Temporary Spaces

The daycare centre in my neighborhood only can take children 18 months. Would you charge more for a temporary spot?

No I wouldn't charge more. Every family could potentially be temporary as they can leave whenever with proper notice.

I charge more IF I KNOW it is temp. If they lie then leave at 18mths nothing I can do. But for short term, part time or temp I charge 5$ a day more

I would not charge more. If I not want short term client, I not take short term client but I would not charge more. I would be clear in contract that it has a firm end date so you then have the whole time to find replacement and know for sure this short term child leaving on set day. Or I would make sure I got 6 week notice of final day but I would not just take on short term on regular contract.

If I charge more for short term then I would fully expect parents to up and leave with minimal notice when they get a space in the center. They would do this to avoid the penalty of being short term.

You would be better off to charge more for under 2 spaces (which would be the ones leaving for care at 18months) as then they are not feeling penalized just for planning to switch to a centre later on.

Unfortunately while it is a big pain for us to transition a child just to have them leave 6 months later it is a fact of life for us. Fewer daycare centers take under 18months so naturally those families NEED to seek other types of care until their preferred type of care is available to them.

It does not mean they are poor clients or less worthy of our spaces and it doesn't really mean they should be charged more. We can do our best to screen some of them out...but I am not convinced we benefit from overtly over charging them. They will work around that and just keep it secret, which hurts us more when we suddenly have open spaces that we could have planned for.

I recently amend contract so no longer call my deposit a deposit but call it enrollment fee. If they stay for 12 month or longer, they get credit equal to enrollment fee off cost of final week of care. If they leave before 12 month, they not get credit.

I not take short term client and this only way I found to deter short term people who not open about it. If client come and I take on knowing they short term, I have ability to remove that clause after interview but it seem stop parent from coming if they know it just until child old enough for centre which was objective of adding it.

I really like that Suzie! Hmmmmmm might need to do up a new contract for any future clients

I do charge $5 more a day for temporary care(If I know about it). I now have a clause in my contract that if they leave in the first 6mos. of care(for the under 2's) then I keep the enrollment fee.