Vacation time

[bright sparks]

i take 2 weeks paid in summer and the week between Christmas and New years without pay. All my stats are paid, and I have 5 paid sick/personal days a year. Why should I not pay my bills cause it's a holiday?! I also charge if the child is sick, people pay for the spot, I am not a drop in service. It's all very up front at interview and if families disagree then I am not the DCP for them.

The paid time off for vacation is something that is for sure based on the norm in a providers area. Daycare providers perspective of why shouldn't I have paid vacation time just like the parents is not comparing apples with apples. Typically self employed people do not get paid time off regardless of the industry unless they pay themselves a wage as though they are an employee of the business but that isn't typical. The norm for self employed is no paid time off. Looking at things from a parents perspective, why the hell should they pay for a daycare spot that they can't use? At the same time as paying for unavailable daycare, they have to take time off, and if their provider takes more vacation time off than the parent has available, they too will have to take unpaid time off or have someone else in their family take time off to care for the child. DCProvider may say they are looking out for number 1 and its not their responsibility to provide back up care and a parent should have this planned out, well its not the parents responsibility to be concerned with how we pay our bills. We should also plan for this accordingly. It's just the nature of the job and speaking for myself, how the hell do I justify charging someone for a service I am not able to provide them with???? It's simple for me because it isn't the norm for my area anyway. When I have parents ask me in interviews if they get a free weeks vacation or something similar, I respond "sometimes" depending on the situation with a "do I get a paid weeks vacation then?" I am not running a charity but then the parents aren't lining my pockets when I am off the clock either. The beauty of being in this job is we write our own contracts with policies which serve us best so do what works for you!