I know that my families have always enjoyed me doing the field trips with the children and I think that they have come to assume it was a regular part of programming and no longer a special part of programming based on ages and stages of the children in care.

YES, I do have families that seem to expect me to do it all! And yes, I have often wondered why parents didn't do more of the 'field trips' on their time. Another part that upsets me is I have parents that tell me their children are too young to do certain field trips because they couldn't handle their 1 (or 2) on the trip. Yet, these same families expect me to do the trip with 5 children.

I don't think my daycare families are going to let the field trip issue go. It's been 4 almost 5 months and they are still complaining that I don't have any booked. Although, my families shouldn't be with me just because I do field trips, I do think the lack of field trips would be an easy excuse for all families to go their separate ways. I have one family moving soon and my daycare will be an inconvenience for them but they have told me they will be staying; my one family could be going on mat leave soon, they have said they were going to be staying; my one family I'm never sure whether they are coming or going; and my other family the mommy is a stay at home mommy. I believe that if the families are as upset as they seem to be about the lack of field trips, yes, I could be out of all my kids very quickly. All my families are extremely close, which is natural when you have had the same families for so long. Thus the reason I'm trying not to rock the boat. I admit I could just be paranoid, because its hard to find children right now and I know the families have left for less.

I agree that I should no longer absorb the cost of field trips. I didn't realize that until I found myself really upset when I took my kids to the movies and the parents refused to pay for my admittance.

Playfelt you also know the other reason is I don't know where life is taking me and I just want to keep things status quo until I know what is happening. Each day retirement looks so much better but then the reality of bills kick in