Turning down request for spots??

That's a good point about the daycare bad mouthing rather than the parent. Sometimes I just feel like a sitting duck!lol

After much diliberation I decided to not even respond to the email. I remembered that this parent had the mysterious problem of never getting the emails I sent her (yeah right), though insisted on emailing. It was yet another issue with her that was very frustrating. So I thought "screw it, I will just pretend I didn't receive the message." Not even worth my time.

But on a more positive note, I signed on a new full time family for September since my daughter will be in full time kindergarten ( and therefore leaving me with a preschool spot vacant). So the money I will get from that makes it not necessary to look actively for any school age kids. 1 full time spot is pretty much equivalent to 2 before and after school kids. So yay for me!

Me too! My oldest is starting grade 1, she was in half day kinder this year. So I've filled her spot and I'm not worrying about school age kids.

Do you have to fill the spot with a child who only needs care from 9-330 or how does it work?

No, as soon as she is done kinder, she counts as school age instead of preschool. Or if she was in full day kinder that would also count as school age. That was a motivating factor for me to get licensed. I didn't want to worry about going over my numbers if I filled a spot based on her being away at school, but then she stays home sick? Or inservice days? It wasn't worth it to me to risk it.
So as soon as she is school age, I only have 2 school age spots sitting empty instead of the 3 I have now.

OHhhh right...I wasn't thinking clearly lol.

That is a good idea to go licensed for when your school aged child needs to stay home sick. I never thought about that. I have loads of time before that happens but I was curious lol