Well, Shucks! (vent)

[wdmmom]

This is a follow up from a previous thread.

I got notice that my pt dcg will be leaving June 1 and won't be returning due to her not getting afternoon preschool next year.

I gave my pt dcb's family the option to go full time or to change their drop off time from 11am to 12pm. They also opted to term.

On the plus side, I had an interview last week, I have another interview this week and I have a sibling (born in March) that will start coming in June.

The downfall is that I could possibly lose the older sibling in September if he is fully potty trained.

And, my longest running client is having baby #2 in July and hasn't decided if she will return to work pt or at all. Either way, I gave her an astronomical price because I don't want to do just 2 days per week.

I also have 1 teachers child so that'll be one less for the summer and less income. (I know, I know...when I signed them on, I was new and didn't know any better.) They paid a $300 deposit that they use to roll over each year to ensure he still has a spot in fall.

One part of me is excited about the upcoming changes, new arrivals, etc.

Another part of me feels like this is TOO much change and I fear the income will be too much of a loss and the business will fail.

Have any of you had several changes in a short period of time? How do you keep a level head and surpass it all and take it in stride. I'm really trying but I always have, "What if..." on the brain.

[Blackcat31]

Three years ago I lost 6 out of my 10 kids to kindergarten!

Of the remaining 4 kids I had only one came full time and the others were 2-3 days per week but not even full days so I was like

I was so worried that I was going to be stuck with a whole bunch of part time kids who would be awful due to not enough structure or time here to properly mesh with the porgram....I have to admit, I freaked for several weeks. I had a few kids on my wait list but they were either part timers which wasn't much money or they were infants which I did not take so I really had no idea what I was going to do.

But oddly enough, things have a weird way of working themselves out. Two of my remaining kids' parents got full time jobs, one got pregnant (and I caved and took an infant from my wait list to brush off my rusty infant skills) and 2 of my Kindy kids parents decided their kids weren't ready to go to Kindy after all so I got them for another year.

In the end, I just stayed positive and spread the word. I got calls here and there but honestly, my DCF's actually told co-workers and friends that I had openings and I started getting a ton of interested and promising calls. Soon, I had a full boat of full timers again and everything was A-ok.

Just keep you chin up and stay positive....daycare is a rough bsuiness for sure but it does have a weird way of working out whe we really need it too!

Change can also be a good thing and bring some fresh ideas, attitudes and over all demeanor to your group so roll with it....I think you are a pretty top notch provider and will no doubt have zero issues filling any empty spaces and all will be right again soon! Hang in there!

[AfterSchoolMom]

My business changes completely from school year to school year. I'd been doing SA care, so I always have at least half age out every year. I never know what the age ranges will be. Sometimes I have all older ones (3rd-5th grade) and sometimes I have younger (K-2nd), sometimes a mix. This year I have no SA's at all and I'm doing littles. Next year I'll have my own baby and will go back to SA's. It certainly keeps things interesting!

[WImom]

I'm sort of freaking out for this fall. I'm losing 3 full time kids this fall for school. So I'll be down from 8 to 5 (only 1 will be full time). I hope I can fill the spots quick.

I'm thinking you may just have to wait and see what happens since it seems like lots of 'if's on the parents end. Hopefully it will all work out. I agree though change could be good. I know I am looking forward to a group change to see if some of my challenging kids will change with a new group.

[littlemissmuffet]

I have had 4 kids leave in the last year due to various reasons (2 moved out of town, 1 was having parental and relationship issues and passed custody to dad who couldn't meet the pick-up time of daycare and the last I terminated). I always have the initial "Oh no, what if...." worries for the first day or so of finding out I'm losing a child or making the decision to term... but I always end up seeing it as a positive oppurtunity. Change can be excellent in this line of work. Though our jobs are very rewarding, challenging and even exciting - most of us operate our daycares well because of routine, routine, routine. It was get tedious, boring and mundane at times. Transistioning a new child into the mix can be fun, watching the kiddos make a new friend can be fun, teaching a new child new things... fun! It switches things up. Also, a new child means a new set of parents... which could also be awesome. I'm lucky that the 3 sets of parents who left me this year were are trouble parents - and were replaced with more involved and responsible parents - who have earlier pick up times happyface
Also, when I take on new families, I reconsider my rates, making sure I'm still in line with the rest of the city... if not, I can raise rates for new families - which means I get a raise

It can be difficult losing kids, but it's an unfortunate and inevitable part of our business. Stay positive!

[MrsB]

This happened to me last June. I lost 4 full timers all within a two week period of time. It is the downside of having alot of military families. PCS season can really hurt you.
My hubby and implemented our "conservation mode". We have a budgeted list of NEEDS and extras. We just had to get rid of some of the extras for awhile. Like we had a cleaning service coming every 2 weeks, so we cancelled that.
It was actually really nice to dial everything down a bit. Then when you add kids back its like "extra" money.

3 years ago, we started a daycare savings account. So we figured out that I would need at least 3 full time spots to make it worth the money. So every payment I receive above the 3rd full time spot I take half and put into a savings account. This is our emergency fund that we can use if for some reason enrollment gets low or if I happened to have an extended illness.

It is really hard to do, but it makes the highs and lows of daycare business so much less stressful. My longest low was about 2 months where I was running at minimum capacity.

Good luck! I am a firm believer that it will work out for you! Just try and ride it out the best you can.

[small_steps]

Thanks to the OP for asking this question... I really needed to hear these answers from these other ladies too. I'm kind of in the same spot. Hopefully things will work out for all of us

[MsMe]

I am losing two today bc Mom is going to stay at home, and I have 4 going to kinder in the Fall, and 6 are taking the summer off. I am beinging to freak out. This leaves me with 2 kids!!! Definatly not enough to make it.

I have been turning away calls for so long the phone has stopped ringing I am hoping my current families spread teh word and my update with CCR&R get the phone ringing soon!!!

[Careguy]

Just when you think you'll never replace the great kids leaving, you find that your old parents will sell you to new parents. That's the plan at least right?