Gah! unpredictable hours

[CountryMommy]

So I had an interested parent who wanted very unpredictable hours/days of child care. Days could range anywhere from 6-16/month. And hours on those days would vary from 3-9 hours/day.

I usually charge a set PT rate that is for anyone who needs less than 100 hours a month of child care. But because some months I would only have the girl in my care for about 18 hours/month I tried to accomodate to these parents' needs. She said her previous provider charged a rate of $3.75/hour because of the unpredictable schedule.

Now I'm wondering, should I go with it or should I just state that I'd still charge her my usual PT rate and let her decide if she's still interested? In a way I understand where she's coming from; it'd be a lot to pay the PT rate for months when so little child care was provided. But on busier months this rate would mean that she would get a MUCH cheaper rate. On busier months she would potentially be here more than 100 hours and that would normally cost her my FT rate, but with this rate she would pay half of my PT(!) rate...

Would you just state that she is paying for a spot in my dayhome and not for actual hours in care or would you be okay with the 3.75/hour?

Dealing with situations like these are one of my less loved parts of having a dayhome.