Newbie - Lots of Questions and Need Advise!

Oh - you are singing to the choir sister - I think everyone here has dealt with these issues. I too had to move to "locked door during the day" because I had a number of parents just "walk on in" when they arrived. So rude ! As far as the whole paying on time problem - I do a few things with my parents to avoid this issue. When a child comes into my care, and the parents sign a contract with me they pay a deposit of two weeks dues. I credit half of that money towards the child's first week of care. The other half is held "in trust" for their last week of care. It also acts as a cushion - meaning that I have been paid for a week, so if the parent is late with a cheque or underpays me (dear Lord the things that people will try....) I can console myself with that fact. Another thing that I do with my parents is I have everyone hand in four post dated cheques at the beginning of each month; every Friday I send home a receipt. If I am sick and owe them money, I know that I will be a professional and get those funds refunded/credited to the parents ASAP. An added bonus of this system is it "encourages" parents to provide me with the two weeks notice that my contract asks them to provide in the event they choose to leave - let's face it, I already have their cheques and one week's dues from their deposit so they have nothing to gain by not giving me appropriate notice.

Sometimes with a problem family once you create a letter to them stating this is what is not working and if there is no improvement by XXX date then you will be receiving your termination papers since this relationship is not working out for child, caregiver and other children in care. If you want to push the point home you could add something to the effect that I can not let the actions of one family spoil the daycare experience for all other families.

This lets the family know they are the only ones causing major issues and gives them a timeline for shaping up or being shipped out. At least the family will have no one to blame if they are terminated but themselves in the sense that you gave them the list of requirements and time to make the changes.