11 hour day!

[playfelt]

I raise my rates when new families start care but do not raise the rates of any family already in care so the longer a child stays with me the longer they keep the lower rate. Assuming you may have to start with some new children after the baby is born, that would be the time to consider raising your rate for incoming families.

[lilac]

Yes, I understand why you would wait to raise rates for new families. However, in my situation, ALL of my families had told me that they were looking for long term care, not just a year or two. They are all more or less the same age so it will be a few years, before they outgrow the need for daycare. SO, just in the 2 years I've been doing daycare, the cost of living has increased, circumstances have changed (4 of my kids now require breakfast which when they started they did not) and they ALL eat way more as they are getting older. So, I feel I need to adjust my rates to reflect their changing needs, mostly the fact that they are eventually going to eat me out of house and home!! LOL! They are getting older, I need differnt activities for them... etc, etc..... if they all stick with me til they are 12... thats 5-6 more years w/o an increase?

[playfelt]

Yes there should be an additional $5 a day for breakfast since it is not normally included in the fees. Also when I was serving breakfast I didn't serve a morning snack and we did just a drink break when we did diapers mid morning.

I only care for children till they go to school as in I do not do any bus runs or take before/after kids because there is no money in it since they take one of my five spaces. So I would only have a child for 3 years max.

I know some caregivers that have a $1 a year increase written right into their contract so every January or whatever month they pick the fee increases by a dollar a day which means a weekly increase of $5.

[Sunflower]

I say do what works for you , there are all kids of people looking for daycare out there. Some need 11 + hrs a say but there are some who need less than 10. I also live in an area where it takes an hours in the am and at least an hour in the PM to get to and from work but I would never work more than 10 hours.

I simply choose to take on families that can work within my hours and that is it. I value my family time and personal time too much ! lol

As for as the rate increase. Perhaps you could charge more starting in the new year but let them know asap.
The cost of everything else is going up, they will most likely get some sort of raise in their line of work, why not you ? Just explain it like you did in your post, they should understand. If they don't, they don't deserve you. You work hard for your $ !