6am since we are not up until 7am otherwise.

So she did, then I get up at 5:45 to be ready for her, and she text delays drop off by dad to 6:30. Dad doesn't show up and mom texts me to ask if they were here yet and I tell her no. She says they must have slept in, (8:30 am by this time) so I text her again after 12 noon and she says dad is staying home today with DCK. :blink:

I am only charging them $600 a month and providing meals and am pulling some long ass days for them, and sitting around waiting being put off and put off over and over again. It makes it really hard to plan things with my kids when they have days off from school!

I am hoping with the lineup for licenced childcare here that I will fill up quickly. I have 2 kids of my own so I can take 4 all together, but I would like to start with 2 and get a routine in and maybe add one more at a time and see how it goes. I spoke with the local agency today for about an hour and a half in their office and they seemed really nice. Super helpful and had lots of information for me. :D

I think once I have contracts and rules in place, I will be much happier. lol I'm glad I found this forum though, it's definately a business that needs a vent once in awhile!! SO not because of the kids most of the time which is the good part.. lol. :D

First of all welcome to the forum sparkleglitter :wave: You will learn alot here. Read some previous threads and you will see what I mean.
Congratulations on starting your daycare, but right now you are operating a drop in centre. It seems you have been on a ridiculous rollercoaster ride with this family and they are abusing you. If you are keen on keeping them, their control of your business needs to stop immediately. You and your family are living on their disjointed schedule and it would drive anyone insane. You need to put your foot down, establish firm daycare hours and stick to them for the health and wellbeing of you and your family. If they say they can't comply, then say bye bye and go the licenced daycare route if necessary or advertise (never mention you are new to the trade) in local schools, community centres, churchs, grocery stores etc. There are several threads which have good examples of contracts and policy guidelines.
Before joining this forum, I tended to let my families lead me by the nose and now I have found my voice here and I (business like) stand up for myself, my policies/contract and business and you will too. Good luck and keep us posted. We are always very happy to help and advise. :)

Welcome to the forum and best wishes for success for your daycare but remember that the first year is spent getting established in your area. A website is a great tool for advertising and add lots of pictures of your crafting and learning and playing times.

Mimi is completely right, this family is abusing you and taking advantage of you in way too many ways. You need a good contract and I think I can speak for most of us when I say that we usually have 9 hour days as a maximum with early and late fees. My hours are from 7:30am-5pm but most of my families come between 8am-4:45 from the first to the last so I'm not working too many hours, but after work is all the prepping for the next day and the cleanup from this day.

I charge a rate for the 9 hour day plus $5/half hour if they exceed that and $5/half hour if they arrive even a minute before 7:30 or a minute after 5pm. You MUST be strict with your contract and you have a right to be happy and contented in your business. Remember that it is YOUR business and you contract with the clients but they are NOT your bosses, they are your clients.