Worry!

Hello,
I made a wrong move, I took this family in Sept, they wanted daycare for three months, and the dad said but there is a big possibility that they will stay longer I thought about it I made my decision and decided it to take them even thought I was taking a risk well guess what at the end of Oct they said they don't need daycare anymore 😤 now I will have one less child Christmas is coming and interviews are down this time of year I feel awful! I being getting calls but clients are not serious, not showing up without calling I'm starting to worry big time and for some reason I always worry if my current family will give me notice!! Do you worry or is it just me that I try to overthink too much I always wonder if they are happy with me I provide a safe happy environment I feel I need to please them so they don't go! I want to relax! Any advice will be much appreciated! Thank you

I would just relax! This was probably the family's intention all along and it most likely has nothing to do with you. It sucks for you and the timing is even worse. Did you at least line up a family for after the 3 mos or were you banking on them staying longer? You will manage, we all figure things out when were down kids and you'll be fine.

I think this speaks to the current market in home daycare. Things have definitely dried up significantly in a lot of areas. I think this is a sign that all the preschools that were effected by all-day kindergarten have figured out their issues (some closed, some opened up to infants, some just took this long to get full and figure out how their new wait lists would be managed).

I think as home daycares we will now need to make these adjustments as well. It may be people close (hopefully the "hobby" daycare moms), we change our markets to become more elite (special diets, specialized programming, better food etc), we change our wait list practices (always advertise, keep a running wait list) or we change our standards e.g. no more paid vacation, paid sick days etc (I hope this doesn't happen for people who get this!)

I am going through something similar. Dcg and dcb (siblings) have been with me for 7.5 yrs and just this past week, the family decided to go with care at the school instead.
What pissed me off is that, as long as they've been with me, they decided that I only deserve just 2 weeks notice to fill the 2 spots. I mean, I expect that from my other families that have been with me for a year or two, but 7.5 yrs??? I expected more from them and they disappointed me...especially with Christmas almost here and they knew that I was needing more kids as it is.

I not take short term family but have in past to tide me over if need be. When it for min time like this situation, I would put three month contract in place and require 6 week notice of early end.

Wow, Mattsmom sorry to hear you're going through it too, it is very difficult for us to find other clients for next month, I am currently looking to fill a spot for Feb nothing is showing up for Dec/ Jan I wish you the best and I hope you can fill those spots asap, it's very upsetting when clients don't think about others but just themselves, I totally understand I had experiences like that too.

Hi Suzie_homemaker, this is my first time taking a family temporary, but at the same time I think is for the best, the clients are super over-protective of their daughter , they bring her with layers and layer of clothing, they see me like babysitter and they love to tell me what to do every morning I worry, but I hope I have better luck with my next client. This time I won't be taking temporary it takes time to find clients now a days. Thank you for your advice I love this forum.

If you took them for just 3 months then there is nothing g to worry about. That is what the initial agreement and until the said otherwise I would have been filling their spot for after the 3 month period. If they had changed their mind it would have been too bad if the spot was filled.

Mattsmom - oh I hear ya! My very first family was the same (although not here for that long). The mom passed away and I bent over backwards to help the boys, I was the only constant in their lives during a very difficult time (plus dad's new relationship that started quite quickly). I had planned on the youngest part-time when school started in sept (both boys full-time over summer), filled the other half of their sept spot only to have them give 2 weeks notice mid June! I was floored- he knew I had already made arrangements (turned others away) to accommodate them. Then to top it off on their last day I didn't even get a card (I got both boys gifts and wrote a nice note in a card). I was very hurt!

I learned a very valuable lesson with that family.

I worry about clients leaving all the time. Really is that they CAN leave at any time. They don't care if they leave you with little to no income. I have had a lot of clients NOT tell me they are on waiting lists for centers or subsidy. Since July I have had 4 clients give notice, 2 to centres, 1 moved and the last one just got a subsidy spot. Its because of clients like this I know have it in my contract that if they are not in my care for 52 weeks (1 yr) they forfeit their deposit. I do offer temporary care, so I would have signed them on anyways. It just would have been nice to have had a warning that they where going to leave.

When a daycare centre or a school based daycare program notify someone off the waiting list they only have a week to make up their mind if they want to take the spot and start paying for it meaning they can't double pay for more than that which is why that is all the notice they gave.

My guess with the original post is that the family was on a wait list and had been told they would have a space by January and one came up sooner so they took it.

It is hard not to take it personally for sure.

Yeah, I hear you, it is hard at this time of the year as I have 2 parents who just gave notice as they are moving and both are part-time and I am getting calls for full-time so hard to say no -
I would suggest saving extra money when you are full for the months when it is slow so all your bills are covered- Good Luck

Van- do you have a clause with your PTers that you can give notice if a full time client comes along? If you can't replace the 2 PTers because their days don't work, what about talking to your current PTers about switching days to open up a FT spot?

No I don't Torontokids but it is something to consider as this is the first year I have all p/ters as 4 f/ters just left- Thanks again :)

I just included that clause Tkids:)