Business Decisons....Agh

[actaktmdt]

apparently I stirred up the pot, thanks girls. While i wasnt asking for ways to be untruthfull, nor dishonest to clients, I dont want the constent questions as to why Im not pg yet. Miscarriages run rampent in my family and I miscarried in May (a first for me), On top of that, we arent even telling people we are trying other than the fact I mentioned it here.

[Crystal]

Okay , here's what I would do....

1. Potential new full time client is related to my the dc family so if an issue were to occur (i doubt it but possible) both families could walk and that would loose a huge chunk of income.

I agree that it could be a potential issue, should something happen that causes both families to leave...BUT, my experience is, if you have family members of a current client come to you because of a referral from said current family, that can only mean that they are highly satisfied with the quality of care you offer, and this MOST LIKELY will not be an issue. I LOVE having families send their family members to me - I currently have two families that referred their cousins, and those children are with me for preschool only (mom's don't work, they only need preschool), and they LOVE it here - it can be considered JOB SECURITY - they can keep you in business!

2. Family of 3 has not yet determined if oldest is going to preschool this fall yet or not. They are waiting to see how they are $ wise i believe. If she does she most likely will not return here but brothers will stay her and she will go to grandmas

That is an open slot - let Mom know that you need a definitive answer by end of next week as you have a family interested in securing the space for their child if it is available. This one is probably the most feasible of all of your options. If Mom doesn't have an answer to you by end of week, make the decision for her, whatever it is you decide.

3 (EMOSKS Girls this doesn't leave this board!, for those of you wondering I know them in real life) We are starting to try to get pg with our second child. So if i did fill my spot, I would have to terminate newest person due to ratios...Im not sure its all that professional to bring someone in and let them go....

Would you neccessarily have to terminate the most recent family? Are there any clients who you have considered terminating? If not, that's great and go with the most recent client for ending the contract. If you do, consider the pros and cons of keeping/terminating ANY of your family contracts and decide which is best for YOUR family, taking into consideration, of course, how it will effect the family you decide to let go. Then, you write a respectful, with regret, letter of termination to the client you choose to let go ( I know that's a huge decision, I DO NOT take terminating families lightly,hence, my reason for being respectful. And, I wouldn't take this step until after the answer to your BIGGEST concern, listed next.)

I don't think you need to share any information about TRYING to get pregnant. When you ARE pregnant you can give parents approximately 8 & 1/2 months notice that you will be filling an infant space with your baby! By then, children will have gotten older, some may have moved on, who knows? Your ratios will work out because you will make the necessary changes to make it work. Until then, enjoy TRYING to get pregnant, and I wish you a healthy, full-term pregnancy!



BTW, your secret isn't a secret if you post it here, this is a wide open public forum, any of your parents could read that

[emosks]

I don't think the pot got stirred nor do I think that you would intentionally be dishonest with your families. You asked for our opinions and you got them. Some what you wanted to hear...some not. That is what happens when you are on a public forum! You got some great advice...take it for what it's worth.

[misol]

Okay , here's what I would do....

1. Potential new full time client is related to my the dc family so if an issue were to occur (i doubt it but possible) both families could walk and that would loose a huge chunk of income.

I agree that it could be a potential issue, should something happen that causes both families to leave...BUT, my experience is, if you have family members of a current client come to you because of a referral from said current family, that can only mean that they are highly satisfied with the quality of care you offer, and this MOST LIKELY will not be an issue. I LOVE having families send their family members to me - I currently have two families that referred their cousins, and those children are with me for preschool only (mom's don't work, they only need preschool), and they LOVE it here - it can be considered JOB SECURITY - they can keep you in business!

2. Family of 3 has not yet determined if oldest is going to preschool this fall yet or not. They are waiting to see how they are $ wise i believe. If she does she most likely will not return here but brothers will stay her and she will go to grandmas

That is an open slot - let Mom know that you need a definitive answer by end of next week as you have a family interested in securing the space for their child if it is available. This one is probably the most feasible of all of your options. If Mom doesn't have an answer to you by end of week, make the decision for her, whatever it is you decide.

3 (EMOSKS Girls this doesn't leave this board!, for those of you wondering I know them in real life) We are starting to try to get pg with our second child. So if i did fill my spot, I would have to terminate newest person due to ratios...Im not sure its all that professional to bring someone in and let them go....

Would you neccessarily have to terminate the most recent family? Are there any clients who you have considered terminating? If not, that's great and go with the most recent client for ending the contract. If you do, consider the pros and cons of keeping/terminating ANY of your family contracts and decide which is best for YOUR family, taking into consideration, of course, how it will effect the family you decide to let go. Then, you write a respectful, with regret, letter of termination to the client you choose to let go ( I know that's a huge decision, I DO NOT take terminating families lightly,hence, my reason for being respectful. And, I wouldn't take this step until after the answer to your BIGGEST concern, listed next.)

I don't think you need to share any information about TRYING to get pregnant. When you ARE pregnant you can give parents approximately 8 & 1/2 months notice that you will be filling an infant space with your baby! By then, children will have gotten older, some may have moved on, who knows? Your ratios will work out because you will make the necessary changes to make it work. Until then, enjoy TRYING to get pregnant, and I wish you a healthy, full-term pregnancy!



BTW, your secret isn't a secret if you post it here, this is a wide open public forum, any of your parents could read that

I agree with Crystal with one exception. I think that 8.5 months might be too soon for notice - especially since you have a history of miscarriages in your family. I would wait until after you are out of the first trimester. I think that 6 months would be plenty of notice for the family that you decide to terminate.

[nannyde]

I would never talk to the day care parents about any possible future thing that would affect their slot. I wouldn't tell them about a pregnancy until I absolutely had to and even then I wouldn't discuss their child's slot because of the new baby.

When you are ready to make a decision then you make it. So much can happen between now and the birth of a baby. It doesn't have anything to do with them until it actually DOES have something to do with them.

[Janet]

I'm a bit superstitious...

but I would probably keep a pregnancy of mine under wraps until I was out of the first trimester. Not because of any reason except that I have issues about letting anyone know about it until I'm out of the woods for the most part as far as miscarriages go. I have one child but I've had 6 pregnancies (5 ending in miscarriages) so I never really liked to tell anyone other than my husband until I hit the 12 week mark. I made the mistake with one of those miscarriages of telling everyone when I found out (which was at 5 1/2 weeks) and I miscarried at 11 weeks. I had to deal with everyone asking me how my pregnancy was going and having to explain what happened. I'm done with kids now, but if I were in the OP's shoes, I wouldn't mention any future plans and once I became pregnant, I wouldn't even tell anyone that until I was probably between 22 and 28 weeks along. Frankly, I'd consider it personal information until I decided to share it.