Another post about "paid" holidays

[MarinaVanessa]

Coming from a parents view, I would say if the dck was usually scheduled to be there on that holiday then "yes" you should charge the parent.

Example: I dck is usually there on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday then you should charge them for the day of Thanksgiving (Thursday), but not the Friday because they wouldn't normally be there.
I know every daycare has it's own policy though, so you have to make that call and make sure you stick with what ever decision you make!!

Edit to add: I think this would be regardless of dcp taking extra days off. So if they were to give you notice of taking the whole week of Thanksgiving off, I still think they should pay you for the holiday.

Yes this is a great way to explain it. This is how I do it. I, for example, am planning on using vacation time for the delivery of my baby (due Nov 27) for the week of Thanksgiving and the week after thanksgiving. I did not use vacation time this year (I closed for a week at no charge to be able to use my vacation time for my maternity leave) and so I have a paid week and a 2nd week at half rate (families also get 1 week unpaid and a 2nd week at half rate for their own vacations). I normally get Thanksgiving and the day after Thanksgiving as paid holidays and I cam closed but since I decided to take the week off and use vacation time I get the week paid but I don't get extra for Thanksgiving and the day after as well even though this is a holiday that I should get paid. It's either one or the other.

Also if I was to stay open the week of Thanksgiving and the families decided to go on vacation, they would get prorated and pay only for Thursday and Friday.

[grandmom]

I agree with Joyce. I get paid once a month by all parents. Doesn't matter if they take time off or there's a holiday. Same amount every month.

[tenderhearts]

Thanks, I would never charge someone for the holiday if it didn't fall on their "normal" contracted day, like f they were here only mon and tuesday, or mon, wed, thur, I'd only charge them for thursday not friday the day after Thanksgiving. I also wont' charge such as the week of thanksgiving the family that is normally here wed, thur, friday, she asked to switch days, I'm not and dont' feel right charging her the holidays AND the mon and tues, I'm not out to make "more" and rip someone off. So I feel better now about sticking to my contract and charging for thursday and friday even if they are on vacation the other days thanks for all your input

[Lucy]

My former center has a weekly and a monthly rate. Depending on how you look at it, they both come out cheap. The weekly rate would be cheaper than the monthly only when there are 4 weeks out of the month. The months were there are 5, those paying weekly rates have to pay for that 5th week. Whereas, yes the monthly rate was a bit more expensive monthly wise however when there were 5 weeks in a month, you didn't have to pay for that 5th week.

Mine has nothing to do with whether there are 28 days or 31 days in a month. Simply put, I figure out what it would be for a day, then multiply by 260 (five days per week times 52 weeks), then divide by 12 (12 months in a year) to get my monthly rate. If it's a school kid, I add in supplements for no-school and early release days. When all is said and done, it comes out the same as if they were paying daily, weekly, or whatever. Point is, it stays the SAME every month.

[MyAngels]

Looks like everybody has their own way of doing this, so I'll chime in with my way, too

I give each family ten days each year (with two weeks notice required) that they can take off unpaid. If they want to take off the week of Thanksgiving, including the Thursday and Friday that I take as paid holidays, then I call that 5 of their 10 days of unpaid time. I have had parents who have taken that week off and gone ahead and paid me for the two holiday days, and in that case I only call it 3 of their 10 days for the year. The reason that I take "paid" holidays is so that my income remains consistent throughout the year, and so that I can spend holidays with my family without the daycare kids here. It doesn't matter to me if a family wants to take their unpaid days in the middle of June or over the holidays, the end result is the same.

[MarinaVanessa]

I agree with Joyce. I get paid once a month by all parents. Doesn't matter if they take time off or there's a holiday. Same amount every month.

The only problem I see with this is that not all months have the same number of days in them (20-22 paid days) Also receiving payment weekly is hard enough as it is. I get paid in advance and I know for sure that new families would't be able to afford paying me the full $620 in advance plus the deposit. If they did I'd have to raise the rates to make up for the income I was losing compared to being paid weekly

I charge $155 weekly for full time:
$155 x 4 = Monthly $620 x 12 months = Yearly $7,440
Charging Weekly $155 x 52 weeks = Yearly $8,060
For me that's a loss of $620!! That's a month of lost pay per full-time child.
I'd have to charge $672 a month to make that up. I offer a small discount for families that choose to pay 4 weeks or more in advance but have yet to get any takers.

[Lucy]

The only problem I see with this is that not all months have the same number of days in them (20-22 paid days) Also receiving payment weekly is hard enough as it is. I get paid in advance and I know for sure that new families would't be able to afford paying me the full $620 in advance plus the deposit. If they did I'd have to raise the rates to make up for the income I was losing compared to being paid weekly

I charge $155 weekly for full time:
$155 x 4 = Monthly $620 x 12 months = Yearly $7,440
Charging Weekly $155 x 52 weeks = Yearly $8,060
For me that's a loss of $620!! That's a month of lost pay per full-time child.
I'd have to charge $672 a month to make that up. I offer a small discount for families that choose to pay 4 weeks or more in advance but have yet to get any takers.

Flawed math. Your figures are not accurate. You say $155 X 4 (or $620) is what you would charge for a month. That's not correct. $620 is what you would charge for FOUR WEEKS, not 1 month. They're not the same thing.

An average month has 21.67 days in it.

I average, as I said in my original comment. For your numbers it would work this way: 155 divided by 5 (days per week) equals 31. So you charge $31 per day. Ok, 31 times 260 (there are 260 weekdays in a year) equals $8,060 per year, as you said above. Ok, next you would do 8060 divided by 12 to get your AVERAGE monthly charge. That equals $671.67 per month - EVERY month is the same. No deductions, no additions, you can budget, they can budget.

Also, regarding your concern of getting paid weekly... as my original comment stated, they either pay once per month, or they can divide it into 2, 3, or 4 payments WITHIN THE SAME MONTH. And if you prefer pre-payment, they can pay these 1,2,3 or 4 payments during September, but they go towards October's care. They are always paying this month for next month. Either way, it's still $671.67 per month. Never changes for any reason. And it's still $8,060 per year.

Hope that makes more sense. Not trying to be a know-it-all or anything, but I've done it this way for 16 years, so I'm very familiar with the way the math works out. Lots of people seem to think that 4 weeks makes a month. Not true. You have to average. Hope this helps for anyone who is thinking of simplifying to this method of payment.

[tenderhearts]

That seems easier that way but I don't think that would fly in my area for in home daycares. The part they pay for their vacations or days they take off. Most here give so many weeks.

[Lucy]

That seems easier that way but I don't think that would fly in my area for in home daycares. The part they pay for their vacations or days they take off. Most here give so many weeks.

That's the beauty of this method. You can figure for that scenario. When you come up with the yearly amount (before you divide by 12), just subtract X number of days that they don't have to pay. If you would normally give them 1 week for vacation, subtract 5 days out of that yearly amount. For two free weeks, subtract 10 days out, etc.

[Jewels]

I say if you allow them to take unpaid vacation, then no, I dont think you should charge them, yeah it states that you have paid holidays, but you don't charge for vacation, I think those would contradict each other.