Caring for friends children

[Suzie_Homemaker]

Just wondering how I should approach this? Maybe refresh the contract and have her look over it again for a refresher?

You have to approach this as a business. This is not personal. With regards to you caring for her children, she is not your friend. She is a client and she has to understand that your policies will stand.

I will not take the child of someone I know personally. Period. While we hope things will be great, often times, with the lines blurred between client and friend, things do not work out.

Going forward, you have no option now but to sit down with her and be clear. Tell her that you really value her friendship but the lines are blurred between the hours of the day that she is a client. Tell her straight that it's not okay to message 5 mins after you have closed to say she is just setting out from her work place and that any other client would have been told to bring the late collection fee or to send an alternative adult to pick up before closing time. Be honest with her - tell her that due to this, you missed a scheduled appointment.

Review the contract with her, be clear that as a client, the contract does apply to her. And if she isn't able to follow the agreement, then like any other client, you have no option but to end the agreement for care.

In reality, this is going to destroy your friendship since you've been informed that she can take advantage of people. But it's not going to get better either. You either rip the band-aid off and have a painful conversation and minimize the amount of advantage she takes or you peel it off slowly, letting her continue to push the boundaries until you snap. Either way, the friendship is likely gone or at least damaged and you both withdraw from each other.

If you have to let her go - and it will come to it whether you do it now or later - it is not your issue if she won't be accepted at any other day care. Do not let her make you feel guilty about her parenting issues. If you think you feel used now, give it another 6 months and see how awful and resentful you feel because this will continue.

My late fees are $1 a minute and there is no grace period. If a client is 2 mins late, I want $2.00. I used to have my late collection fees as $15 for 15 mins late but then had someone come 13 mins late and claim not to owe anything because it wasn't a full 15 mins. So I changed it and made it clear it was by the minute.

Do you have late collection fees?