Hmmm - I take the stat and civic days listed in my post above but also have 10 paid personal days. These cover vacation, sick or any time off I need for appointments etc. I never take my day care children to appointments or run errands with them so that gets done on my time.

So my clients pay for their registered days regardless of their attendance. They pay if their day happens to be a stat day/civic day which I am closed. They pay if they are on vacation. They pay if their child is off sick. They pay if I am on vacation/sick/unavailable for a max of 10 more days a year.

Essentially they pay their daily rate x number of days registered and it's exactly the same each two week pay period regardless of what goes on within it.

I do have the option of taking more than 10 personal days however my contracts say anything more than the 10 would be unpaid.

Essentially, it's your business. You decide what you want and as long as the market is willing to pay you for it, then it's fine. If your local market balks at your terms, then you know they need tweaking when you have no clients.

I know most local providers don't charge for their own unavailability nor do they charge for the civic days. I've never had a client question my terms and if they did, they are welcome to go elsewhere since my terms are explained up front before anything is signed.