Tired of the Disrespect...

[Lucy]

So, are you guys saying you never get sick? Or you work through your sick days? Or you hire a sub? I can't imagine working 15 years and only having to close a few days out of that entire time from my own sickness.

I'm lucky because when one of my kids are sick my mom can take them to her house during daycare hours. I also have a sub that is usually available if I'm sick. However, I've had one time in the last 2 years that I've had to close from illness.

Even if I was sick enough to get through the day I'm not sure all of my parents would WANT to leave their kids with me to expose them.

I'm not saying I disagree with yall exactly but just curious to see what you do when you're sick?

I don't get sick very often. I have worked at times when it was probably better not to. But I seriously go years without getting sick. Just lucky genetically I guess.

[Lucy]

That's great that everyone here has not had to close much & very praise-worthy but it seems to be beside the point IMO. What does that have to do with the parent giving NO notice? The DCP could give any reason why they are leaving but it still boils down to NO notice. I'm sure most of you would not say "oh, just let it go" if one of your clients gave you 0 notice! Not every provider here has access to back-up. I can not recall the last time I closed with little notice, although I have once or twice over 3 year's timeframe but things do come up that can't be helped.

Yes, we did get off track here. Sorry. I would fight them for no notice too. But I take a deposit equal to my notice time period, so I would just keep that and be rid of them.

[small_steps]

Yes, we did get off track here. Sorry. I would fight them for no notice too. But I take a deposit equal to my notice time period, so I would just keep that and be rid of them.

I really want to start implementing that. Even if I just let them pay an extra $25/$50 per week until they get it paid up. I know that an extra $200-$400 is hard to pay upfront for some parents.

[Christian Mother]

My husband usually covers for me if I am sick but I won't call in unless I am in the hospital and even then I'll watch the kiddos. I had kidney stones and I had to call the parents to come pick up and it was horrible bc I was so sick throwing up from the pain. My husband took care of kids waiting to be picked up and another parent ashually took me to the hospital.
I do think parents need to honor the contract and give a 2 wk notice if they signed on it. If they felt that you weren't up holding your contract then they shld of discussed that with you before pulling him.

[Crystal]

So, are you guys saying you never get sick? Or you work through your sick days? Or you hire a sub? I can't imagine working 15 years and only having to close a few days out of that entire time from my own sickness.

I'm lucky because when one of my kids are sick my mom can take them to her house during daycare hours. I also have a sub that is usually available if I'm sick. However, I've had one time in the last 2 years that I've had to close from illness.

Even if I was sick enough to get through the day I'm not sure all of my parents would WANT to leave their kids with me to expose them.

I'm not saying I disagree with yall exactly but just curious to see what you do when you're sick?

I work. Sick or not. I work.

Parents know when I am sick, because I rarely am, so when I am, I AM......some keep thier kids because they can, but mostly they attend.

My hubby works with me, so he can pick up some of the slack, but even before he worked with me and I was solo, I worked. In fact, I was so sick one time, I had menengitis and did not realize it was THAT bad, I worked.

I cannot afford to lose business because I am sick. It's just the way it is.

[Countrygal]

I have to say everyone that there are times some of us have to close. For one thing if WE have contracted certain diseases, we are required to give our parents notice, and I think it would be kinder to close than to take a chance of passing these diseases on to the kids. I'm thinking of the more recent re-occurrence of whooping cough, for example. There is NO WAY I could in good conscience expose my daycare kids to that if I knew I came down with it.

I had a very bad infection and was bed-ridden for almost an entire week. I almost landed in the hospital. I couldn't get out of bed let alone take care of children. It was unsafe to have them here. I could not provide adequate supervision. I had my own 5yo to watch and I could barely do that. He was usually playing in my bedroom or watching movies while I was in bed.

Being a single gmom I have no hubby to take over - those of you who do are very blessed. I cannot afford to pay the "substitutes" around here (if I could find one) because they charge more than I make! So there just is no alternative.

On the other hand I take no sick days, no paid days off, and only take a vacation when I have somewhere I want to go and then at most 1 week per year. I read tons about people on here who take paid all of the above!

I charge only for the hours the children are here with no charges for late show or early pick up. There have been many times already when I've kept the kids late or gotten up early to accommodate the parents.

I think that what I am trying to say is that it sounds like some of you are "coming down on" learnngro for taking off. Maybe I don't agree with all of her reasons for taking off, but I don't agree with some of the other reasons people take off, either. That's a personal decision. If her parents knew the score they should be willing to pay up. If, on the other hand she took off without notice, well, that's different.

What I'm trying to say is that we don't have all the information.

To answer your question, learn, never had experience with taking anyone to court, but I do know it's expensive, even for small claims court. Usually not worthwhile unless you have lost a lot of money. For a couple of hundred dollars it is usually not worthwhile financially.

[saved4always]

I am a wimp. I would probably just let them go without a fight. Of course, I don't have anything detailed in my contract about it so I would not have a leg to stand on anyways. I have quit with no notice and actually refunded that week's fees because I felt so bad about it (long story and, like I said, I am a wimp). Sounds like you have a contract detailing it all though so I would think you could get it in court. I would probably take everything I could think of as proof that you owe them nothing and that they owe you for no notice. Hope it all works out for you!

As for closing with no notice. I have done it at least once in the last 8 years when I developed the most awful migraine in the middle of the night. I almost had dh take me to the er it was so bad. I texted all my families in the middle of the night that I could no way watch anyone the next morning. No one complained. They all had back up or called my best friend if they didn't. I have been very fortunate that my 2 best friends also do childcare in their homes and live on my street so they can often back me up. I think this family has unrealistic expectations if they think thier provider will never have an issue that could cause her to need to close suddenly for a day.

When I used to work full time outside my home, my dh and I chose to send our boys to a center because we were worried about an in home provider closing for sickness or something and we would be without daycare. Well, that was not a certainty either...one very snowy day, I went to work on the bus like always. DH took the boys to the center as usual and it was closed because there was a snow emergency...so centers close suddenly, too. Parents should ALWAYS have a backup.

[MyAngels]

This is what I would do, OP, assuming that you have a fairly decent signed contract that requires payment for the final two weeks, whether they attend or not:

I would track down their new address through the post office if possible. Once you get their new address, you can fill out a small claims complaint. Normally the circuit clerk's office will help you with this if you can't figure it out. Then I would send the complaint, along with a letter detailing what they owe and why, via certified mail with a return receipt. Give them a date by which they have to pay, in full, whatever they owe. Let them know that if they don't pay up, you will file the small claims complaint the next day, at which point they will become liable for all costs associated with filing the complaint. If they don't pay, file it.

If you can't get a forwarding address from the post office, do as Blackcat said and turn it over to a collection agency.

I've been fortunate that I've never actually had to chase a client for payment, but I used to work for an attorney who did a lot of collection work. I can also give you some good ideas for collecting on a judgment if you get that far .

[Crazy8]

That's great that everyone here has not had to close much & very praise-worthy but it seems to be beside the point IMO. What does that have to do with the parent giving NO notice? The DCP could give any reason why they are leaving but it still boils down to NO notice. I'm sure most of you would not say "oh, just let it go" if one of your clients gave you 0 notice! Not every provider here has access to back-up. I can not recall the last time I closed with little notice, although I have once or twice over 3 year's timeframe but things do come up that can't be helped.

I answered both that 3 times in a year is a little excessive, not that I never ever closed (I think I'm at about 3-4 unexpected/unplanned closings in 11 years) AND also answered that if someone leaves without notice I keep their deposit. I seriously couldn't be bothered filing claims, etc. so while it ****s when someone doesn't give notice I am not really out any money for it since they pay a week in advance and I get a weeks deposit when they sign up.

I don't think ANYONE was justifying the family leaving w/o notice but I think the OP was trying to state that it wasn't that much time where many of us see it as a lot. When she posted she could count on one hand how many times I thought she'd say in 5 or 6 years - but in 1 year I think many of us are just saying that IS quite a bit.

[saved4always]

My husband usually covers for me if I am sick but I won't call in unless I am in the hospital and even then I'll watch the kiddos. I had kidney stones and I had to call the parents to come pick up and it was horrible bc I was so sick throwing up from the pain. My husband took care of kids waiting to be picked up and another parent ashually took me to the hospital.
I do think parents need to honor the contract and give a 2 wk notice if they signed on it. If they felt that you weren't up holding your contract then they shld of discussed that with you before pulling him.

You are very fortunate that your husband can do that and is willing to. My husband works full time and is the primary breadwinner in our home. He makes way more than me so there is no contest with whose job takes precedence (sp?). There is no way he would take off to watch my dck's when I am sick or need to go to an appt. and I would never ask him to do so cuz he would think I am crazy. :: I am lucky to have some good friends to back me up, though. If I didn't have them, I would have to close, if necessary.

[JJPlaycare]

I have in my contract sick days. I do not get paid for these, but I do close if my child is extremely sick, like say puking or even myself gets really sick. I havent closed for myself getting sick, because I usually dont. (knock on wood)However, I have definatley closed when my children get sick though and even with little notice because usually there isn't alot of notice when a child gets sick. Scenario I would like to know is how you would handle this; Your 2 year old starts puking at 5am with a fever and daycare is comming at 7am, what do you do? How in the world do you handle a 2 year old puking and running a fever with all the other kiddos there? I would call my parents tell them that childcare is not on and they need to use their back up. I have done this the 7 years I have done childcare and have NEVER had a parent leave because of it. For illnesses that might be viewed as more minor like something that isn't airborne, I call and give my parents the option of comming or not, most opt to not come because they don't want to risk getting their own kids sick. I have in my contract that they need to have back up for reasons such as this and I guess I have never had a problem doing so. I think my parents would complain more if I took care of my puking 2 year old while watching their children. Or they would probably even try bringing their sick kids more because Hey if I can have my sick kid there why wont I take theirs......

[mrsp'slilpeeps]

What does your contract say about you closing early/taking unexpected days off? I think that is what will be the clincher for you.

Personally, I'd let it go. Even three days off, though it seems minimal to you, without at least a week or two notice is A LOT to parents when they depend on you for child care. I haven't closed that many days unexpectedly in over 15 years in this business, so I can understand why a parent would consider it unreliable when it has been three in one year.

It ****s, but it is the reality of this business......you only close when there is absolutley no other alternative whatsoever or you will lose business.

Im confused as to how having to close 3 days a year is unreliable.

So what is she supposed to do if she is puking her guts out? Stay open?

What about the providers that dont have any help?

[Crystal]

Im confused as to how having to close 3 days a year is unreliable.

So what is she supposed to do if she is puking her guts out? Stay open?

What about the providers that dont have any help?

3 days in a year is HUGE to parents who are paying for child care. Look at it this way.....

Parent pays for daycare. Provider calls out sick. Parent misses work. Then, child gets sick. Parent misses work. Then Parent gets sick. Parent misses work. THAT is alot of work missed. With the first one being completely unrelated to the parent. The parent faces potential reprimands at work, or possibly even loses their job.

Now, if the provider doesn't charge when she closes unexpectedly, parents might be a little more understanding because they can pay someone else to care for their child with the fees they didn't pay to the provider. However, I seriously caution against taking sick days unless ABSOLUTELY neccessary. Parents WILL go elsewhere if it becomes a habit.

If she's puking her guts out, well then of course she should close, BUT I wouldn't charge OR I would have a substitute on call for those occasions.

My whole point is that parents depend on us to be here, as scheduled. If not, they don't expect to have to pay....which I feel is fair.

Like I said earlier.....in 15 years I haven't taken 3 sick days.....not for myself, not for my own children, whom I am quite capable of caring for with other people's children here.....not for ANYTHING or ANYBODY. Sick or not, I work, just as I would in any job. This job is my livelihood.....I cannot afford to lose families because I close too much.....which, as the OP has learned, is EXACTLY what will happen.

Now, the OP states that she has had to open late or close early because this particular child is there from 7-7.......a simple fix would be to not offer those types of hours so that the provider doesn't HAVE to open late or close early. problem solved.

[Greenplasticwateringcans]

My contract says I am not responsible for their back up care. If they bring a sick child to my home and I get sick (even when I send child home after the tylenol wears off) and have to take a day off then darn right they are still paying for that day.

3 days does not sound unreasonable to me at all. However, in this situation, it looks like DCP's were just looking for any excuse to bail when they moved.

[Crystal]

So, can you tell me how closing for three days in a year IS considered reliable?