Holding a spot for a year for mat leave

[Suzie_Homemaker]

Hello, I have a new client starting out hopefully within the next couple months. However she just asked me when she has her second child (they are still trying to conceive) she wanted to know if I could hold a spot for her oldest (and possibly new little one) for the year of mat leave.
Does anyone do that?

Sure - but they will pay for it. Why would I lose the income for two FT spaces for her peace of mind? If you have 6 spaces (depending on the limit in your Province), then her two spaces represents one third of your max income.

Do you think she would take a 33% pay cut for a year for your peace of mind?

What would be fair to charge?

The full cost of the two spaces! If she wants two spaces or one space holding, then she needs to pay for it. That is fair to YOU. Don't fall into the trap of trying to be fair to customers at a direct cost to your income.
I bet you can't think of one other service that will hold something for a full year and take a loss on their business income.
It IS fair to charge for the cost of the service she wants exclusivity to. It is NOT fair to expect you to take a financial hit on her decision to expand her family.

I was thinking of charging the daily fee for 2-3 days a week and then when the time came I would make a spot available for her but not without at least some payment that shows her commitment to me throughout the year...

Why?

Why are you willing to lose your income to make her feel comfortable?

How about her showing her commitment to you and commiting to keeping the oldest child with you full time for the duration of her mat leave and when a space opens up, she has first refusal of that space but has to pay for that second space too from the time it's empty?

Don't get me wrong, I see newer provider's doing this all the time but that doesn't put gifts under their Christmas tree when they are 9 months into a 33% wage cut.

And what happens if you have a second client in this situation at the same time? Are you going to tell one client they can have an arrangement that others cannot? Or are you going to be okay with potentially 4 spaces sitting empty for a full year while two sets of sibling groups are home with their respective Momma?

And what happens if you do this and then they have a third child? Will you then be okay with the two older children staying home during mat leave and holding three empty spaces?

If you decide to say no, be prepared for the next likely question - Can they reduce the number of days their child comes during mat leave and then return to FT care after the year? Again, this equates to a loss for you. If the older child is coming 5 days a week and they want to drop to 3, you are losing 2 days pay which equates to 40% of their bill. Over the course of a full year of mat leave, those 2 days you take the hit for equal 104 days of lost income. That's 4 months lost income! Bet it wouldn't take you 4 months to find a replacement FT child and lose less by declining their request to drop days.

For me, mat leaves works like this :-

Option 1 - Older child remains in their FT space and when I have a vacancy, the space will be offered to that parent first. They are expected to pay for the second space from the time it is empty.

Option 2 - Older child leaves their space and parents have to hope I will have two spaces when they need them.

Option 3 - Older child remains in their FT space and when I have a vacancy, the space will be offered to that parent first. They are expected to pay for the second space from the time it is empty. HOWEVER, if they are having to pay for that second space for more than 6 months before they need it, I do commit to trying to find a suitable temporary client. Any days that a temp client takes, reduces the bill for the held baby space. i.e. Oldest child comes 5 days a week. Temp client comes three days a week. Parents on mat leave whose child remains in FT care has to pay for the empty two days a week to keep them reserved for their child. If the temp client's contract ends before the original client's mat leave ends, they they are back to paying for both FT spaces if they want to reserve them.