Charging to Hold a Teachers Spot Thru the Summer

[Kimskiddos]

I've always had at least one teacher family enrolled in my program. When my kids were young it was nice to have a lighter load in the summer. They pay 1/2 tuition and may come 2 days a week (set days - but I can be flexible) during the summer. Full price for any other teacher breaks.

[TaylorTots]

I have 2 teacher dcks. I do not charge to hold their spots in the summer. My contract states that I hold teachers' spots without fees but if they choose to end their care or not return in the fall they are still responsible for the 2 weeks fees with regular termination. If they terminate care at the end of the school year I cannot guarantee their spots for the fall. I do offer them drop in care throughout the summer at an hourly rate if I have room the day they need it. I usually fill one spot over the summer with a school ager - so I usually have room if they need a few hours of drop in care.

[cheerfuldom]

joyce, i was estimating when i said 20k per year for 2 kids...not realizing it would be picked apart.

1,000 is a bit steep...although there are some people who DO get that, but i won't go there today. actually, 1,000 a month for 2 kids for a year would be 24,000....like i said, i was just estimating when making a point.

but since we need to break it down....

800 bucks a month (or 200 a week) for a daycare like Kindercare to be exact is pretty typical.

800 a month X 12 months = 9,600 dollars for ONE kid.

two kids - double that. yup. basically 20K.

agree! My charge would be over $1,100 a month for two kids in care for my daycare parents. If I went back to work right now, I would have two kids in full time, one part timer, one after schooler so yeah, not worth it for me to go back to work! my childcare provider would be taking almost all of my income.

[cheerfuldom]

I dont charge either of my teachers kids for the summer. I have two school agers of my own who are here all day every day in the summer (plus my younger two) so it works out perfectly for less daycare kids while my own kids are home. plus teachers pick up early during the year, keep their kids home on snow days and IMO are great people to work for. My husband works extra hours during the summer to make up the income but I am available for my kids more so for us, it all works.

[Unregistered]

This was one of my concerns when an expecting teacher called about an infant spot from Mar to June. Would they want my services again in August? Would I have a place holding fee? Would it be enough to risk an infant spot all summer? Would they commit to 2 days a week? Glad that they didn't choose me. I was stressing out on it!

[JenNJ]

I do not charge a holding fee. The kids come when mom has appointments or meetings and I charge her my daily rate (higher amount per day than what her weekly amount works out to be). I like having a smaller summer group and actually hope to move to all teachers at some point so I do it to encourage more teachers to enroll.

[ginaglo]

Contract wording

I'm a provider and what parents sometimes forget is you expect me to hold a space for and extended amount of time without any form of payment. That's like telling your mortgage company "Hey I'm gonna be on vacation for a couple months so Im not going to pay you" well good luck with that cause you may not have a home to come back to. Same thing applies to childcare. I give my teacher parents two options… 1- They continue on as normally pay the regular rate and can bring the child when they wold like. 2- They terminate their contract and do a drop in basis which they call ahead of time and if space is available they can come and only pay for the days they attend. When fall rolls around if they spot they had is still available they re-sign a new contract and back to normal. However they take the chance of not having it available.

Hi, could you please copy and paste the exact Contract wording that you use, that states your expectations above? Thanks!!

[Memc2001]

I also do not charge teachers during the summer months. I fill in their spots with school age kids to make up most of the loss.. I know other providers here that charge 50% during summer months to hold the spot. It would be a bit of a challenge if I depended on infant rates though.
I like summers, much more laid-back with the older kids.

[Jack Sprat]

I have one teacher dck. I will hold her spot for half her weekly rate and she can bring dcb for two days a week at that rate. Similar to what OP stated. If she chooses not to hold the spot then she takes the risk of the spot being filled. That is the norm for our area.

[Stepping]

I have one teacher family and charge full rate over the summer.

I don't see it as charging for care that I am not providing. They are choosing not to use care that they have paid for.

They are more than welcome to drop off their child during the summer months as they have paid for the spot.

[Annalee]

I have one teacher family and charge full rate over the summer.

I don't see it as charging for care that I am not providing. They are choosing not to use care that they have paid for.

They are more than welcome to drop off their child during the summer months as they have paid for the spot.

This is how I charge as well.

[MarinaVanessa]

I know the original thread is old but I wanted to add my two cents in here.

For me, holding a spot for someone that wouldn't attend, anyone, without payment wouldn't work for me (I prefer not to do school age so filling a spot with a school ager temporarily over a summer or break wouldn't make sense for me). I also wouldn't want to lower someone's hours temporarily and guarantee them full time when school started again. Financially it doesn't make business sense to me.

That being said here are the options that I offer to teachers. Keep in mind that I don't particularly like caring for school agers (although I have made exceptions) and that I prefer not to care for the children of teachers because of their work schedules.

1. Sign a regular full/part-time contract and pay weekly regardless of attendance just like everybody else
2. Sign a drop-in contract and pay the higher rate. Pre-pay/reserve your days well in advance with the understanding that if I find a regular full/part-time client to fill the spot I can do so but have the option to pay for only the days needed
3. Change the contract (with appropriate notice) from full to part-time during summer months/school breaks o even terminate the contract entirely and then once school starts again sign another full-time contract. Also with the understanding that I will try to find a full-time client to fill this space and the space may not be available again when needed.
4. Have the child care payments adjusted similar to how teacher works.

The way I see it is a teacher works about 9 months out of the year and the way it works in my area is that teachers get a choice as to how they want to get paid. They can get larger increments which are paid only during the months of the year that they work or they can choose to divide their salary throughout the year in 12 months.

The last option I give above is me getting paid the same amount per year *just like teachers) but adjusting the payment amount so that the teacher only has to pay during the time that she works. Teachers get paid a salary based on working 9 months of the year whether they choose to get paid 9 or 12 months of the year but I only work 12 months of the year so I would want clients that pay 12 months of the year.

[Josiegirl]

All the teachers' kids I've had in the past have stayed through the summer anyways, they like having that option. But this summer I anticipate my 1 teacher will take 6-7 weeks off and not bring her dd. She's already switched daycares once and even though I feel we have a good rapport, I need that confirmation she's coming back when school starts. I'd only require a nonrefundable holding fee to be applied towards her 1st week back but how would I word something like that?
Thanks for any help you can offer, I'm not very good with words.