Does anyone have NON FEE DAYS???

[Momof4]

No discounted fees for parents vacation time either. Again they are paying for the spot...up to them if they use.

Exactly! I have a family heading to the tropics this Wednesday so will be away for 2 days this week and all next week too. You bet they are paying for these 2 weeks before they leave. They can afford to go to a hot sunny place so they can afford to pay for their daycare space too. It's simple.

As far as confrontation for sick children, don't worry about enforcing your contract because if you DO NOT then you are giving parents the message that you DON'T take your contract seriously so WHY SHOULD THEY? Oh ladies, please enforce your contract rules to the letter.

[Momof4]

You are being waaaaay too nice! I started out doing that but cut it out after the first year. Now I even have 3 paid personal days per year in my contract in case I get sick so I can get paid. After all, it's the little ones in my daycare who bring in the germs. My only unpaid days are my closed for vacation days. Otherwise full week fees are due all year.

[Sarah]

Here it is really simple: The daycare is opened, you pay. It's closed, you don't be!

[playfelt]

I had three teachers in care and all had one year olds when I started here in Ottawa. That gave them the choice of paying only for part of Christmas or March break or using the days since at the time it was hard to get kids and teachers especially as they expected to not have to pay. My version was like a compromise to them and they agreed to care.

Since then I have kept it in. Some families don't use the 5 days at all. Some use them at Christmas which is the most common and I don't really care since it gives me free days. I also found that parents did keep kids home when sick and use a day and one day of lost income meant no fighting with parents over bringing sick kids and less got sick so it worked all around.
5 days for 10 months works out to half a day a month and that is not a lot of lost income. Parents get a sense of not being nickle and dimed either and compared to when I didn't do it I really think it has helped our relationship - yes we are a business first but we are in a service industry and I'm sure we all remember which restaurants treated us better than the others and are more loyal to them etc.

[mamaof4]

Try explaining it like tuition for school. You are paying for the spot- whether or not your child is there.

[Judy Trickett]

I give NO "free" days. Basically, if I am here to work then YOU pay. Period. And you also pay me for all holidays even if I am closed.

I make this VERY clear both in my contract AND verbally in the interview. There is no way in HELL I would allow a parent to get away with deducting payment from a cheque.

[jodaycare]

The only days that are non fee days are days that are my vacation days. I just added 5 paid personal days to my contract, I have already used 2 due to the stomach flu. My parents pay full fees for everything else unless they take vacation time outside of mine, in which case they would pay half fees.

[Dayhome Mamma]

Oh Honey, you've got to put a stop to unpaid days for sure! I charge a set fee per month, which clearly states that this fee is set regardless of child's actually attendance due to them having a family vacation, sick days, relatives visiting, etc. The way you can explain it is to bring up examples such as paying rent, or tuition. It stays the same and is expected regardless of whether someone decides to camp in a tent for a month, or goes on vacation. When people pay you, it should be for the space that you are securing for them and their child for the month, regardless of the attendance.
And for part time, I always establish a set amount of days which have to be paid for each month as well, regardless of attendance. So one little girl I have, her mom is a flight attendant with an unpredictable schedule but said she would most likely need 10-12 days per month, so I told her I would take her in but the set fee would be for the 10 days no matter what, if there were days that she was not here, etc. She would add to the pay of course if she ended up using 12 days. And I also had to think about late charges due to her job and additional fees if she was staying and eating dinner with us, etc.
If people have a problem with that, then I wouldn't consider them secure enough, or fair enough to me to be my clients. Its the whole babysitting notion that is the problem. Some people think that if their child is not here, why should they pay? But don't know that a dayhome/daycare is a much bigger committment and responsibility than that.

[Momof4]

I have a client who told me this week that the grandmother is going to take the little girl for two weeks in July and she mentioned that her husband was upset about paying for these weeks. I have never, ever had issues with this family paying but I may have to use 'the speech' that I learned from the experienced ladies = Think of it like a gym membership - you go or not - you pay!