Hi there,
So I have this family that I have had for three years in September their child will be going to school(not their actual school but wanted to send their child there and then I can still watch their son) so I gave them my new contract/childcare agreement. They are paying $20 for before and after school but depending on the bus pick up they may not really need before so their hours would be a total of one and a half to two hours after school. Yes I get that it sucks that they are paying 20$ for this but what am I suppose to do give them a huge discount just because they are only using two hours? That's not fair to me, and I've raised my prices with everyone else because of bill 10 and frankly if I didn't have this long standing connection to them I wouldn't have agreed to watch their son because I'm missing out on $15 a day by taking him never the less I agreed to watch him that's fine. So last night the mom picked up proceeded to tell me it was unfair that I close at 5 (who can I close at 5 do I really expect parents to be able to pick up by then?)said she spoke to her friends babysitter and she closes at 5:45 (well good for her) and that I'm not a real daycare ( and said that basically I'm just a babysitter) but here's the thing I've always closed at 5 she finishes work at 2:50 and then will do school work (fine) or go to the grocery store or go for a run and not grab her son until 5:15/5:20 that was a long running issue that I never nipped in the bud but want to put a stop to it starting now, so she told me she shouldn't have to pay the $10 late fee if she is late, but by the end of the conversation said she'd make other arrangements to get her kid if she's going to be late and that She hopes we are okay now and she's so glad we had a chance to talk about this and that she hopes I don't think she takes advantage of me.....so what was the point of all this? To see if I'd cave? Make me feel like crap and put me in 'my place'?
The whole conversation left me feeling like absolute shit and made me sad.. She's totally right I'm not a real daycare centre but I'm sure as hell not a babysitter! Like if you don't like my rules don't stand there and argue leave my care and we will both feel better. It's hard too because I consider(Ed?) Us Friends but now I don't know. I just felt like she treated me so poorly.
Am I at off feeling like this? Am I mean for charging a late fee, when basically it was put in place for her because she's the one who abused leaving her kid her the last three years and never feeling bad? Help me I'm so bummed now I regret even handing out any new contracts.