Monday morning venting!

[kidlove]

Sweetness, if the lunch is going to cause trouble I would have her put it in the fridge and take it home later, have her eat what everyone else will eat. As far as the older kids being there all day? can they all go outside to play a time or two more than the regular, there must be snow to play in with the buses not running? when i am desperate I also (gasp!) offer a movie for the kids, so many christmas ones to choose from or you can do any christmas craft or activity, bake, make a cheap ornament for the tree, make Christmas cards and mail them to family. you'll be okay, it's just the unexpected that will knock you off your feet sometimes. Take a deep breath and you'll make it, just take control though, if you dont want that kid to cause trouble with the packed lunch dont let her have it, make her take a rest at nap time, and charge the Mother for the Full day, no matter what! think of it the way I do...MORE INCOME!

[crafty]

Mondays can be rough ! My OWN kids are acting up today man o man. The others are having ahard time sharing or are just plain whinny. Hope it doesn"t get too bad for you. I baked shortbread cookies this AM which we decorated just after snack ...It helped passe time and keep them occupied since we can't go out. I was planning on making them as christmas presents but today seems the day for it so parents will be getting their presents early

Now they are all down for an early nap and they are all OUT already Hope there are cookies left when they wake up hihihi

[Smitty]

Yes snow day here as well. Six thirty I get the first text message to see if the kids can come.(they normally are in school) except the mom asked if I could take them for 4.5 hours. I said sure but I am wondering if she thinks that is a half day. (My half day rate is for anything under four hours.) I guess I will find out when she pays me. My little one was up half the night last night so I am pretty exhausted today. We have a movie on now and we are sitting next to the fire. So nice. We have already done our craft for the day. I was just wondreing if anyone has a clause about half days. I feel that if the kids are here for lunch it really should be considered a full day rate. Any opinions? I had a mom drop off her three kids and pick them up after lunch and pay a half day rate and I felt like it was unfair. We eat lunch at 11:15 so how could I possibly have a half day that started in the morning when my opening time is 7:30. i guess I could just stretch lunch to 11:30 on those days.

[kidlove]

Smitty, my half day is 1-4 hours and full is anything above 4 hours, even 15 minutes. My half day charge is also 5$ less than full day charge.

[treeholm]

I don't have a half-day rate because it still takes up a full-day space. If a child comes for a partial day, they still have to pay for that day's spot. I also wouldn't just "find out when she pays me." Can you imagine your dentist not knowing how much he or she would earn for your appointment until they found out what you paid? You're the business owner, you tell her what she pays, not the other way around.

[Crayola kiddies]

Yes .... What treeholm said .... Tell her what she owes !!!!

[Smitty]

I will, I have absolutely no problem telling her she owes me for a full day but I'm not going to make an issue of it unless it is an issue. I was just wondering if she thought that it would be a half day rate. My client has my policy book where it is clear that a half day is four hours or less. Can you imagine if i responded to her text message "yes you can bring your kids but im charging you a full day"

[playfelt]

When you subtract what they would normally have paid for the before and after it isnt' usually that much more for them to be there the full day so it isn't as much of a shock to the parent as it might seem.

As for the lunch the parent likely had it made already and wasn't totally sure on what she was supposed to do since this is the first snow day of the year.

This is a good t ype of thing to review in the fall newsletter with the idea of ok poor weather is potentially on the horizon here are the policies....