I renew my contracts with my clients every Sept. 1st. It gives me an opportunity to raise rates and make policy changes at that time and I guarantee everything until the next renewal date to make my clients feel confident that they can trust me.

If you don't have an annual renewal date yet or don't have the word Guarantee in your current contract, then I think if I were in your shoes I would either

a) Send out a letter to all clients with new contracts explaining in the letter that you have learned many things over the past months and feel it necessary to add some policies to your contract. Ask them to sign and make next Sept. 1, Oct 1, whatever, your annual renewal date. I think it's much better than Jan. 1st because people are so busy at that time of the year, including me!

b) Send out a letter to all families with a reminder of some rules. Try to list a few things that have been bothering you (come on, I bet you can think of a few!) and include the rules about arriving with children who have been fed their breakfast. Then have a talk with the family who has been taking advantage of you. Sounds like they don't appreciate you so why keep doing it? Put your foot down! Tell them that you are making a few changes in your daycare routines and your morning snacktime will be at ?:00 and no sooner for any of the children because you don't have the time any longer, you are getting too busy.