Difficult parents

Whether you give them a receipt or not they can still claim what they paid if they have proof which would be their duplicate cheques. I give a receipt each week after payment is received and a final formal one page statement at the end of the year. The annual statement is ONLY available to families that are paid up. I also have it in my contract that after two weeks of unpaid fees I have the right to terminate without notice - the assumption being is that their failure to pay was the equivalent to no longer wanting their children in care.

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Originally Posted by disbrina

Ya i don't want to put blame back on the parent. There has been a number of issues that have been building with this parent. Over the last year.

3 times I have had to pull out my contract and be firm with them. It is the fight that i don't want. The father ( who drops him off and picks him up cause mom doesn't drive) gets defensive when i try to mention his day or his development. He has in the past snapped at me and then apologized via facebook.

It is hard for me to see a child that I care about suffering from silly mistakes. Like not bringing the proper gear and seeing his hands red raw cause it was minus 38- and the dad didn't put mits on him. Or His feet are freezing cause mom and dad don't bring boots after it snows and they know i have to take kids to school. or seeing a rash that the poor kid has had for months probably due to the diaper being to small.

I have have had to write letters to parents that i have not had a problem with so the parents i do have problems with don't think i am trying to single them out. When do you draw the line and terminate? I have only had to terminate 1 parent before. And well, they weren't family. If it were my family i would have thrown them out by now. But they are my husbands cousin. Hence why i am trying to find some strategies to improve my communication.

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this just makes me sad--- for the child and for you. Can you ask for an extra pair or mittens or boots to be kept at your home- just 'in case'?? At my child's school they have extras and have the parents send in extra clothes for the 'just in case' moments.

Aww, poor kid. I typically have to send a letter out late every fall reminding parents to send mittens, hats, boots, etc for the upcoming weather changes. I also put a sign right in front of the cubbies where the parents have no choice but to see it. It has helped but there will always be occasions when some items are forgotten. My biggest beef is parents who complain that their children's things go missing, despite the fact that I've asked them repeatedly to label every item. Ugh! I too have extras, just in case. Unfortunately, I don't have extras of clothing, so I have had to send a little one home in a t-shirt of my 12 yr old son's because there was an accident. Fortunately, they usually feel like it makes the child feel special (for reasons I can't fathom) so they go home happy.

In Ontario, please becareful not providing receipts to families. We HAVE TO PROVIDE receipts for what the family has paid for whether their account is caught up or not! If we even so much as neglect to include our SIN or BIN #'s we can be fined $1000 for each family! I don't know the penalty for not providing the receipt, but I can imagine it is at least $1000. Not worth it in my opinion.

Instead there are other ways to protect yourself like playfelt mentioned, you can withold your annual statement if the family already has your SIN or BIN. You can also refuse to provide childcare until the account is paid up. You can ask for a deposit which is applied to the last two weeks of care, etc.

sometimes you have to explain to the parent that your efforts are the same as theres, which is working together with them in helping their child be the best he/she can be. You are not "blaming them" for bad behavior or issues that have come up, rather going to them to solve things and work on helping the child. "the childs well being a proper developement is the forefront of what we do"