Rates

[Monday 2 Friday Mama]

Ummmmm
Seems I might have to change my full time only position

My daycare provider when we had our 2 in her daycare must have LOVED us! I paid full fee when we had our second to ensure we didn't lose our spot and I was on mat leave ( and she only went once or twise a week to keep her in routine) Never got a change of rate for having 2 her in her care. If one of our girls had a sniff, I came and picked her/them up.
I understand not wanting to have to pay for a spot when your home and not working but as someone who did pay as my husband also had Friday's off and she never went .....so they only went Mon-Thurs and we paid full fee and full to hold her spot while on mat leave.
Guess we were the dumb ones...but no regrets as she was wonderful but ouch on the pocket book.

Guess...need to change my way of thinking. What we did doesn't mean everyone else is going to....

@ jec - hi there, I'm a caregiver located in Ottawa. I'm not sure what the industry norms are in your area, but you shouldn't feel that you got a raw deal. Quite the oppostite actually. I think your caregiver was very fair with you. It's almost impossible financially for a caregiver to hold a spot for someone for an entire year. (you're looking at over 10,000 lost income) I've been asked about this by families and I just can't do it. I certainly encourage parents to contact me when they are ready to return to work, and if I have a space available I'm more than happy to welcome them back, but I simply cannot leave a space open for an entire year. The other risk with keeping spots empty for families who are home on mat leave is that frequently Mum's will change their mind about going back to work - then I'm left scrambling to fill a space. While I appreciate the need for families to have a "back up" plan it doesn't make planning easier for me. Not good ! As far as your wish for a "family discount" goes....again I've been asked about this one and I try to explain it to parents this way: both children are going to eat lunch, participate in crafts and other special activities, and both children will require a playpen/crib/bedding to sleep in, as well as various other "stuff" no matter whether they are here 4 days or 5 days - hence why I cannot offer a reduced rate. I run an excellent program and it's absolutely beneficial for the babies to do all the neat things that I offer - however, these activites cost money and I cannot offer them if I don't have the financial fluidity to fund them. This logic can also can be applied to your desire for a reduced rate since your child was only attending daycare for four days a week. Under Ontario law caregivers can only care for a maximum of 5 children. If your little one is here for 80% of the time, I think we could both agree that it would be very hard to find a parent who only needs daycare for that one day each week when your child is not here. By giving you a discount you're saving 120 to 150 dollars a month - but it comes out of my bottom line. Again, it comes down to making sound business decisions - because while we love children, being a caregiver is a profession like any other and we need to make sure that we're making good economic decisions. One last thought, while it is lovely for parents to have both children in the same daycare, it can be perilous for the caregiver. If you leave their care, that caregiver has lost close to half of her income (assuming that she is caring for 5 children) It requires a lot of trust on the caregivers behalf to allow one individual that much influence/affect on their income. I personally prefer to spread my eggs out in different baskets.