The Nerve of Some Parents

[laundrymom]

If it snows I have one dropped@430am. Because dad runs a plow/ salt truck In return his dad clears my drive, sidewalk. I feel an hour of sleep lost is way worth two Outside shoveling. Lol. I hate shoveling. Truly despise it.

[sharlan]

I agree with not billing the dad. You bill who the contract is with.

[Meyou]

If it snows I have one dropped@430am. Because dad runs a plow/ salt truck In return his dad clears my drive, sidewalk. I feel an hour of sleep lost is way worth two Outside shoveling. Lol. I hate shoveling. Truly despise it.

Oooo! That's a good one. I would totally do that. I pay random teen boys to shovel but they aren't reliable.

[kayla]

If it snows I have one dropped@430am. Because dad runs a plow/ salt truck In return his dad clears my drive, sidewalk. I feel an hour of sleep lost is way worth two Outside shoveling. Lol. I hate shoveling. Truly despise it.

i would do this one. i just thought it was rude it wasnt worth the trade they wanted ,these people charge 50 per plate, my mil was not going to get each parent an item for 50 bucks thats rediculous.

[laundrymom]

If it were me I would offer a value of $10 per plate, towards their bill up to however many she needs be it 1 or 16. They can't expect retail price for bartered trade.

[Lianne]

I often barter extra hours with parents. I have one client who cuts hair. Sometimes she needs an extra day and in exchange for that extra day, she'll cut my hair for me. One family I'm good friends with pays me for babysitting services by buying my dinner when we meet for our weekly Friday dinner out.

One child's father works for a restoration company restoring houses after a fire, treating mold, etc. Last year when I needed a home repair but didn't have the money, he offered to do it for me in exchange for one evening/month of childcare so he & his wife could have a date night. We agreed on a price for the job needed in my house ($600) and the expectations to getting it done. Then we agreed on an hourly rate for my providing care ($10/hr) and set a cap of hours each date night would last (5hrs/date night). We booked a couple date nights at a time based on our schedules and each date night had to take place within the calendar month. I owed them 12 date nights @ $50/5hr date night. If they didn't stay out the entire 5hrs we just wrote the extra time off, it didn't get added to the next date night. If they arrived after the 5hrs they paid me cash @ $10/hr. There were two occasions over the year that they needed an entire weekend day's care so we used two of the 12 date nights in lieu of the day's care. We had everything written down, dated and signed, just in case but the whole deal went smoothly. I doubt I'd do something like that with another family but I'd do it again with this one.

When I do barter, it is never for contracted childcare. It's always for extra hours or services outside the contract.

[BigMama]

I did trade one family a week of child care for a very large air conditioner. Best deal! I would love to barter some home repairs for child care services...but I can't see how I would do that. "Hey, do you want to paint my bathroom/fix my front door/put in a new window instead of paying me?" Could be weird YKWIM?

[Meeko]

I bartered for some work done on my house, but it didn't work out. It was the boyfriend of one of my clients (and the father of the day care child). He did wonderful work, but he began trying cheating us. We would hear the saw etc going on all day (we were having an addition put on our new home) but we really wouldn't find much work done. Turns out he was drilling holes and cutting scraps of wood to make it sound like he was working to pad out his hours for child care. We ended it and finished it ourselves. My husband didn't want to have to babysit HIM while he worked!

[kayla]

If it were me I would offer a value of $10 per plate, towards their bill up to however many she needs be it 1 or 16. They can't expect retail price for bartered trade.

I like this idea much more.

[countrymom]

dcm is a hairdresser so we do hair cuts (I cannot believe how much hair cuts cost for kids and I have 4) and she highlights my girls hair too. Dh goes and cleans their driveway (he has a atv) or I pick things up for her kids, works out great for us.