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I have a teacher. For the first few years I didn't charge for March break, summers or 2 weeks at Christmas. She had another baby a year ago and has just come back Dec.1 2014. Her first child continued to come at 3 days per week while on mat leave. My requirement for all mat leaves. I also told her that from now on summers are paid. Completely. With the exception of my holidays. One child will be starting school so this is only for the baby. She agreed, no problem.
Previously, I didn't charge for summers off and holidays for the kids of teachers. I figured i was always lucky to find other kids who needed summer only care, so i would get paid anyway. When i did my contract overhaul, i changed that policy to 50% payment for vacations and time off. One family had no problem with it at all, and the teacher parent even said- and i quote- "hey i have no problem paying you half rate for the summer, i am securing my spot for the fall! Besides, if i get paid for the summer off then so can you" LOL. i just smiled politely and said 'thank you so much for your support and understanding.'
I find the teacher parents to be high-maintenance. They expect alot for nothing. I try and avoid them, but if I found a family I really liked, they pay full-time fees all of sept-june and can hold their spot(without attending) over the summer with a 2 week deposit for the last 2 weeks of care, and 10 days per month for both July-August. If they want to use the days, it's my 3 day a week minimum for both July and August as well as the 2 week deposit. It's potentially a loss of $1000 a month or more(for me) per child, so if you could find another FT family to fill it over the summer, then you should, or make them pay at least 1/2 fees to keep it open.
How do you think so? Not being snarky, i promise! But i am curious to know why, do you have particular experiences you are referring to?Quote:
Originally Posted by Busy ECE mommy
Hi Monkey Princess,
I have had several of these families before and perhaps I have found the "lemons" of the bunch, so I might be a bit biased, based on my experiences. The teacher families I had all signed detailed contracts, and fought me every step of the way regardless. Kids always brought in sick with the "dose and drop" syndrome, as they couldn't leave work for the day/also refusal to pick up sick kids during the day/being here from open til close every day including Xmas and March break/arguing with me about paying full prices on stats and child's sick days/refusal to accept input on child's development when there were many red flags/condescending behaviour towards me when I had to enforce contract/got mad when I gave a 3 month notice of my upcoming one-week vacation, and then they wanted me to search for another provider for them during that week/wanted summer spot held for free and the list goes on.....
I was so relieved when I found other families to fill the spots beginning in the summer, and then the teachers were offended that the spots weren't there 2 months later, even though they refused to pay to hold it. Not worth my headaches...
I know not to paint them all with the same brush, but I know it's not for me.
Oh OK. I understand.
I've only had one experience, and I didn't get paid for PD days, stats, Christmas, March break or the summer and she had a different schedule every week so I was holding a ft spot open when she was only using 2 days some weeks. When I started standing up for my need for a more stable income, she left (one month after returning for the summer, after I held her spot for no charge). I'm never doing that again. Teachers will have to compromise. I'm fairly sure they don't go without income for those days, so I'm going to insist that I will not either.