Dealing with a death

Have you ever had to close without much notice to attend a funeral? Or did you miss the funeral??

I have no experience with this, but I am sorry for your loss.

I have closed with short notice due to a funeral. In my policies I have it in the same section as closure due to illness.

I'm sorry for your loss. I have no experience with this but for me, family always comes first. I would think that your daycare parents would understand the short notice.

Sorry for your loss. I have personal/sick days in my contract and would use those. I would weigh how I think I would feel if I missed the funeral or made alternate arrangements such as did care till 2pm knowing I could then make it to the cemetery for the interment and reception with the family as in find a way to do most of both events. At the same time I would have to know that emotionally I was capable of doing daycare that day - again based on my relationship. Do not let family shame you or harass you into thinking you have to close daycare just because. You will not be the only person that had to work that day. But if you feel that you need to be there then let your parents know as soon as you can, offer them a friend with a space if you know of any so they are not stuck and do not feel guilty because dealing with family issues is part of life.

So sorry for your loss. I am a daycare provider, but have not had to close due to a death. However; before I ran my own daycare, my son was in a daycare where my providers father past away unexpectedly. Personally, I had no problem with the early morning call and needing to alter my plans. This is a horrible thing to happen and I would expect most people will be understanding of the circumstances. You need to do what is right for you personally. Take the time to grieve.

ABSOLUTELY! I am sorry for your loss....but family does come first....has only happened a couple of times but parents have been understanding....if they aren't....TOO BAD

Its a hard one as I'd have to close for at least 2 days seeing as I'd have to fly to Sask from BC. If the funeral is on the weekend as so much of the family lives out of Province but I'd still have to close for a few days. So far to know what to do until I know more I guess. :(

So sorry for your loss. I have had to close twice for a death. Once when my FIL passed away suddenly and then again when my Dad passed. Both happened after my day had started and all of my parents were amazing, they were here within an hour. Take whatever time you need.

I closed for 3 days when my grandpa died, it was sudden and unexpected. I had emailed the families during the daycare day letting them know he passed and that I would need to close to travel out of town for the funeral that I would let them know as soon as I heard. If I recall this was a Friday and we ended up leaving that weekend and I closed the Mon-Wed.

Do what you need to do for you and your family, what gives you best closure with your loss. The daycare families will have to manage. They all chose home daycare with the understanding that they needed their own back up care for emergencies such as this.

I refunded my families for the 3 days fees. I charge for my vacations but not for my sick days, as my sick days are last minute and are more of an inconvenience and I am less stressed knowing they aren't paying for my last minute closure. Since the funeral was closer to a sick day closure than a vacation day I opted to refund them. Hopefully your contract covers this so you know what to do!

Regardless of what your contracts state, everyone has emergency situations or times when they aren't available to work sort notice. If you had stomach flu, likely you'd close and remain closed for a couple of days to ensure the children didn't get it. That's a risk parents take with in home.

For a funeral, it would be some pretty heartless clients who weren't willing to be a bit flexible. I think if you have paid personal days/vacation/sick days, then you should be able to use some of those for this event. If not, I don't think it's unreasonable to close without pay - few could argue with that.

I have 10 personal days a year in my contract which would over sick, vacation and any other reason for unavailability.

My mother fell ill, and was hospitalized for three days before she passed. I closed for those three days, my mother did not want a funeral, but wanted a memorial party when we were ready. All the families I had in care were 100% supportive. They all paid for those three days, even though I don't require pay on my days off, a couple came over with homemade dinners to share, and all of them made donations to the memorial that was held a month later and raised money for the Cancer society.
I think all my families went above and beyond, but I cant imagine any family having an issue when their provider has to deal with such a loss.

I had to deal with it when my grandmother passed away last year. I took my unpaid time off as needed- about 3 days (plus a weekend). None of my families had a problem. my grandmother was not well, and we were advised that she wouldn't be with us much longer so my families had the chance to make arrangements with their back up care.

My advice is for you to take the time off that you need. If a death is unexpected, it's going to take several days, even weeks for it to settle in. Even if it is expected it takes a few days to get back into the right mind frame. Don't rush to get back to work the next day.

I would hope that your families are supportive of you in this time. This is just one of the reasons why families are supposed to have back up care, we don't always know when an emergency can happen.

Sorry for your loss :(