Vacation

Hey everyone!

I was just wondering what you all do regarding your vacation? Do you plan it way in advance? Do you just give a month's notice as to when you will be taking a week off? Do you have each week that your going to take vacation during the year already mapped out at the beginning of the year? I have families asking me when I will be taking my summer vacation already, and normally I don't plan these things until a month or so in advance. Is that the norm? What do all of you do?

Our vacation is the same time every year, so when I sign a new family I am always able to tell them when I will be closed. Any extra time off I make sure to tell my families at least 1 month in advance.

I tell my families by the end of April when my summer vacation will be. Some of them like to plan their holidays when I take mine so I try to tell them asap.

I give 4 months notice for holidays of 2 weeks and under. Over 2 weeks, I give a year.

I choose my vacation weeks for the next year every Dec. and write a letter to all my daycare clients including days I'll need to take for flights when possible. That way, when the families are booking their holidays with their employers they can book off the weeks I'm closed or know that they have to make other arrangements with grandparents, etc. This system has been working great for me for several years now and my client appreciate my consideration.