What they are really asking is do you expect them to pay for those days and how will it effect them. Some take vacation days by hubby being off work for two weeks and doing stuff around the house or even taking the whole group on outings with just the odd family day and daycare kids stay home. Others take a month off every summer and go to visit relatives.

What we have to remember in home care is that if the family goes to a daycare centre those are not issues because when one staff member has vacation or a sick day there are others to cover and so the daycare family just carries on as normal. With homecare what we do matters. If you close every time you or your child needs an extra cuddle day then families are left in the lurch and if they don't have family in the area will likely pass you by. Also some that have vacation and sick days built into their contract simply use them sick or not as in a personal day. Not saying we don't deserve them but again since not everyone does it a family looking for continuity of care will pass a provider by that seems to want time off all the time.

When answering an email like that it is also ok to say something like yes I take vacation just as you the parents get vacation days and personal days from your work - as in remind the parent that they get them.

Things change over the years too. When our kids were small and we lived in Calgary we took three weeks every summer and drove back to Ontario to visit the grandparents.

Once our kids got old enough to go to university that was hubby's vacation time - taking the kids and their stuff to their respective universities end of Aug and going and getting them end of April. No room in the van to make it a family vacation. So for me I just carried on doing daycare during vacation time. I do inhouse vacation days. That means every so often I just have to get caught up on stuff and they play or watch tv all day while I do more of my own thing and parents appreciate the continuity and the kids like the break too.