Burned again!!

Ok here's my rant for the week. I have this family that started in September. The baby was 8 months when he started part time and mom signed a contract saying that he would be fulltime in January and because I am low on kids already, I was totally counting on that. I will add too that while I don't usually take babies that young, his mom is close cousins with another daycare mom that has been with me for 7 years and she was the one who asked if I would take him.

I have turned away potential clients because I was keeping the spot for January and because the put a deposit down. There were some minor red flags during this part time period but because she was family of the other mom, I decided to ignore them.

This morning dad comes and says to me that they decided to move out east...I am a little stunned at this point....then proceeds to tell me that they are leaving in 2 weeks!!!!

I know these things happen, but man, it really burns me when these things a sprung upon us like that!!

Ugh that sucks, I've had it happen more than once where right from the get-go, parents have no intention of keeping their child here long term and I end up finding out when they give me their two weeks and I put it all together...two weeks notice is such a joke! Right before the holidays too. Its part of the biz I guess...but at the same time surely they have known for a bit now that they were moving!? They could've at least given you a heads up.

yes this drives me crazy too!! I actually put in my contract that although I only require 3 weeks notice that I ask all parents to be open and honest with me regarding their plans (I would never terminate early because someone was leaving down the road). This is another prime reason why I would NEVER take a part-time child on the basis of a full-time spot. They must pay for the full-time spot right from the get go if they want it.

I had a family whom I had for a few years. They were the first ones I took. I knew the boy was going to school in the fall so would be leaving my care. I filled their September spot in May (with the baby of a family with a sibling in my care). I thought all was good and the boy would be with me all summer full-time and then would be gone in Sept - spot filled for Sept - all good! Well NOPE. 2 weeks before the end of school in June I got his notice. I was floored and ticked as well. Why not just be open and honest that you found different care for summer (where they could take all 3 children as I couldn't take all 3). It would have been fine with me. Instead I was left trying to fill a spot for summer. It ended up working out but I was fuming. I thought because I had what I thought was a good relationship with this family that they would have been open and honest. To top it off I didn't get a thank you card or anything. I did hear from the grapevine that the boy had a few issues in his new daycare over the summer. I was happy that the grass wasn't as green over there as they thought it was going to be.

Something as big as that usually doesn't happen in just 2 weeks. The fact that they likely knew for much longer that this may or for sure would happen is what would annoy me. I used to have 2 week's notice but it is now a month.

Sorry this happened to you!! And especially at Christmas time!

Yep, I was so ticked off that I told them that today was his last day, he's only 2 days a week and dad's on paternity leave still so it's no inconvenience to them.

I think we all get burned. I know I have.

When I first opened, I had a little guy without issue for about 18 months. At that time my core hours were 7.30am until 5pm but these parents needed 7am drop which was agreed with the expectation of 4.30pm pick up. No issues ever and in fact, my whole client base ended up needing the earlier drop and pick up, so I actually changed my core business hours with agreement of all clients, and issued new contracts.

These parents fell pregnant and against my better judgement, I agreed to let them drop to 3 days a week for 6 months only after which, he'd be going FT again with the new baby. Although I never take PT'ers, I did it because in 6 months time, it would have been September and I was losing two children to school. I thought this would mean one of those two places was taken.

As the end of 6 months approached, I asked for a firm start date only to then be told, that Dad had lost his job a few months before. They weren't concerned as he had job offers which he'd turned down so they were confident he'd get all he wanted but they didn't need FT care yet!! I was floored - not only would I be losing two days pay for longer than I'd agreed to but also, now a FT place would remain empty and I was losing that expected income as well. But they assured me no more than a couple more months, and since I'd taken a loss for so long and had no interest in the Sept vacancy, I sucked it up.

Two month passed and again, it was me who raised the start date. Was told it would be the end of the month for sure.

On the last Friday of the month, at pick up time, Dad came and confirmed he had a job starting Monday, would need FT care for both children. Thank goodness. I agreed to e-mail new contracts for the children that weekend which I did.

Sunday afternoon, he phoned. All was fine but they wanted the 5pm finish! I explained that my core hours had changed with agreement from everyone over a year ago and this is the first I'd heard that they needed a later finish but it was okay they said, because they didn't need the 7am drop off! I was really cross and told him straight, it wasn't flexi-time. My core hours finished at 4.30pm and if they needed an extension, it should have been requested and that information should have been shared long before now. Why wasn't I told before? Especially since Mom did pick up as she only worked around the corner and before Dad lost his job, she was always here on time. That's when they told me that Mom was doing a "course" for 6 months. She had made arrangements to work half her lunch break each day and also stay an extra 30 mins each evening in exchange for getting part day off each week to attend this course. Mom no longer finished at her usual time!

I was so annoyed but again, had so much invested in them coming now, that I agreed. I amended the contracts to have a pick up time of 5pm for no more than 6 months after that, pick up time would be 4.30pm. Sent them off and sure enough, Dad called again. All was good but they wanted the 6 month clause removed. Alarm bells were ringing and so I asked why. Why when she's on a 6 month course, would they need a late pick up after that? Only then did he admit that this 6 month course was in fact a degree she was taking, one module at a time. So once this module was completed in 6 months, she'd move on to the next one!

Hell no. I was clear then that I had only agreed to extended hours on the understanding it was for 6 months only. If they were now telling me I would be working extended hours indefinitely, they would have to pay for that time. 30 mins free care a day for two kids, is an hour. That's 5 hours over the week. That's 260 hours over the year. That's almost an entire month of FREE care. Hell no.

Because I was desperate, and backed into a corner, I offered the original 6 month extension as it stood, with no extra charge even though they had been deceptive with the information both in terms of keeping me informed and then in terms of manipulating for the later close OR they could have it on-going for an added fee but I wasn't working for free, for potentially 4 years until their kids were both in school.

They took the free 6 months and said we'd "review it" at the end of 6 months. It was really clear their idea of "reviewing" was to try and gauge me for another 6 months last minute. They considered now they were paying for 2 of my 6 places they were in a position of strength and to an extent, they were because I'd allowed them to be.

Of course, my plan was to seek replacements for them before that time. As it happened, just as I had done that, and planned to give them their notice on the Monday (even had the letter ready to go), they gave me my notice that Friday night. Now their youngest child was older than 18 months, they could both go with another local carer who worked until 6pm. Fair enough as obviously they needed the later time and I didn't want that long term but a lot of hard lessons learned.

Things I have changed because of this experience :-
1. No drop from FT to PT ever, even for mat leave. They stay FT or they leave. I won't suck up lost days that I need to be sure I have available for them to return to in future.
2. If holding a place for a baby, that contract has a "no later than" start date. If their situation changes and they don't need care on that date, they either pay for the place or lose it along with their deposit. No more moving a start date even if a sibling is already in my care unless they are paying from the original expected start.
3. Never, never, extend hours.
4. Don't ever feel loyal to an existing client because their loyalties are completely driven by their own needs, as they should be.
5. Extend all notice periods to a full month and if parents have more than one child in my care, it's 6 weeks. I have to have time to find replacements just as if I gave them notice, they too would need time to find two openings with another carer.
6. Follow your gut. If something is being suggested/asked which doesn't make you happy, don't agree to do it.

I've been burned too. Sometimes i wonder if they wait until last second to tell us because they think we'll change how we feel about their child when they are temporary. Or they worry something will fall through on their end of plans so have to keep us until they're hundred percent sure their plans are a go. Ends up being months of loss of income for us. Parents assume we can fill instantly.