Charging for transition dates

Just thought I would see what the majority of people did with regards to charging for transition dates. I have a new one year old starting up shortly and her mom is coming next week for just an hour to "play with us". The following week she is dropping her daughter off from 8 - 11am on Tues and Thurs. morning for some transition time, before she begins full time. I wasn't going to charge for those dates, sort of a freebie. But I thought I would see what everyone else's preference is, for curiosity sake.

Thanks!

Transition dates are part of the 2-week trial period. They are paid as a 2-week non-refundable deposit that they had paid for to save their spot. - if that makes any sense....

NEVER EVER give people FREE ANYTHING!!!!!! You're still doing your job, make them pay for it!

Parent and child may visit twice with no payment - mom stays but only twice as I am not a playgroup. They come first thing in the morning and then go home so child can have morning nap or whatever and we go on with our day barely disrupted. For alone visits they pay nothing for the first one which is an hour long = three free one hour visits then $15 for a half day no meal and $20 for half day with lunch and full fee for the full day.

I just charge $5/hr whenever mom leaves. If the parent is still with them they are caring for them, not me, so I don't charge. The minute they walk out the door, it's $5/hr (which is less than what they would pay for a teenage babysitter in the evening).

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Originally Posted by waterloo day mom

$5/hr(which is less than what they would pay for a teenage babysitter in the evening).

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REALLY!?!?!?! Here it's like $8-10/hr for a teenage babysitter!!!!!:eek:

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Originally Posted by Play and Learn

NEVER EVER give people FREE ANYTHING!!!!!! You're still doing your job, make them pay for it!

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I agree. Here's the thing. You need to create VALUE in what you offer. If you give things away for free there is no value in that product, or service or time.

If you want people to value you then you have to charge them a fee.

I usually only have parents drop their kids off once for about an hour or so. I have never charged for this.

While I agree that you have to create value for yourself, I would be hesitant to choose a provider who I felt was charging me for every.single.thing.

I am not opposed to paying for services but, to pay when I am still there? I would be miffed.

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Originally Posted by mamaof4

While I agree that you have to create value for yourself, I would be hesitant to choose a provider who I felt was charging me for every.single.thing.

I am not opposed to paying for services but, to pay when I am still there? I would be miffed.

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Hmmm...well, I pay for every...single....th ing the daycare kids use. Why shouldn't I be paid for every....single..... thing...then?

If this dcmom had to show up to work for an hour you can bet she would want to be paid.

Double standard

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Originally Posted by Judy Trickett

Hmmm...well, I pay for every...single....th ing the daycare kids use. Why shouldn't I be paid for every....single..... thing...then?

If this dcmom had to show up to work for an hour you can bet she would want to be paid.

Double standard

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Agree with you there Judy!

Age of the child makes a difference for me too. If it is a baby and mom is there more or less observing for an hour then I don't charge as compared to an older child and mom wants to see them all doing a craft or having snacktime then she will be charged for the service. There is no charge to me to have a mom bring her child over to visit us. Just the same as I don't charge the parents for their evening interview. But do remember to add those hours onto your number of hours worked for the year.

I had my children do transition days when I used home daycares and I always assumed I would have to pay. I would ask the provider what she would charge me.
What I liked to do was initially leave the child for 2 hours, then 4 or half a day and then about 6 hours before I officially "started" the following week.
I haven't had any parents do transition days with me. So far all my parents have just opted to throw their kids right into a full day - except for one mom who started off with a half day

Aside from our initial visits/ interviews, I have not had anyone opt to do transitional days.
If they did, they would be paying regular rate. I have my clients pay on a monthly basis, and it really holds a spot, as opposed to being an hourly or daily rate.
I certainly see the benefits on transitioning slowly, from all viewpoints. But at the same time, a drop off and go starts us off on the right foot; meaning, if mom shows up and stays for the first few days or a week, then we are just going to deal with separation anxiety at a delayed point in time. Does that make any sense? If the kids know from day one "when I come here, mommy and daddy do not come in" then it seems better for everyone.
If I had parents that were very concerned, my suggestion is to do what spixie33 mentioned. Start off with smaller time periods and early pick-ups.

Agreeing with Judy and play and learn. Transition days are either my half day rate $30 or full $38. Typically mom or dad stays for a few minutes then is out the door. I'm not doing this for free, my time is worth something and it also shows me they are interested enough to pay before the actually contract starts.

I totally agree! Which is why I always offered to bring in anything my daycare lady needed. I brought target gift cards with my monthly payments and other things to help out.

My transition days are covered by the one week fee that they pay when they sign. It usually works out to two full days pay. I only start charging when the child is left alone.

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Originally Posted by jodaycare

I only start charging when the child is left alone.

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This is my practice as well - I figure that the pre visits are things I am requesting as well and benefit me as well since makes transition easier so any cost associated with having the child "visit" can come out of my operating budget verses charging clients - I ha e had clients offer to pay for food if child stays over a lunch visit but I decline .

I charge my normal half or full day rate. If they choose to only use 2 hours out of the 4, they still pay the entire half day rate. I agree with creating value.

I'm not a big fan of transition days anymore. I recently started 2 new 12 month olds a few weeks apart. I transistioned one in 2 days a week for 3 weeks. We started with 3 hours in the am then went to a shortened full day (9 - 2:30) They paid the half day rate for the 3 hours and the full day rate for the other. But, I found that by the time she got here she still wasn't settled. She settled faster being here every day. She cried less and less every day and by the end of the second week she's fantastic. But during the transition days she made no progress at all!

My second 12 month old was here for 2 transition days 3 weeks before he started full time. And his transition days were only for 3 hours each. I don't think it made a bit of difference.

I think parents put their kids in for "transition" days to help with their own transistion. Kids adapt easily when they're so young. At least that's my experience with them.

I sometimes offer a free few hours for older kids, 2 and up. It gives me a chance to see what they're like without mom and dad around. At that age it's not about them getting used to daycare, it's more about seeing how they do in my daycare.

I agree with Judy on this. To be honest, my clients have all just started paying full fees from the start date. Those that want a transition week gradually work up to a full day over the course of a week, but it is part of the month's fees. They are paying for the space and I certainly cannot fill the space for the parts of that week they don't use. Besides, that first transition time is more work for me as a caregiver because the child is adjusting, possibly crying and needs a lot more of my time and attention, so I don't think it is unfair that the week is paid in full.

By the way, I will transition, but only over a week...extended transition is not great in my opinion. It just tends to delay the child from adjusting and takes longer for him/her to settle in and feel secure. I advise parents that a one week transition is fine and that they can stay for about half an hour or so on the first day or two, but to stay too long only confuses the child and makes them expect that every day.

Ya to clarify - I do not want true transitions stretched out over months unless the newbie is the sibling of a current client and they are here daily ANYWAY for drop off and pick up visits ... those kids tend to ease right into program with NO transition cause the babe has known the program and me since birth!

My typical process is clients sign on for the space with a start date usually 2-3 weeks from that time ... so in that 3 week period for week 1 parent and child come for a few one hour play dates at different times of the day and parent stays in program so I can see how parents reads feeding and other cues and parent can see how the program operates and how I meet kids needs and that 'trust bond' between us can grow so that their own 'anxiety about leaving' are not transferred to the child, during week 2 parent and child come for play dates daily in morning or afternoon for two hours or so parent stays on 'property' but way if child is not coping parent can come back after 10-15 minutes of me trying so the child is not left to 'cry unconsoled' for too long and because children cannot tell time 15 minutes of 5 hours same to them but the longer they cry the more 'anxiety' that grows - so child learns that parent always comes back eventually, week 3 child comes in 'transition' week so day one plan for couple hours and parent comes back, day two a little longer and so forth until day 5 of that week is almost a full day .... that week I charge the full week for cause I am providing the 'care' and they are in the space so to speak!

I have had to start kids 'cold turkey' in the past ... it is just more stressful cause they tend to cry all day verses weaned in kids who just periodically cry throughout the day as you work out the routine with them.

I agree that having a child come 1 or 2 days a week for a long time to 'wean' into daycare does not really helping to 'transition' ... too much time between visits and so forth just drags out the process and increases the anxiety.... children need consistency and practice to master new things and well that means daily exposure ideally and part time infants generally take a long time to adjust.

If mom is there, it's free and only lasts about an hour to and hour and a half MAX. If mom is not there my standard rates apply

After having done several transition and non transition starts, I have to say that I am not a fan of transition days. I don't feel it lessens the "trauma" of separation - except perhaps for the parent. ;)
I do of course honour parents' requests if they wish to do transitioning. I charge my half day fee, which is 15 dollars less than my full day fee. The child comes at 11am, stays for lunch and nap, plays for a bit, then goes home.

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Originally Posted by Alphaghetti

After having done several transition and non transition starts, I have to say that I am not a fan of transition days. I don't feel it lessens the "trauma" of separation - except perhaps for the parent. ;)
I do of course honour parents' requests if they wish to do transitioning. I charge my half day fee, which is 15 dollars less than my full day fee. The child comes at 11am, stays for lunch and nap, plays for a bit, then goes home.

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Agree with Alpha! I really discourage the whole idea of transition weeks/days/months ugh. I find they totally disrupt my normal group and because they are here and there days the child really isn't transitioning, its the parents who are. The child will forget 5 days later that things were ok here and you have to go through it all over again. I only allow a 1-2 hour 'transition' Parents drop child off a couple days before daycare is to begin for a couple hours. This gives them time to realize that they will survive without their child during their working hours and that their child will be just fine in daycare :) Then they start daycare as per normal. So if they are 5 days a week, the come 5 days a week.

In the past, I have done the slow transition and didn't find it helped at all. Could just be the kids I had as some daycare providers swear by transitioning slowly, but for me, no thanks. I'd rather just dive right in :) I don't charge for those 1-2 hours as it gives me some time to get to know the child, but anything after that would be charged either my half day or full day fees depending on how long they were coming.

I also don't offer the transition with mom/dad present. I totally feel that sends the wrong idea to the child. It confuses them...why last week did mom and dad get to hang out with me at daycare but this week I have to go alone...I'm a total cold turkey lady.