Felt a Little Down Yesterday

[Blackcat31]

I would be very careful about giving packets or business information to families who have not signed up yet because there is a chance that it is a new provider that is fishing for information so they can get a feel of what their compitition is like and how they can top them.

I would NEVER view the other providers in my area as competition. :confused:

We are all in this together and the more we work together the better it is for everyone who uses or needs child care.

I mentor new providers in my area and the very first thing I do is give them a copy of ALL my paperwork and encoruage them to use any or all of what I have.

There are plenty of kids needing child care that daycare shouldn't have to be a cut throat business. Maybe in some areas, but not here and I am grateful for that.

I have also had many providers here on the forum ask to see my handbook. I have e-mailed my copy out to almost everyone that has asked.

I don't give out my handbook to prospective clients until enrollment simply as a cost saving measure. My handbook is several pages long and if I simply handed one out to anyone who asked, I'd go through tons of paper.

[melilley]

I would NEVER view the other providers in my area as competition. :confused:

We are all in this together and the more we work together the better it is for everyone who uses or needs child care.

I mentor new providers in my area and the very first thing I do is give them a copy of ALL my paperwork and encoruage them to use any or all of what I have.

There are plenty of kids needing child care that daycare shouldn't have to be a cut throat business. Maybe in some areas, but not here and I am grateful for that.

I have also had many providers here on the forum ask to see my handbook. I have e-mailed my copy out to almost everyone that has asked.

I don't give out my handbook to prospective clients until enrollment simply as a cost saving measure. My handbook is several pages long and if I simply handed one out to anyone who asked, I'd go through tons of paper.

That is great! I just wish people wouldn't set up interviews solely for the purpose of getting the handbook/policies, but as with any profession, there are ups and downs!

[Oneluckymom]

I would NEVER view the other providers in my area as competition. :confused:

We are all in this together and the more we work together the better it is for everyone who uses or needs child care.

I mentor new providers in my area and the very first thing I do is give them a copy of ALL my paperwork and encoruage them to use any or all of what I have.

There are plenty of kids needing child care that daycare shouldn't have to be a cut throat business. Maybe in some areas, but not here and I am grateful for that.

I have also had many providers here on the forum ask to see my handbook. I have e-mailed my copy out to almost everyone that has asked.

I don't give out my handbook to prospective clients until enrollment simply as a cost saving measure. My handbook is several pages long and if I simply handed one out to anyone who asked, I'd go through tons of paper.

I am ALWAYS open to helping other providers and never feel competitive. What I feel bad about is the sneakiness that other providers feel they need to resort to. I would LOVE to help another provider or a provider trying to get set up with the business, but why don't they just ask?

Its the sneaking around and being dishonest that gets under my skin.

[melilley]

I am ALWAYS open to helping other providers and never feel competitive. What I feel bad about is the sneakiness that other providers feel they need to resort to. I would LOVE to help another provider or a provider trying to get set up with the business, but why don't they just ask?

Its the sneaking around and being dishonest that gets under my skin.

[Blackcat31]

I am ALWAYS open to helping other providers and never feel competitive. What I feel bad about is the sneakiness that other providers feel they need to resort to. I would LOVE to help another provider or a provider trying to get set up with the business, but why don't they just ask?

Its the sneaking around and being dishonest that gets under my skin.While

While I can't speak for everyone, I suppose most providers feel as though they HAVE to be sneaky about it.

I would think that if a provider worked on their rules and handbooks for countless hours and then another provider asked to see it, she would more than likely say no and feel as though that provider was trying to hone in on her territory....I don't know as I am only guessing but if you EVER get the feeling that someone is just being sneaky, call them out on it and then offer up your stuff. That's what I would do.

Sometimes when they call to set up the interview or even during the interview you can see/hear little clues about whether they are really a parent or a provider...kwim?

For example, you mentioned this mom kind of hesitated a bit when asked where she worked. After awhile, you get really good at recognizing whether or not they are being truthful or not.

But you are so right, it is the sneaky and decietful ones that ruin it for everyone else.

[MarinaVanessa]

I would NEVER view the other providers in my area as competition. :confused:

We are all in this together and the more we work together the better it is for everyone who uses or needs child care.

I mentor new providers in my area and the very first thing I do is give them a copy of ALL my paperwork and encoruage them to use any or all of what I have.

There are plenty of kids needing child care that daycare shouldn't have to be a cut throat business. Maybe in some areas, but not here and I am grateful for that.

I have also had many providers here on the forum ask to see my handbook. I have e-mailed my copy out to almost everyone that has asked.

I don't give out my handbook to prospective clients until enrollment simply as a cost saving measure. My handbook is several pages long and if I simply handed one out to anyone who asked, I'd go through tons of paper.

I'm like BlackCat and that's one of the reasons that I don't mind having my forms and information on my website. I'll even e-mail potential clients a copy of everything that I include in my Parent Packet. I'm like most here that on't however hand over a hard-copy of the packet until they are ready to enroll. I e-mail everything to them first so they can read everything (and so I have proof that they received everything) at their leisure at home and then when they are ready to sign I have them come back and we go over everything one last time before they sign the contract. This is when I give them a hard-copy of everything. I do it this way to prevent waste and expenses on my end.

If it's a child-care provider fishing for info they'd have more benefits if they just straight out told me that this was why they were calling. I'm the Vice President of our local child care association so I regularly show providers my forms and documents and give them tips on how to make improvements to their programs or how to get started. Even when I wasn't a part of the association I had help starting my DC and so I didn't care if people used my stuff for ideas ... I thought about it as paying it forward.

I don't however think that a person should copy something word-for-word or plagiarize. I've had THAT happen to me once when a provider copied me entire website word for word and even used the same layout and colors as I did . That I had to put a stop to.

[Starburst]

I would NEVER view the other providers in my area as competition. :confused:

We are all in this together and the more we work together the better it is for everyone who uses or needs child care.

I mentor new providers in my area and the very first thing I do is give them a copy of ALL my paperwork and encoruage them to use any or all of what I have.

There are plenty of kids needing child care that daycare shouldn't have to be a cut throat business. Maybe in some areas, but not here and I am grateful for that.

I have also had many providers here on the forum ask to see my handbook. I have e-mailed my copy out to almost everyone that has asked.

I don't give out my handbook to prospective clients until enrollment simply as a cost saving measure. My handbook is several pages long and if I simply handed one out to anyone who asked, I'd go through tons of paper.

Like everything else it depends on your area- I currently live in a town with a small population (like 30k) and their are home daycares, preschools (public and private), afterschool programs, and centers everywhere and many actually have to close down do to low enrollment. A lot of people here also have more money and can afford to have a SAHP or even WAHP. I was taking a FCC administrations class and many of the providers who had daycares in my town were saying how competitive the area was that their are some providers (or SAHM's who didn't even do daycare) who mostly live on their husband's income and can afford to charge low rates. The friend I had whose mom did daycare, she planned on opening one too and she told me that she doesn't care if I had a daycare but she would if I opened one in the same town as her- even though she lives in a bigger city (population 400k-500k). Although that can be taken as she sees me as a threat because she did always make me do most of her work. At one point she wanted me to be her assistant- but I know she would just make mer her 'B!+c# Monkey' and I would mostly be doing the paperwork and cleaning anyway .

[Patches]

I would be very careful about giving packets or business information to families who have not signed up yet because there is a chance that it is a new provider that is fishing for information so they can get a feel of what their compitition is like and how they can top them.

exactly what I was going to say. Especially because she was acting fishy when asked what she did for a living

edit: wanted to add that I would let other providers see my handbook and what not for ideas. Just don't lie to me and waste my time pretending to be a potential client