Sorry to be so slow but I've been away on vacation. Starshine, I tell people that I charge full fees no matter if there are holidays, sick or missed days for any reason for 49 weeks every year. That makes it easy for them to budget and for me to budget and no questions ever on how much is payable.

Yes, if they average out the actual days their children are in attendance they are paying a slightly higher rate than my base rate. For instance, I have 15 closed paid days per year when I list all the stat holidays I take so I get paid a little more per day that way for every day I work, but my rates are fair. If they want to do that much math, power to them!

I take 3 unpaid weeks of vacation per year and if I had to close for an emergency they would not have to pay me. But I also wrote 3 paid personal days into my contract that I rarely use but it's nice to know if one of the children makes me sick (and that's how I get sick!) that I can still be paid.

Stick to your plan and the respectful, responsible families who will value your work and contributions to their children's lives will find you. Parents are very educated these days and can research other daycares and see the similarities and differences between the daycares and choose the ones that are best for their families. But we also have to choose the families that fit our daycares. Nobody questions my days off ever because they are listed in the contract and they have lots of notice and if they don't have the day off they can arrange for a grandparent, etc. for the day.