So I have finally updated my contract.....

[Beanie]

I feel you 100%!!! I also previously ran my daycare like you explained. Didn't charge them for days not in care no matter what the excuse was, no notice was ever given until the morning of. I did this for almost a year. By the end of it, ALL of my 5 families were taking any excuse NOT to bring there kids to daycare to save the $40/day. I got fed up! being nice was...... yes, getting me clients and i was always full, but at the end of the day not being able to pay bills and buy groceries was not worth it!

You have to protect yourself as well. I started to see that if i was able to be open, and i NEVER took days off or couldn't provide care, then why wasn't i getting payed?? I did exactly what you did. Every day paid, no excuses. I don't even offer "free days" at all anymore. why should i pay for someone else vacation when i'm still open and working? Now clients get $10 off normal rate for the days that they take vacation and limited to only 10 days of that discount per year. After that...full rate pay every day. I also changed all policies regarding sick days as clients then would send me sick kids that they didn't want to pay for the day if they had to keep them home. Now.....48hr (2 days) not in attendance (paid) days is mandatory, and i DO send kids home...sometimes an hour after they arrive. Funny enough, after the policy changes and a huge rate increase ($5/day) every one of my clients stayed on as clients, no one left, or even questioned why i was making these changes! This bugged me even more as i could tell they knew they were taking advantage of me and fully knowing that anywhere else these are the norm. I'm happy that most of these clients have aged out of my daycare and new clients obviously didn't bat an eye at my policies. I think what your doing is totally in the right and i'm glad you realized that things had to change you will be much happier doing what you do every day knowing that your getting paid regardless.

What i did to let my clients know is that i wrote a letter that included all the changes that would be made to the contract. Price change, days off, sick policy, stat days ect... and gave it to my current clients 6 weeks prior to changes. This was more than enough time to find alternate care and more than my notice period was in my contract to terminate. Out of respect for my clients....even though they had not respected me i felt i was being more than generous. Only one client had an issue with the price increase and of course it was the family that abused the policies the most....they still stayed on as clients....

I always remind myself when i get clients who ask during the interview, and there will always be some who try....... do you give discounts? if i give you notice of vacation well in advance can we have unpaid daycare days for that? do you offer a sibling discount.....ugh the nerve of some people. I usually won't even sign these clients on if these types of questions come up more than once from a potential family during the interview process as its an indication of what type of client they will become...... and before sending them on their way to search else where I say right to them . I wake up in the morning to provide care to your children, I show up to my job just like you 5 days a week, I get no break as you do, I am a chef to 5 kids 4 times a day, I have to have tons patience all day long with everyone (i can't just choose to not talk to my co workers if they or I am in a "mood") , there is no corporate ladder for me to climb to earn more income, I don't get a pension at the end of my career of child care, when your boss is on vacation do you still get paid when you show up to work? and these are only SOME of the reasons I don't do it for nothing.