Experience with Teacher parents.

[flowerchild]

She was obviously not impressed by this and said that they were not willing to do that and they would just wait and see if the spot is still available in September.

This was her giving you notice to terminate care.

So I went ahead and posted his spot to find another client. Well, I found one! I let her know (out of respect) that i had some interest in the spot and that they might want to start looking for new care for September. They back tracked and now say they are willing to pay the half rate to hold his spot.

Too bad, so sad.

I know that sounds harsh, but this woman has taken huge advantage of you. I fully believe that if you say no to this new family and agree to let her pay half the fee to hold the spot that come June she'll be denying that the conversation ever happened and you will be left high and dry.

Take the new family. What's the worst that can happen? She pulls her kid out of your daycare prior to June? She's not going to do that because at this point she isn't going to find anyone who is as generous as you have been who is willing to only take her kid for five months.

[Rachael]

This was her giving you notice to terminate care.

I absolutely agree with this. You told her that if she wants you to hold her place over summer, she needed to pay a 50% holding fee. She declined and said she'd take a chance on that place being empty come September. That means that at the end of June, your contract with this family is done.

The fact that she had a change of heart after learning the space would be taken, is irrelevant. As someone whose care contract ends in June, she tried to negotiate a new arrangement, and it's not a proposal you have accepted.

You don't need to say anything more. I suspect, she won't either and she'll be arrogant enough to presume that her half fees are good enough to hold her place.

Should you decide to take on this new family, then it's entirely up to you how you handle it. You could write to the teacher family a few weeks before the new starter is scheduled to join, and merely confirm that x date is the final day of care for their child, following their decision in Jan 2015 to terminate at the end of June rather than pay and so subsequently, as they were made aware at the time, the place won't be available after June. Or you could clarify now and be aware that they might pull their child earlier than you would like. You know your client so you'll have to figure out what is the best approach.

I have had lots of teachers over the years and mine always pay - every single client pays based on days registered not occupied here and I don't/won't differentiate based on employer. Just as school board employees get a lot of leave, so do military families and we have a huge military presence here.

School board employees tend to ask at interview for the free summer which can be irritating in their expectation of it. Military don't. I just tell them straight, if they come here, they pay. For the most part, it's not been an issue. For the odd one it was, then right there at interview, they knew this wasn't an option here.

To be honest, those that pushed for it, I tend not to offer them a place. Fair or not, I tend to feel that if they are so pushy for things to be wholly to their advantage from the get go, then likely they'll just pull their child come June anyway. Since I don't enjoy the interview process, I consider that situation avoidable by offering the place to someone else.