New DCM is Making Me ANGRY!

[Unregistered]

I need advice.

I got a new DCG that started last week. The mom does not work and only needed 1/2 day care from 8am-12pm Monday through Friday for what she called her "sanity time". She pays me full time rate. At the tour she was a-ok with the rate and we agreed on the hours and the contract was signed and done.

The DCG started last Monday and she did really good. The mom paid Monday morning in cash and everything was good. Fast forward this week. She calls me Monday morning @9am telling me that she is not bringing DCG because she didnt have anything planned that day. I didnt mind but she still needed to pay me on Monday as that is when each weeks payment is due. I left her a message reminding her that she needs to drop payment off. No return call - nothing!

Then @6pm Monday night she emails me that she is keeping DCG home again on Tuesday (today) because she (the mom) didnt feel good. So she would just pay me on Wednesday. I was steaming at this point. I called her and no answer. I left her a voicemail to call me. Then I emailed her back and basically said that she needed to come pay TODAY for the weekly fee (per my contract that she signed) Also that there is a $10 a day late fee added onto each day its late.

She emails me back saying that she may need to find a new daycare that is not so strict on when payments are due! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!! She also says she will bring her Wednesday and decide what to do by the end of the week.

I basically told her that since payments are obviously going to be a problem, then we should terminate care now. Payments are always due on Monday and if that will be a conflict for her then its not going to work. I also gave her the option to pay on Fridays for each upcoming week so the payment wouldnt be late (since she might not bring the kid on Mon & Tues sometimes) I said a lot more but basically just a lot of reminders about what it says in my policy that SHE SIGNED.

She replied to me via email (still no phone call back by the way) that she is going to decide if she will keep her here or not by the end of the week.

I need advice on if I should either:
1) Just terminate her now and have her pick up her kids stuff tomorrow
2) Let her come pay me tomorrow along with the late fees tomorrow and see if we could work it out with the understanding that she needs to pay on Fridays for each upcoming week and if payment is ever late again that she will be terminated.

Ive never had a daycare parent like this before. I've only had working parents - not someone who just needs daycare for 'mommy sanity time'. I will never agree to that again. I realize now that she doesnt really NEED me - so I'm disposable to her and maybe why she doesnt care to come pay me when due. She could care less. Maybe then I should care less about continuing care to her. Sorry I'm peaved right now.

[daycare]

It sounds like you already know what you need to do. I would end this before it gets worse.

Btw your not in Cali are you? I just had a call today from a mom looking for care for those same hours... Lol I wanna make sure if so I run.....

[mom2many]

Term her. It's only going to get worse! She has proven to not be unreliable and I wouldn't deal with it.

Drop in care for a situation like this is one thing. If you have a spot then you can take this child...but holding a F/T spot for a SAHM is pretty risky if she is going to make changes daily on whether the child attends and then try to argue the payment that is due. YIKES! No thanks!!!

[Meyou]

Term her. She thinks she can dictate how you run your business and she can't. I would meet her at the door with her child's belongings on Wednesday.

[nannyde]

Are you sure she just didn't want a week off in the first place?

[Cat Herder]

Buh Bye.

[TBird]

Ive never had a daycare parent like this before. I've only had working parents - not someone who just needs daycare for 'mommy sanity time'. I will never agree to that again. I realize now that she doesnt really NEED me - so I'm disposable to her and maybe why she doesnt care to come pay me when due. She could care less. Maybe then I should care less about continuing care to her. Sorry I'm peaved right now.

I have a DCP that pays for full time but really only needs two days per week. The rest is 'sanity' or 'study' time. Her son is never here on my pay day and he comes 3 days/week max.......she ALWAYS comes to pay me like clockwork. Her son was home sick one day and I told her not to bring him out in the rain to pay me...I was fine waiting an additional day. NOPE....she hauled him into that car and came to pay me anyway!!!

There is NO EXCUSE for your daycare parent. Contractual arrangements like this CAN work!!! Terminate her NOW. I just hope she doesn't ruin it for other parents who are actually capable of handling an arrangement such as this.

[pfund2233]

Ta-Ta sista! You follow my rules, that you agreed to and signed a contract for, or there is the door!

[Zoe]

Agreed with everyone. She obviously doesn't know how the whole contract thing works and if that's how she's going to react to a simple agreement, then bye bye.

[countrymom]

get rid of her, to me it sounded like her babysitter cancelled on her and she needed a quick fix, been there done that.

[Meyou]

I have a DCP that pays for full time but really only needs two days per week. The rest is 'sanity' or 'study' time. Her son is never here on my pay day and he comes 3 days/week max.......she ALWAYS comes to pay me like clockwork. Her son was home sick one day and I told her not to bring him out in the rain to pay me...I was fine waiting an additional day. NOPE....she hauled him into that car and came to pay me anyway!!!

There is NO EXCUSE for your daycare parent. Contractual arrangements like this CAN work!!! Terminate her NOW. I just hope she doesn't ruin it for other parents who are actually capable of handling an arrangement such as this.

ITA. I have a DCF where one parent is home on mat leave but they still pay for a FT spot. DCB comes regularly but they do alot of long weekends at the cottage. She always pays me early or makes a special trip out if he doesn't happen to attend on payday.

[Unregistered]

Thanks for all input. I'm terming her today. I cant deal with people like her. I agree Nannyde. I think she just needed a week of care and now shes not sure how to end it OR maybe she just cant afford it and shes trying to get money to come back. Whatever reason, I'm just done.

[cheerfuldom]

I don't take kids whose parents are not working or going to school. The moms that "need a break" almost never value my time, policies, etc. BTDT and not doing it again

[Unregistered]

I was just about to call this idiot mom to give her term notice and she sends me a Facebook message saying this:

"So I have decided to to keep her home again because I am going to go look at a coouple daycares today that offer drop in. I highly douubt I will like any of them because my area is so ghetto but I guess it is worth the try since I do not have a regular schedule. I wish all the daycares could be as clean and nice as yours . So I am assuming I will not like any of them which means I will bring her tomorrow with the $160 for the week plus a $30 late fee. I will let you know for sure some time by tonight. But just plan on having her there tomorrow because I have several tutoring sessions set up. Thanks and we will talk later."

Needless to say - I was ticked off after reading this. Now shes 3 days late on payment. I tried to call her - but of course NO answer again. So I sent her this:

"Since I cannot reach you by phone, I am letting you know that I am terminating care for **** effective immediately. I was hoping that you would be able to drop off payment today along with the late fees & come to an agreement that you would pay on Fridays to avoid late payments in the future, but obviously that is not going to happen. I am assuming that this will be an ongoing conflict in the future so its best to terminate care now. I have all of her personal items ready for you to pick up"

She responds with this:

"I will be by tomorrow around 9:45 am to pick up her stuff. Please just have it out on your porch."

I responded with a quick "I will have her things outside for you to pick-up. You can get them now"

What a loser! I had a bad feeling about this from the get-go. Now I know to never take a non-working parent unless I know that they will 100% respect my policies. She is such a weenie with her not answering my calls, not returning my voicemails and only messaging me thru Facebook - and asking me to put his things outside. Shes probably going to try to run her scam on other providers in my area now. It ****s I wont get paid by her but better to take the loss and be done with her now. Since this happened during my trial period, I dont require a 2 week notice. Oh well.

[wdmmom]

Only because she's toyed with you this far:

I would allow her to come back with fees and money paid up through the week. Watch her kid til Friday and term at pickup on Friday!

Sounds like she needs the upper hand on everything and there is no compromise.