Has anyone allowed parents to do this?

[Momof4]

I have one family who pay at the beginning of the month for 4-5 weeks at a time, two families who pay 2X/month and the rest pay weekly. I prefer the ones who pay in large lump sums because it makes less receipt writing and adding at the end of the year for me. I make notation of the amount paid on my calendar too so that I can see clearly when people have a payment due. Find a good system for yourself and it works.

Are you able to go without the income for the space all the way until Sept? That's quite a long time to hold a space unless it is filled until that time, then it would make sense. I charge a deposit when a contract is signed but it's applied to the LAST week of care, not at the beginning. The end of care is where we can get screwed out of our money!

If I have a space full until the time the new clients are going to start I don't charge any holding fee but if I hold a space, it's for 1 or 2 months maximum and I charge $200/month holding fee. I only had this happen twice and I made an addendum to the contract and had the clients sign it because I made the deposit and holding fees non-refundable since it was a special circumstance because of holding the space.

I agree with the poster who said that you should make sure that you show the clients that you are not bending your rules unless you decide it works for you and you are willing to be flexible with payment but your contract is law!

[sunnydays]

I am like Momof4 in that I allow parents to pay monthly or biweekly. I prefer monthly as it is less accounting, but that is hard for a lot of parents, so many of them are biweekly. The key I have found to this is that I get them all paying on the same day (so if someone starts their child with me on a non-pay week, I just get them to pay the first week and then it gets them onto the same schedule as everyone else). That way I always know when payday is and then with the monthly it is on the 1st, so pretty easy as well.
However, I would be concerned for sure with a parent trying to negotiate the holding fee/deposit. My contract and fees are not open to negotiation.