I am really sorry you are experiencing this.

I know sometimes 'seasoned providers' get painted in a tone of being hard ass inflexible persons who see the worst in clients but THESE experiences are why their skin gets a little harder .... IMO when someone comes to you asking you to put yourself on sale, to bend your business practices and so forth a huge old red flag should be going off in your head!

My own family did this to me when I was a newbie and it ended very badly ~ because they felt 'entitled' to the special they requested .... for them it was not SPECIAL at all and they had no gratitude or appreciation for what I was forgoing for the pleasure to 'serve them' ~ and yes that experience hardened me towards every other person who comes 'asking' for special as well!

I have very detailed and specific policies in place in my contract and parent handbook to cover my ass and ensure my business remains viable and a lot of thought and reflection went into those over the years based on past experiences ~ so now if anyone ASKS me to change them I would never do it simply because they ASKED ... cause with people like that if you give an inch they will eventually try to take a foot

IMO by asking someone to lower their fees or do something 'special' that no one else is getting basically are saying that they feel their needs supersede your own that they think they are entitled to 'special' and you should be so grateful for their business to give it too them .... that speaks volumes to the VALUE they place on your service and that fact that they would leave in a heartbeat if someone else offered them a 'better deal' or if you finally had to stand up and say 'no more deals' ... these are not clients who value the service and relationship you are trying to build, they are not going to be loyal or supportive when needed .... for them it is all about getting what they want for the least possible investment and while there are many business where that is 'fine' .... IMO offering childcare is not one of them!

Now that said while I can be a hardass when need be I am also often led by my emotions as well .... I have indeed bent my rules for persons who IMO would never have asked in the first place but I happened to see were truly struggling ~ over the years you learn to spot those people who would never 'expect' special and therefore are truly grateful when offered it. I have held a spot for a mat leave client at a discounted rate who was prepared to pay full price for it when I shared that the opening was coming up earlier than anticipated even if it meant cutting some drastic corners at home, I have negotiated to open earlier for a client who was struggling with staying within the hours after their family member who had been helping got ill and so forth those times when you see clients truly 'struggling' to stay within your policies ... but in all of those circumstances the client never ASKED cause they did not want to put you out with their problems and it was made clear that this was a one time / short term options because at that moment in time I was in a position to be generous and offer it but that if circumstances changed they would have to understand I could not longer do it.