To Term or Not to Term

[MarinaVanessa]

funny thing is, we did the same thing LAST summer (they started early summer), and only now is she complaining. In her mind, I get paid for 4 weeks in a month and only work 3 (although it's 5 days off per month, not a week at a time). That may be true, but the rest of the year, she gets care for 4 children (2 of which are under 2, so her 4 kids take up 5 of my 8 spaces) for the price of 3.

I only gave the discount because I know how hard it is to pay daycare for 4 children (and no, that's not REALLY my problem), and because I was starting out again after a long time out of daycare, so I needed the kids.

I think that you should create an invoice of what your regular rate is VS what she pays you and give it to her. Make one up for last year and one for this year. Show her what her discount is and how much you have saved her so far compared to what she's complaining about. It's a big difference believe me. If your area is on the lower end of the spectrum ($125/wk) these would be the numbers.

Regular rate YTD x 4 kids = $500/wk x 20 weeks = $10,000
Discount rate YTD x (3 kids) = $375/wk x 20 weeks = $7,500
YTD savings: $2,500
Summer agreement savings (for her): $25/wk x 3 wk, $50/wk x 1 wk = $125mo savings.

Once you go over the numbers with her give her one of 2 options (very nicely worded of course):
1) Things continue as they are and she sticks to what was originally agreed to and you get your paid days off during the summer (all of them).
2) You allow them to take those days off unpaid during the summer months but you retract the sibling discount and she pays full price for all four children.

Once she realizes how much she's saving it'll be a no brainer, she saves more money with her sibling discount than she would by not paying for the paid summer days off. But if she is still resistant make sure that you get your point across and drop the hammer ... let her know that if your rates and the current agreement don't work for her anymore because her needs have changed and her options don't appeal to her then she should not feel bad for you if she decides to find child care that can better suit her financial needs. Ensure her that she shouldn't feel bad for you and that you will be fine and have children interested in openings that can start as soon as her family begins DC elsewhere. Putting it this way is a nice way of saying that if she doesn't want to keep doing things the way they've been going then you'll have no problem replacing her family. Give her a time limit to decide, you don't want to drag this out and lose the other family that is interested but keep in mind that DCM may still eventually find cheaper DC and you should be prepared for that.

And on that note just keep in mind that she agreed to the current agreement so in fact her needs have changed, not yours. She is renegotiating the original contract and you are not forced to agree with her new terms if you are not comfortable with them. Be kind but stay firm and explain that you are already giving her a discount and you do not feel obligated to extend to her a bigger discount. If she decides to stay and continue her current contract I'd seriously consider giving her weekly/monthly invoices showing her current rate, her week/month's savings and her YTD savings. Anytime that you give anyone a discount (including waiving fees) you should always remind them about these savings so that they don't forget that this is in fact a saving. Otherwise their "special rate" becomes the "normal rate" to them and they stop seeing it as "special" or a discount. Good luck, and keep us posted.

Note:

Maybe listing the cold hard dollar facts might change mom's attitude. 22 days off looks pretty good compared to paying another $6000 a year, huh?

I didn't get to read your response before I posted. Looks like Meyou and I are on the same thought train

[Heidi]

thanks everyone. I put together a letter for mom similar to what you all suggested, along with a rate survey from our local CC&R.

I know she might be able to get cheaper care with an unregulated provider, but you'd think she'd have learned about that after her last illegal provider spanked the kids and fed them crap while they ran wild and watched tv all day long.

I can't share the letter here because there's too much indentifying info. Basically, I am giving her the option ofa part-time schedule for the summer at the FULL daily rate (what everyone else pays), or continuing with the discounted rate. She would be saving a little money with option one because I am only giving her the option of 3 days part time, not 4. and they will be days I choose based on other children's attendance. She does have family members who have the summer off, so she should be able to procure some free care for those days or take vacation days, whatever she works out.

[Sprouts]

Also as a legal child care she can write u off on her taxes! She can't do that with illegal child care

[Abigail]

Have you ever written out incident reports? That is an easy way to have as a record for a reason to terminate. I had a family of two and I terminated them just 6 weeks after opening my daycare. I needed the income and was regretting wanting to let them go and cried over it because we were financially struggling. The day I told the mom it was like all hell broke loose and the dad called immediately complaining which really freaked me out and I couldn't sleep for two days until they came back to pickup their stuff. I gave them a 1-week notice but dad talked me into a 2-week notice which they then never returned so I gave back all the money for the rest of the week which is where I didn't expect to lose that income too, but I was much happier once they were gone. I personally just couldn't handle one of the two kids but felt if I gave notice for one they would have pulled the other anyways because they came here wanting their kids to be together.

So with all that said, have you ever considered saying you could keep only two or three or wouldn't that work? In the end you should tour again with new families and get contracts signed two-three weeks out. Then give your current family a notice. You could always tell them how they take up 5 spots (even though you knew this from the start so that might not help you) and that you need to raise rates for everyone...........(even though it's just them) to makeup for that spot. Then just make sure that if she asks again about coming on her days off say "An additional day is $90" or whatever the 1/5 days is. Make sure to give a months notice on the increase or at least 3 weeks. Then you'll know within 1-2 weeks if they're giving you their notice. Then they think they left because the rates went up!