Parent Think Their Children Should Be Watched For Pennies...

[thatdivalady]

I have had several calls from parents regarding care:

1. Parent needing a Thursday/Friday schedule BUT not every week.
2. Parent with two children who wants part time care 2 days per week
3. Parent wth two children who wants part time care 2 days per week BUT they are not the same days every week.

etc

Part time parents are told that unless they pay full time rates, their spot can be given to a full time parent at any time. I do lose money after all by taking them...Parents with varying schedules are told that they must pay full time rates (or close to it) in order for me to take them.

One family actually said they were originally looking for a nanny but the mother did not want anyone in their home. They wanted drop in services and the ability to not have to pay for days they don't use. My rate is $15 per hour for drop ins. I know good and well that they would be paying at least that much if not more for nanny services but somehow that was too expensive for them...

I just find it funny that I get the "too expensive" statement from parents when my price is listed on our website, on CL, AND I tell them what the price is ahead of time. Why do parents think that professionals should watch their children for peanuts? If you will pay a high school babysitter $10-$15 per hour to watch your precious children, why is $5 per hour too much for part time varying schedules? It just annoys me because I really would like to know how much they think they should be paying...

[SilverSabre25]

Oh I know it's very frustrating. I had one recently that was asking for ALL sorts of special, for one-on-one teaching of her 21 month old, etc, etc, etc...and $120/week was too much for her.

Yeah. NO. I don't THINK so.

I didn't even try to figure out what she meant by the teaching thing...I knew I wasn't interested. She was the type that probably wanted "sit down with her and drill her in her ABC's and have her do these worksheets".

[itlw8]

because they think there are 2 kind of providers

1 does it because she loves children... so she does not need money and will work for little.

2 works just for the money.... like they are not working for a paycheck?

[littlemissmuffet]

Educate them. Break down their weekly/monthly fee into an hourly fee. Break down where their fee goes (rent/mortgage, utilities, groceries, craft supplies, bank fees, cleaning supplies, nap supplies, kitchen supplies, toys, books, repairs, taxes, etc). Remind them of how many hours per week you work, without breaks. Encourage them to interview at lower-priced childcares and compare their services to yours. TELL THEM OPERATING A DAYCARE IS EXPENSIVE. And tell them they can't put a price on knowing their child is in excellent hands

[Blackcat31]

Educate them. Break down their weekly/monthly fee into an hourly fee. Break down where their fee goes (rent/mortgage, utilities, groceries, craft supplies, bank fees, cleaning supplies, nap supplies, kitchen supplies, toys, books, repairs, taxes, etc). Remind them of how many hours per week you work, without breaks. Encourage them to interview at lower-priced childcares and compare their services to yours. TELL THEM OPERATING A DAYCARE IS EXPENSIVE. And tell them they can't put a price on knowing their child is in excellent hands

Child care may be expensive but quality care is priceless!

[daycare]

I agree about needing to educate them. A lot of people do not understand how daycare capacity works and how it affects our pay.

I was told by a client of mine that does drop in that I was the most expensive daycare she looked at. (which I know is not true) So I asked her if I am the most expensive, why did you chose me and she said well you get what you pay for....... I say yes and no to that, but that was her opinion.

[BumbleBee]

Yep! I've run into this too. So frustrating, especially when they walk in with the newest phone/purse/jewelry and drive a straight off the lot car worth more than my house.

I wouldn't do it, but I have felt like saying "sure I can lower the price! I'll just cut out all curriculum, you have to send food for the whole day because it's not included, and I'll just sit and play on my computer all day-letting the kids do whatever they want whenever they want."


Sadly, I would probably have some takers!

[boysx5]

Yes I agree sadly they will buy themselves the fancy clothes cars but their most precious cargo don't want to pay. I always get my point across and tell them my feelings

[e.j.]

Educate them. Break down their weekly/monthly fee into an hourly fee. Break down where their fee goes (rent/mortgage, utilities, groceries, craft supplies, bank fees, cleaning supplies, nap supplies, kitchen supplies, toys, books, repairs, taxes, etc). Remind them of how many hours per week you work, without breaks. Encourage them to interview at lower-priced childcares and compare their services to yours. TELL THEM OPERATING A DAYCARE IS EXPENSIVE. And tell them they can't put a price on knowing their child is in excellent hands

I just had a situation where a dc parent left me for a "nanny" (aka college student) because she charged $1 an hour less than me. Less than a month later, she was complaining that the nanny was watching tv and talking on her phone all day long, totally ignoring the kids who were either out playing somewhere in the neighborhood all day or vegging in front of the tv with her. She also complained that her house was always trashed by the time she got home from work. I probably should have pointed out that the reason I charge more is that I have more overhead - including craft supplies for our daily art/craft projects, nutrious food, etc. but I didn't bother. She was paying a $1 less per hour but her nanny was using her electricity, phone, tv, a/c, water and food and not doing anything in terms of activities with her kids. What a bargain!

[thatdivalady]

Exactly my point! I swear even though I know my program is at the higher end for family daycare I could always cut out my schedule for the kids which includes developmental learning and 0-30 minutes of PBS television per day, the snacks, up to date materials and activities, arts and crafts, etc.

What's funny is that every single parent who comes to tour says the same thing. That they are so impressed with our monitoring system and it makes them feel better about sending their child. But, still just can't imagine paying for it. $3.50 per hour is seriously not asking too much...

And I gotta say, even without the monitoring. DAYCARE EXPENSES are EXPENSIVE!!! I just spent $300 on lincoln logs, Mr. Potato Head, legos, etc. In the stores it would have cost me close to $1000.00 for all that I got. It is draining to provide quality programming to children for 9-10 hours per day. So much easier for those providers who literally just watch television all day and feed and change the children in their care. Yep, I could charge 80-100 per week if that were all I was doing.

[MrsSteinel'sHouse]

I just had one like that! And she is a teacher!! I invited her to come over and see what I offer, to check out my FB page, to check my references to see if I wasn't worth it! But, no. To her the bottom line was, she says she only needs 6 hours a day 2 days a week and can't imagine paying $50 a week for that! ($25 a day) Now, I will admit I do have an opening for the 2 days she wanted but seriously! She would let $10 stop her from even looking at me! nope, not going to do it.

[DBug]

I took this from a blog post I did many months ago - 12 Things Daycare Providers Wish Parents Knew. I finally got smart enough to include the whole thing in my Parent Handbook.

#5 – Daycare Providers are in it for the money.
Yes, Home Daycare Providers do this job because they love children. But would you do your job if you couldn’t pay the bills with it? And Home Daycare Providers are not “raking it in”. Yes, I’ve seen parents do the mental math when they think about what they’re paying and multiply it by the number of kids in my care. Yes, we do make that amount, but then we deduct taxes (about 15%), daycare groceries and cleaning supplies (about 14%), extra insurance and utilities (about 10%), and any new toys, furniture, or outdoor equipment or repairs to our homes caused by running the daycare (5% – 20%). If you really do the math, you’ll see that we’re making much less than minimum wage.

... but now I realize that I left out curriculum costs, which adds even more to our expense list ...!

[DCMama]

Some people just see the rate in chunks and think that they can't afford it when in reality it's as if we are watching their child for under minimum wage per hours. I do not get it either. This maybe random but I saw a court segment where this babysitter was suing this dad for owing her money for babysitting. He only pay her $20 a DAY!!!! not an hour a DAY!! and she come from 4:30am-12pm or 1pm. And he's was showing the judge letters from other parents around his area that only pay their babysitter $10 dollars a day!!! omg!!! that's beyond ridiculous. I'm glad the judge was not on his side and was like, "you can't take advantage of people like that, how would you feel if the place you are working at pays you donuts and bread for your service." Anyways that's just remind me of your situation and how parents do not realize how cheap they are actually paying us. So frustrating

[Blackcat31]

I have had my fair share of parents that do question why child care is expensive.

In response, I copied this from an article I read in an NAEYC publication and included it in my yearly folders.

It is nicely written and explains ALOT to parents from a providers perspective.

[DCMama]

loving the article

I have had my fair share of parents that do question why child care is expensive.

In response, I copied this from an article I read in an NAEYC publication and included it in my yearly folders.

It is nicely written and explains ALOT to parents from a providers perspective.

I am in love with this article. I think I will print it and post it up at my daycare.Thanks!