Quote Originally Posted by daycarewhisperer View Post
Was the neighbor part directed towards me? I don't know who you are speaking of but I will take your word for it.

I do agree with the rest of your post. I don't do much as far as crafting and our xmas party is mostly home made stuff. When I do a party the parents are wonderful about pitching in. Some do cash and some bake or buy pizza for us.

I would encourage providers who don't have year end bonuses to set up some kind of weekly fund to go into a year end fund. I've suggested before things like a "party and paper" pot where the parents give two dollars per week per child into the fund which would cover any party expenses, craft expenses, and some leftover money for the provider at the end of the year. Each slot doing two dollars a week will land a hundred dollars per year per slot to cover celebrations and give the provider some extra coin at years end.

Ask for coins and have the pot in the arrival and depature area so parents can see it grow. Use the sorting of the coins as an activity once a month and stash the money away. That way you have money for little presents or crafts and a little something for yourself.
Yes, I was referring to someone who is actually your neighbor. (She posted about not getting anything...not even a thank you)

The concept of building the bonues or gift you want from parents into your rates is where my thought process started at before all of this got blown out of proportion.

I wanted to show the OP that having a different belief system than parents do about gifting and appreciation is exactly what is backfiring and causing her to feel so sad about it. She can't fault them for not seeing appreciation the same way she does.

So the easiest way to avoid the hurt feelings is to not expect anything and to build your bonus or gift into your yearly rates. Parents who respect those rates, policies and rules ARE showing their appreciation to the provider by being loyal clients who stay for years.