Question About Summer Breaks

[Momof2Boys]

First of all I want to thank those of you who helped me with my Craigslist Ad yesterday! I made a few adjustments, and received this response this morning:

Hello!
We leave off of 43rd as well. We are looking for someone who is able and willing to care for our 3 1/2 month old son. We are both teachers and work full time. If you are interested, please call P___ or L__ at ***-****.

Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you!

I have seen a lot of you say that you charge 1/2 the rate for the summer when the child won't be in your care. Since these two parents are teachers, I am assuming they won't need care over the summer, so would it be smart of me to charge them 1/2 the rate for those months to hold their spot? Would it be okay for me take on a child in place of theirs just for those summer months? Is it okay to do both, or should I just pick one or the other (1/2 rate or another child)?

Thanks for the help!

ETA: I know I haven't even interviewed with this family yet, but I thought I would decide on all this before meeting with them

[Momof2Boys]

I have an interview with this family next Tuesday evening! As well as two additional interviews this weekend!

[QualiTcare]

when i decided to go into teaching - one of the perks (a HUGE perk) was not having to worry about childcare - or pay for it.

everyone is different, but i personally would take my chances on losing a spot over the summer instead of paying 1/2 price for a spot i wouldn't be using. in my case, it'd be 2 spots (2 kids) which would be $300 a week.

it's a gamble, but i'd risk not having the spot if i knew there was a possibility the spot would be open - as opposed to paying appx. $4000 dollars over the summer for care i didn't need.

from a provider standpoint - i'd make an arrangement depending on how many kids you have and if you think they'd be willing to pay. if they know you have several spots open and they're not likely to pay - it's not gonna happen. if you're full or almost full and they're iffy about paying - let them know it's likely you won't have space available when school starts back and they'll decide from there.

people have mentioned to me before about teaching being such a low paying profession (not being rude - the opposite actually) and i'd always remind them that teachers work 180 days a year which is exactly 6 months out of the year and make 40 grand starting out. the SECOND thing i'd mention is teachers don't have to pay for childcare during the summer - and with schoolage children - during the schoolyear. with 2 kids - at $150 a week per kid, that's 14k a year. if you make 40k - that's a HUGE chunk.

i'd risk losing a spot vs. paying 4 grand - or 2 grand even (for one kid) but that's just me. it depends on a lot of other factors - like how long they've been with you, your relationship, etc.

every case is different, really.

[Momof2Boys]

Thank you so much for the response! It it always helpful to hear it from the other point of view. I know when I was looking for childcare, I didn't like the idea of paying my provider for vacation days (not that they didn't deserve it!) when I still had to pay for a back-up provider to cover for those days. So I made sure to take unpaid vacations now that I am starting my own daycare business..

I don't know if I would feel right charging this family half their rate for the entire summer. I would be better off finding another child to take the baby's spot just for those summer months...