Angry And Hurt Right Now

[laundrymom]

Ooo...Yeah. PLEASE do that.

I'd LOVE to be a federal employee.

Does that mean, full insurance including DENTAL?????? whoohoo!!

[MsMe]

Does that mean, full insurance including DENTAL?????? whoohoo!!

Sign me up!!!! I am excited for all the PAID Holidays!!!

[laundrymom]

Entertainment indeed! LOL I'd love to make $15 an hour to stay home and play with kids. LOL

Me too!! Sign me up!!!
However, between taxes, fees, food, supplies, repairs, office expenses, education expenses, insurance( health, property, life) , general household bills I wouldn't have if I didn't care for children, activies for the kids,
I make less than the typical minimum wage worker. But that's ok, I like my job. Love it actually. Its people like me, who care for children like yours, and enjoy our job enough to make it fun. A safe welcoming place for the families lucky enough to be here. I surely don't do it for the MONEY. Lol

[Unregistered]

If I was you I would charge just a WEEKLY FLAT RATE therefore no confusion you are giving up to much income by doing day rates.

My WEEKLY rate is
125 a week for ages 6 weeks til age 5 and in school I dont do school age.

Bingo!!! Have a policy book for the parents..........take Holidays and allow yourself 3 personal days a year......if you don't use them,that is ok, but do use the Holidays. Allow yourself to be paid no matter if the child is there or not on any given day, and set a time for your hours to be open and not so your killing yourself. Don't give discounts.......you don't give discounted care. If you choose to do drop in care, have a set rate for that per hour and only allow so many hours and if you have the availability. Don't do daily rate you will come to resent it.

hang in there, be strong and stand up for yourself, if you don't who will?

[Unregistered]

That is what I am trying to do but the parents don't want to have to pay that much if there child only ends up here some of the days. They feel they are paying for something they aren't getting but what they don't understand is they are paying for there childs spot. Parents just don't get it.

they will if you spell it out in black and white. I have so many spots and I charge for your child's spot no matter if they are in care or not.

full time rate
part time rate for me 3 days is a part time rate 4 days jumps to a full time rate ....if you did five half days you should charge a full time rate..... your filling a spot, your not going to find someone to fill in the other half of the day most likely.

you will learn as you go.......so update as you go. Be ready to lose clients, but childcare is ever evolving.... if your good you will have another client and maybe a waiting list

your not being unfair.......and are you working to be fair or is this your job?

[wdmmom]

I didn't read all of the posts but I have a good idea of how you feel.

I started out low balling competition when I started just to get people in the door and make some money. I just raised rates effective October 1st. It's equivalent to $1.00 per day.

A couple of my families weren't happy but they were seeing the big sticker price of $20.00 a month. When you break it down, it's $5.00 a week, $1.00 per day.

There is never an opportune time to raise rates but cheap doesn't stay cheap forever! Parents need to understand that.

If the going rate in your area is higher and centers are charging 25-50% more than you are, I think you are just fine in raising your rates.

Most people don't take a minute to realize that it costs money to keep your heat turned up all day or the amount of water you use to do dishes, cook and launder or the food you throw away.

If (and that's a big IF) you are willing to negotiate with family 1, offer then $25 per day for the 3 year old and an additional $20 for the 6 year old but that's as low as i would go.

[dEHmom]

One thing came to mind reading a few of the posts here on this thread....

So many times we have been told to get a different job, to not bother with the childcare/daycare because we keep going back to the same convo of how we only make pennies per day compared to what everyone makes outside of daycare/childcare.

But if we all took this advice, how would any parent work? Without us providers, who will watch kids for the first 3-5 yrs of their life? Every mom (or dad) would have to stay home in EVERY family, unless you could afford a live in caregiver. Which I know many people can't.

I love my job too. It's hard, it's a challenge, theres a new thing I learn every day. I love it and wouldn't change it for the world. And I didn't start this just because I had kids and was at home. FTR. This was what I wanted to do, and finally decided I was going to do it.

If you consider what I save, with my 3 children, in daycare costs, And then factor that into my ridiculously low pay, I do pretty well for myself. I'm not rich, I struggle to pay my bills, I have debt, I have car payments, mortgage payments.

Its been said before, but the cost of childcare has not gone up, or down, in forever. Average cost per day for childcare 26 yrs ago? $25/day. Average cost for childcare per day now? $25/day. Why is it everyone else gets to get raises, and cost of living increases? Why isn't it the norm for Daycare rates to go up even $1/year? Because in a 100 years, the average rate of daycare per day would then be $125/day.

I wish people would give up on this garbage about complaining about daycare fees being too high. People are willing to dish out more money and not complain for Mcdonalds then they are for the person they are entrusting with their child. Someone who feeds them, loves them, reads to them, plays with them, and so on.

[Unregistered]

Schedules that vary from week to week

It's really challenging to have to accommodate schedules for dcks who have different schedules from week to week. It's even worse to have families expecting that they can change the days and hours that their children attend without clearing it with the provider in advance.

I used to let families switch days around without advanced notice because if they paid for 3 days, then I had to give them 3 days of care, regardless of what days that they had signed on for. That can get complicated and stressful very quickly.

[Country Kids]

I have heard several times at different times about childcare costing back in the 80's and 90's as it does now. Where does everyone live that it cost that much back then. When I first started out 16 years ago I charged $1.50 an hour and was considered average to high. 10 years ago raised it to 1.75 an hour as that was what our state would pay for state paid client. 6 years ago raised it to 2.25 and hour and was considered way high! My present day prices are more than that and averaging close to $25.00 a day and I'm still probably bringing home more than the average chidlcare because I'm charging hourly and have my clients 9-10 hours a day.

So to know that childcare was $25.00 a day 26 years ago when an average person making minimum wage probably only made $25.00 a day before taxes seems pretty extreme. Not saying it wasn't possible but if they are griping about paying it now I can't see them paying it then.

[thatdivalady]

Why should you get minimum wage from me when you also care for other kids?

Right, oil changes are charged by the job...my point was would you like it if they charged for a whole hour of work when it only takes them 20 min?

Ummm...the point is that you are not paying minimum wage...when you calculate it like someone did earlier, you realize that you are not paying even half of minimum wage per hour. Also, daycare providers are always limited to how many children they are allowed to watch, so it's not like they can see extra children to make up for you deducting two days from them.

Oil changes are charged what they are charged, same with daycare. And they do charge you the same regardless of how long it took them to change your oil.

It's not a matter of parents don't get it, it's a matter of I only want to pay for 3 days when that is what I need. I do not want to pay for 5 days when I'm not using all of them. I don't care if it's paying to save a spot or not.

Think of it this way...when you go buy a new book in your favorite series, would you like it if you had to buy the whole series just to get the new book? NO. It's a service, you say....well, say you take your car for an oil change that takes 20 mins, would you like the mechanic to say you have to pay for an hour of service because he only counts his "spots" by the hour, and not by what you actually need? NO Why is daycare the one place that thinks you need to pay for 5 days if you're only using 3 of them?

Actually...you get charged by the hour when you get repairs done to your car. They always quote you their hourly "manual labor rate." Also, I would love it if I only had to pay rent and mortgage for the "days that I am using" the space. I don't watch my cable tv everyday but I sure do get that bill like I do. I just hired a telephone guy to fix my lines and I sure did get charged by the hour and not by how long it actually took.

In my area, if you go part time, you pay more per day than a full time person would pay. And as I stated in another post I come from both sides of the fence -- I had a childcare provider and now I am starting my own center. If you want to only pay for 3 days that's nice, but folks have ratios they have to keep to and that means that you are taking up a spot that a full time person could be using. I paid my daycare provider for 5 days every week even if she did not watch my child everyday because I paid for a spot. Now I understand why most folks do not even allow part time children in their daycare.

Here is the point. If you don't like it, go to another daycare. But arguing about rationalizations is about as productive as complaining about the rates that doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc.

Think of it this way...when you go buy a new book in your favorite series, would you like it if you had to buy the whole series just to get the new book??

PS: Taking care of precious children, I think, ranks higher than buying a book...

[daycare]

do you really think that is what we do all day? Obviously until you walk a day in the life of a DCP you will learn that there is a heck of a lot more than PLAYING toys all day. every day I have a child in my hands I am risking everything I have. Because parents can blame me for any thing they want. I myself was sued by a family because their child tripped over their own two feet and chipped her two front teeth. It was my fault. She was under my care.... Now does that sound like fun to you??

BTW $15.00 was based off of an 8 hour day. Most kids are here for more than 8 hours, which means that I would actually make about $10.00 an hour or less...

if we took everything into consideration of what we have to do to complete a full day of care, I am sure that the hours would be more like 12+14 hours total....

[thatdivalady]

Entertainment indeed! LOL I'd love to make $15 an hour to stay home and play with kids. LOL

That's hilarious. So would I, but I know it's not going to happen. Maybe you should read the thread that discusses what you are paying for when you send your child to daycare.

"Playing with kids" is not what providers do...

[dEHmom]

do you really think that is what we do all day? Obviously until you walk a day in the life of a DCP you will learn that there is a heck of a lot more than PLAYING toys all day. every day I have a child in my hands I am risking everything I have. Because parents can blame me for any thing they want. I myself was sued by a family because their child tripped over their own two feet and chipped her two front teeth. It was my fault. She was under my care.... Now does that sound like fun to you??

BTW $15.00 was based off of an 8 hour day. Most kids are here for more than 8 hours, which means that I would actually make about $10.00 an hour or less...

if we took everything into consideration of what we have to do to complete a full day of care, I am sure that the hours would be more like 12+14 hours total....

Maybe I'm a slowpoke, or maybe I just spend too much time on daycare stuff, but it seems to me I work more like 18 hours a day, not including weekends. I spend lots of my extra time, shopping (which we can't count towards daycare hours), planning, cleaning, organizing, paperwork, then on weekends I usually hit yard sales, and flea markets and auctions to get those awesome gotta have toys (especially love the ones that I played with as a kid!!!!!!!!) yeesh, maybe I need to learn to drop everything after daycare hours, because if I factored in all the extra hours doing daycare things, I would probably only be making .25 Cents per hour.

[daycare]

Yes...where I'm from $15 is a lot of money and you'd need a college education to get it. A teacher in my state averages that. A teachers' aide gets under $8 an hour, unless she's a former teacher and then she might get $10 for experience. If you charged me minimum wage to watch my child, I wouldn't be bringing home enough to cover the gas to get to your house. This is why I wouldn't want to pay for days I don't use. I can't afford to. So yes, I'd LOVE to get $15 an hour to stay home and play with kids.

of course it has a lot to do with where you live. I live in the SF bay area. My home is less than 1600 sf and my house payment alone is about $3800.00 month. Wanna take about everything else. Like my $600 month electric bill and $450.00 month water bill. Oh yeah and lets talk about my car registration too because CA just got me on that one again. I have a 2009 suburban and its gonna cost me $632.00 to reg. it this year.

Lets talk gas, it about 3.90+ a gallon.... how does about 10-15 an hour sound now..

[daycare]

Maybe I'm a slowpoke, or maybe I just spend too much time on daycare stuff, but it seems to me I work more like 18 hours a day, not including weekends. I spend lots of my extra time, shopping (which we can't count towards daycare hours), planning, cleaning, organizing, paperwork, then on weekends I usually hit yard sales, and flea markets and auctions to get those awesome gotta have toys (especially love the ones that I played with as a kid!!!!!!!!) yeesh, maybe I need to learn to drop everything after daycare hours, because if I factored in all the extra hours doing daycare things, I would probably only be making .25 Cents per hour.

oh do I hear ya on that one....last weekend I had a break down and my husband was floored to see my so upset.

he took me to the beach for the day and made me sign a document that said:

I will not plan for DC while out today
I will not shop for DC
I will not talk about DC
I will not respond to emails from parents about DC
I will not do anything that is DC related for the entire day.

I guess I didnt realize that I spend so much time always talking and doing things for the DC... Count me in on that $.25.....BUT you know what I love what I do..

I know that might sound like I am Contradicting myself here, but sometimes we get pushed to the edge. But most of the time I love my job.