Sibling Discount

[wahmof3]

How do all of you address sibling discount? I have a current DCM that has made reference to wanting another baby. DCM finally asked if I give a sibling discount. I currently do for a family but want to do away with the discount. The current family the oldest will start school in the fall. Therefore the sibling discount will "fall off".

If I tell her I no do not offer a sibling discount, I fear this family will leave and don't want to lose them completely.

So how many DCF have you lost due to not offering a sibling discount??

[Blackcat31]

Sibling discounts aren't the norm here so it hasnt been a big issue but I can see how parents would really want (and sometimes expect) them.

Personally I would explain to the mom that the costs associated with providing care to siblings does not go down because they are related so I would not think the rates should be discounted.

Tell her you don't feed the second child half a sandwhich or give them half your supervision so why would you give them half the regualr rate? If you explain things in that concept, most (NOT all...LOL!) will completely understand.

[WDW]

I currently only have one family with sibs... I give them a discount equal to about one free day a week for the 2nd kid... (for example - if my rate was $50/day (I WISH!!) that would be $250 a week... I take off the one day, so $200 and then divide that by 5 days a week. First kid would pay $50 a day, 2nd would pay $40.00.

I am happy to do it, but lately the mom has been complaining about wanting more vacation days, and this and that. So she kind of feels ungrateful... and honestly, all a sib discount is, is us being nice. We don't give them less care. However, in my small town, it is the norm, so I will probably continue to do it. I'm not sure I answered your question... but I tried.

[MarinaVanessa]

I don't offer sibling discounts. I approach it like this:

"No sibling discounts are given at this time. Please understand that all children are given the same level of care therefore it would be unfair to our other clients of single children if we offered clients of multiple children a discount."

[Blackcat31]

Nan had a great idea about sibling discounts. She said if your normal rate for one child is say $150 per week so two kids would be $300 per week, she said to tell the parents your rate is $175 per child and that you are willing to give a discount of $150 per child so they would get a "discounted" rate of $300 per week.


I don't know but seems to make sense to me.

[daycare123]

I do not offer sibling discounts either. Siblings are just as much work if not more in most cases. Especially with the cost of everything rising i would not offer it.

[wdmmom]

I offer a 10% sibling discount. It's equivalent to $10-15 dollars per week and since the infant is charged about $15-$25 more per week, it ends up equaling itself out.

Where do you think this DCM got the notion that there was a sibling discount in the first place? Did you used to offer one?

I would invite DCM to sit down and discuss the new childcare needs. At that time I would tell her that you don't offer a sibling discount and the new rate would be $____.

[wahmof3]

I offer a 10% sibling discount. It's equivalent to $10-15 dollars per week and since the infant is charged about $15-$25 more per week, it ends up equaling itself out.

Where do you think this DCM got the notion that there was a sibling discount in the first place? Did you used to offer one?

I would invite DCM to sit down and discuss the new childcare needs. At that time I would tell her that you don't offer a sibling discount and the new rate would be $____.

I think she was just "asking" if I offer one. I hope she is just planning ahead. I do have one family that is currently on a sibling discount and I lose a hefty $50 per week because of it (not to mention my loss during the summer)

[snbauser]

No sibling discount here and I have never lost a client by not offering one. I currently have one set of siblings and have younger siblings of 4 other currently enrolled children on my wait list.

[Solandia]

No sib discount here. I have had many sibling sets in care over the years. When asked why? My answer: I provide a loving, stable, affordable environment for your child(ren). My fees are such that I cannot/willnot offer discounted care.

The real reason: Siblings, in general, are more work(play boundries between sibs, older sib being bossy, etc)& are riskier financially(it is easier to fill one opening than two/large amount of income from one family). Also, in general, parents of 2 or more in care tend to do more errands on the way home from work and use more daycare time than parents of one. I have never had anyone leave because of a lack of sibling discount (and it IS standard in home daycares in my area--about 10%). There has never been a benefit to me to offer a discount like this.

[Kim]

How do all of you address sibling discount? I have a current DCM that has made reference to wanting another baby. DCM finally asked if I give a sibling discount. I currently do for a family but want to do away with the discount. The current family the oldest will start school in the fall. Therefore the sibling discount will "fall off".

If I tell her I no do not offer a sibling discount, I fear this family will leave and don't want to lose them completely.

So how many DCF have you lost due to not offering a sibling discount??

I'm glad you posted this. I was just thinking about this topic. I used to offer a sibling discount because it's the norm in my area and think I have decided not to offer it anymore. I haven't had to think about it too much but now that one of my current kids has a baby sister starting next month I'm waiting for the parents to ask about it.
My thinking is this- Just because two children come from one family doesn't mean they require any less care or use up any less resources than two kids from different families. I don't get a discount on my daycare insurance if two kids are from one family. After being burned by a family with 3 kids I really don't care for having more than one child from a family. It's like having all your eggs in one basket. When those 3 kids left with no notice it was half my income and I gave the family a sibling discount for the 3 yrs they were here. Add that 10% up over 3 years and it's a great deal of lost income for the same amount of work and cost on my end as non-siblings. I certainly hope not to lose families by not offering it but I felt taken advantage of when I did offer it.

[bgmeyers]

I don't do a sibling discount.
If I were to offer this, I would have to make up the difference somewhere else.
What I would like to say when this is ever brought up:
I am not willing to budge on my healthy meals, fun crafts and certainly not on the clean, safe environment I provide. I guess I could just raise everybodies rate to make up for your "discount", but then they would be subsidizing you, and how is that fair?

[Heidi]

I currently do one because I had a family join my group when with 4 children, and it was right when I was restarting my daycare after 10 years away, so I needed to get something going.

As they age out, I will no longer off the discount. This family may end up leaving over it, but like a pp said, they tend to want a lot of "special". Then there's the family dynamics (lots more work), the behavioral stuff (arrg), and the whole "there's a hoard invading my house every morning".

[wahmof3]

Thanks for all of the great responses!!!

So can I play the "I have to charge this amount because the if the state found out they would reduce the rate they pay me" card???

Along with the fact that care isn't reduced etc, etc???

[MarinaVanessa]

Thanks for all of the great responses!!!

So can I play the "I have to charge this amount because the if the state found out they would reduce the rate they pay me" card???

Along with the fact that care isn't reduced etc, etc???

Actually yes you can!!! (sorry for the excitement, this is like an ephiphany for me ) You can't charge subsidy clients more than other clients so you can say that if you gave them a discount then you'd have to lower your subsidy clients fee also. This is a great point that I wouldn't have thought about. I'll make sure to add this to my list of reasons thanks