Thinking of revising my contract to include some NEW key points.

[Sarah A]

I have noticed that many of you are from Ottawa and there are different expectations of daycare providers in different areas. I appreciate your input.

Is there anyone in the Hamilton/Halton area that can add to this thread? Specifically about parents keeping their children at home and how much vacation per year and sick days?

[Sandbox Sally]

I made up my contract recently to give myself two weeks unpaid off. Parents pay regardless of attendance, meaning they pay if their child is sick or if they take holidays. I do however give them three sick days unpaid per calendar year. I also ask for a two week deposit which is for the last two weeks that the child is in my care. I do that as a safety net, as they can never just walk away leaving me flapping in the wind. I have also decided to be paid in advance from now on, so that's in the new contract as well. If care commences more than two weeks from the signed contract, I require 20% of weekly fees until the start date. In addition to this, I require the contract to be filled out along with other paperwork and the deposit to be returned within one week of the interview if they want the spot. I just had two kids sign on in the past week under the new contract, and parents from both families deemed my contract as "standard".

One thing though...I just signed on a teacher. She said that she knows that it's normal for her to pay holding fees, but I haven't decided what to charge for that yet. I have an entire year to worry about it though, so I am not stressing.

[Home Together]

Hi,
Any chance you could share your contract. I live in Baden, so I'm definetely not competition :0 But I am just beginning to provide care and hoping to open in July, and I want to have a set policy in place before I start interviewing,

Thanks so much

[mom-in-alberta]

HomeTogether: I don't think I would be able to share here, I don't know if you can upload files? (sorry!). But I just wanted to say that I put together my contract by using what I found online. I googled "home daycare contracts" or "home daycare paperwork", etc. Many sites popped up that had free versions.
Good luck!!!