Families Taking Vacation...Do They Pay??

[wdmmom]

I no longer offer any vacation to parents. In the beginning, I offered 2 weeks at half off as long as a 2 week notice was provided.

[MommieNana4]

Parents pay for their vacation week(s). I have in my contract one week of paid vacation and one unpaid. I only take one week of vacation and it is paid.

[saved4always]

I don't understand why a parent has to pay over the entire summer, if they are both teachers. I understand to save a spot, but if that isn't the problem. I am confused. If you work at a outdoor water park, you wouldn't get paid when it got cold, no one shows up and business slowed. If you worked at a ski resort and it didn't snow, you wouldn't keep paying your employees, that is just the nature of the business. I would assume that they might be laid off ?? If the employer chose to pay them then great, but why would you charge me to ski, if there is no snow or when I don't need to. I am paying week to week. Paying for the entire summer for a spot should be criminal from what I can tell. I pay for the employees salary and the food that my kid would get even though they are not there? Why couldn't I just pay a small re-registration fee or a vacation fee to save my spot. I can see 50% or something, but not much more. I don't make that much money. It almost forces you to send your kids to school more often, instead of spending time with them. I don't understand? I realize that this is the wrong forum to mention this, but I am confused? I am not paying for entire year or semester, it is week to week. I understand if I decide to keep them home one day, I will pay for that, but the entire summer vacation? If I lose my spot, then I lose my spot. I can't afford an extra $2400?

I am confused. I don't understand your complaint. Are you saying it is unreasonable for a provider to require to be paid to hold a teacher's spot over the summer??? No one can force someone to pay to save a spot. But be prepared to find a new provider at the end of each summer because there are not many out there that can afford to hold spots open all summer without compensation. The bills don't stop coming in because a school year has ended. There are plenty of families out there who need care all year round to fill that spot. I actually do watch kids for teachers. And I do hold thier spots over the summer for the next school year and I do not charge anything. But that is because I do not want to work in the summer or over school vacations when my kids are home. At this point, I can afford to do that. It is for MY family's benefit, not the daycare family's budget. If I needed to make more money to meet our bills, I would have to change that policy because I would need to make money all year round.

[Crazy8]

why do trolls always bump old threads to start their drama.....

But I'll bite on this one because I rarely even take teachers because of this issue.... Why should I have to lose $2,000 because you get the summers off and don't need daycare?? I am going to fill that position and I'm not going to kick that person out because you want your spot back in September. Why is it fair for you to only pay a "small holding fee" when I could make QUADRUPLE that much by filling it. I work year round, you may not, so you can go ahead and find a new daycare every September if you don't want to pay a reasonable amount to keep your spot.

[renodeb]

I ask parents to pay 1/2 before they go on vacation. I dont charge for my vacation so nobody usually complains.
Debbie

[bunnyslippers]

If I am open, they pay. If they choose to keep their child home for any reason, they still pay the full rate.

[SilverSabre25]

why do trolls always bump old threads to start their drama.....

But I'll bite on this one because I rarely even take teachers because of this issue.... Why should I have to lose $2,000 because you get the summers off and don't need daycare?? I am going to fill that position and I'm not going to kick that person out because you want your spot back in September. Why is it fair for you to only pay a "small holding fee" when I could make QUADRUPLE that much by filling it. I work year round, you may not, so you can go ahead and find a new daycare every September if you don't want to pay a reasonable amount to keep your spot.

Meh, I don't think this is a troll; it sounds like a legitimate question from someone who was searching Google and this thread came up. Michael has told us that this site is VERY well indexed on Google and we do get a lot of this.

It's not a troll until it's someone being deliberately weird/unpleasant.

[SilverSabre25]

I don't understand why a parent has to pay over the entire summer, if they are both teachers. I understand to save a spot, but if that isn't the problem. I am confused. If you work at a outdoor water park, you wouldn't get paid when it got cold, no one shows up and business slowed. If you worked at a ski resort and it didn't snow, you wouldn't keep paying your employees, that is just the nature of the business. I would assume that they might be laid off ?? If the employer chose to pay them then great, but why would you charge me to ski, if there is no snow or when I don't need to. I am paying week to week. Paying for the entire summer for a spot should be criminal from what I can tell. I pay for the employees salary and the food that my kid would get even though they are not there? Why couldn't I just pay a small re-registration fee or a vacation fee to save my spot. I can see 50% or something, but not much more. I don't make that much money. It almost forces you to send your kids to school more often, instead of spending time with them. I don't understand? I realize that this is the wrong forum to mention this, but I am confused? I am not paying for entire year or semester, it is week to week. I understand if I decide to keep them home one day, I will pay for that, but the entire summer vacation? If I lose my spot, then I lose my spot. I can't afford an extra $2400?

My answer is that you, as a teacher, get to choose to be paid the same amount for a year...but spread over 9 months or spread over 12. All most of us ask is the same thing...to be paid the same yearly amount. I for one am willing to take that yearly amount and divide it by 9 instead of 12 and save the extra for the summer but it's never come up.

Also, I'm friends with a lot of teachers (being 90% of the way to a teaching license will do that to ya), and they have their kids in regular center care and they have the same thing....pay at least SOMEthing and you have the right to bring your kid AND your spot will be there next year.

And pay us for your winter and spring break too, please.

[Parent]

You are not an employee

Most providers offer at least one unpaid week for parents to honing vacation which is reasonable. Also, it's reasonable for a day care provider to full someone's slot if they want to take multiple weeks off without paying for daycare. However, it strikes me as odd when providers say things like "your boss wouldn't tell you to stay home and not be paid for a week" etc etc. YOU ARE NOT EMPLOYEES! You run a business. You provide a service for pay. When that service is not needed, someone should not pay for it. Feel free to convince yourselves that you are justified by coating yourself to a company employee but that's not what u are. I don't pay my landscaper to mow my lawn in the winter. If he said "well then u risk losing that slot in my schedule" then it would be my choice to lose that slot. But to pay for services I don't receive? Not EVEN ONE LOUSY WEEK PER YEAR?!?! Shame on you.

[daycare]

I offer 1/2 of your weekly rate if you are taking the entire week off. Otherwise I don't offer anything else. This offer is only open to Full time families.

They must also give me a 30 day notice of their vacation request. I do it this way so that it is easy to track.

[mbullette]

I am in the process of redoing my policies. Those of you that offer vacation days, do you also offer free sick days? If so how many?

[christine19720]

The only time parents don't pay is when I take vacation days and am not available to provide childcare services. Everything else is paid. As for sickness, 99% of the time the kids bring illness to my business. I can at least get paid although it is not negotiable.