Do You Let DCP Switch Days?

[Unregistered]

OK so I just started watching this little girl about 2 months ago. Her parents are friends of my mother. She is only here Thursdays and Fridays. For the week of Thanksgiving, I have taken those days off so they asked if they could switch days and come Tuesday/Wednesday. I said "Sure if you would like to pay me more". He was like "Are you serious?" He was really pissed off and I tried to explain to him that those are the rules and that I don't want to go against them because I didn't want it to happen again. He said "Please we promise, just this one time?" I said, "OK just this one time, but it can't happen again" He was pleased, but after thinking about it, I am very upset.

Is there anyway to go back and say "sorry but I can't do that"?

I know it's my fault and I should have stuck to my guns, but I felt awkward since they are friends with my mom.

What would you do?

[SilverSabre25]

Your response, assuming that's really what you said, may have been interpreted as being a bit snarky and not very professional. A better way to handle it would have been to keep it simple--"Nope, I'm sorry, I don't have room for her on those days." This works even if you just simply don't want to let them switch.

Or, if your days off are not paid, I might have said, "Yes, that's fine, but keep in mind that you're not paying for Th and F, and you will need to pay me if you switch days next week."

If your days off *are* paid, I would have said, "Yes you can, however--as Th and F are paid holidays for me [or just Th or whatever], you will need to pay me for T and W in addition to Th and F."

In my program, for me, with my parents/set-up/relationships/etc, I would have let them switch. I'm still getting paid, I'm still getting my time off, it wouldn't matter much to me. I might even be happy if we were doing anything special on those days and now dcg would get to participate too.

[nannyde]

When you get blindsided by stuff like this remember that parents want a YES today.

The best plan is to say "Let me think about that and I will get back to you". If they press then say "Sorry that won't work for me".

You just got got.

Learn from it.

[Zoe]

You told them you'd do it, so do it this one time. If he asks again, give him a stern look and say NO. "I told you I'd only do that once, you did it once, now we're done."

I have a family who's mom is a nurse and has swing shifts so she has alternate days every month. She is allowed to switch days ONLY because she is my first daycare family and I choose to be flexible for what I consider an angel family. If it was anyone else, I'd make them pay for a full-time slot so they can use the entire week however they want.

[Unregistered]

I am supposed to get paid for Th/F and he is asking if I watch the child T/W and he not pay me for Th/F but only for T/W.

I know I should have stuck to my guns and said he needs to pay me for all days, but I messed up ... my question is:

Is there anyway to go back and tell him "sorry I said I would do that, but after thinking about it ...."

I want to get paid for all the days I am supposed to get paid.

And it would be fine if the little girl was good, but she is a nightmare. She has never been away from Mom and cries all day!!!

[lil angels]

When I first started I let my part time people switch and now I do what you said and I charge them for the extra days. Now that you have told him yes you can't really fix that I don't think. But in the future tell him that you have another child that fills the MTW spot so you can't switch. Or next time that he asks go check your calendar and tell him oops sorry I have a drop in scheduled for that day so I can't. That stinks those are your paid days off that you should get they should still pay you and not be there. I have been there and fuming mad to but now you said yes so prepair for next time witch will probably be over Christmas when they ask again.

[mismatchedsocks]

Since I get paid for the holidays, I would say "let me see if I have openings for those days and get back to you, but just a heads up it would be $x for each of those days"

[daycare]

Every thing for me is usually on a case by case basis. If I had the open space to do it, I see no harm. I just tell the parents

You know me, I love to help when I can. Right now my daycare is not full, but should my capacity increase I won't be able to allow you to swap days anymore.

I think you need to follow through with the words you gave.
Next time do what nannyde said.

[nannyde]

I am supposed to get paid for Th/F and he is asking if I watch the child T/W and he not pay me for Th/F but only for T/W.

I know I should have stuck to my guns and said he needs to pay me for all days, but I messed up ... my question is:

Is there anyway to go back and tell him "sorry I said I would do that, but after thinking about it ...."

I want to get paid for all the days I am supposed to get paid.

And it would be fine if the little girl was good, but she is a nightmare. She has never been away from Mom and cries all day!!!

You can tell him that you made a mistake and he will need to pay extra if the child attends the other two days. He can just pay for the vacation days if he doesn't want the extra charge.

He's not going to like it. The conflict you were avoiding by saying yes will now be mulitplied by a hundred when you renig on your yes. Just be prepared for that.

This is a classic old school problem with part timers and it usually rears it's ugly head at the Thanksgiving four day weekend. Parents want to use Monday thru Wednesday to do their two or three days. I've solved it by requiring them to pay for the two days no matter what. If they are three days a week they get one day that week. If they are four days a week they get two days that week. If they are five days a week they get three days that week.

Never swap a paid day off for a paid day on.

[CheekyChick]

I run things differently... If I have an opening and a family wants to switch days, I let them. In my opinion, that is just good business. I also give every family ONE "free day" when they they need an additional day. I go out of my way to be flexible because I want my business to stand out from the rest. Oh, and you would think my parents would take advantage of my flexibility, but they don't. I rarely have anyone ask to switch days.

[lpperry]

I always offer switches if a part-timer day lands on a holiday, if I have the room. I especially do this for kids who only come 1-2 times a week. If I have a child who comes 3 days a week, I try, but it's harder to switch because there are less days to choose from that I might have an opening.

If you don't want part-timers to switch days, just say that you don't have room on the other days. Or if the parents know that you DO have room, say that you don't have the room if you had to switch all the part-timers to a different day to accomadate a holiday.

I think that you are stuck for this holiday now because you already said yes. It would be pretty rude, in my opinion, to go back on your word now.

[Unregistered]

Thank you for all your responses! I guess I will just stick to what I said and do it this one time , learn from it and not let it happen again!

[kathiemarie]

I think this is just a learning leason. Let them switch with no extra pay this time.

[wdmmom]

I'd tell DCD this, "Hey John, I think you misinterpreted what I said about the week of Thanksgiving. You can switch the days but per the contract, Thanksgiving and the Friday after are paid holidays in which you will still need to pay for."

Or wait til the week of and tell him that he still has to pay.

No one gets out of paying for paid time off!!!

[Mandy_Jane]

I know I should have stuck to my guns and said he needs to pay me for all days, but I messed up ... my question is:

Is there anyway to go back and tell him "sorry I said I would do that, but after thinking about it ...."

I want to get paid for all the days I am supposed to get paid.

Well, OF COURSE there is a way to take it back. You already know this. Just be prepared to have one royally pissed daycare family who you may lose because of your wishy washy decisions. If this is not a big deal, then go ahead and tell them, "After giving it much thought, I have decided that I really shouldn't be breaking the daycare rules for your family and we need to stick with our original agreement of paid holidays."

Is it worth it right now to potentially lose this family? I wouldn't risk it myself. It was YOU who broke down and told them you would do it instead of sticking to your guns, and to back out on that now would be unprofessional.