How Much Notice Do You Require When Leaving?

[Crazy8]

If you're policy states a length of time for how much notice a family needs to give when leaving, what is it?

I am thinking of upping mine to 30 days, 90% of my clients leave to go to school and give plenty of notice. I rarely have the "problem" people and I figure if they are problem people they probably wouldn't even give that much and don't care about forfeiting their deposit.

I'm annoyed today that a parent just changed their last day by over 2 weeks (still more than 2 weeks from now though). Grrrr!!!!

[Blackcat31]

2 weeks PER child.

Family with one kid would give 2 weeks notice.
Family with two kids would give 4 weeks notice.
Family with three kids would give 6 weeks notice.

Stole that from Nan.

[blandino]

2 weeks PER child.

Family with one kid would give 2 weeks notice.
Family with two kids would give 4 weeks notice.
Family with three kids would give 6 weeks notice.

Stole that from Nan.

I didn't know you all did that. I had been contemplating that very thing !! Great minds must think alike.

I had a previous DCM who had twins and a preschooler. She wound up hiring a nanny once she had the twins, but while we were speaking about enrolling them, I told her we would need at least a month's notice because of the amount of income that would be lost had they decided to leave.

Currently we do 2 weeks, but in August when we pass out new contracts, we will be changing to the 2 weeks per child rule.

[Crazy8]

I don't take siblings too often, one reason is because of the loss of income factor but also just because I pretty much take the under 4 crowd so they have to be closer in age to have both siblings here at the same time (sometimes they will overlap by a year but then the older one goes to school while the younger one stays here). I do like that policy though!

I'm just tired of the parent that gives me 2 months notice and then changes their last day date 20 times, LOL!!! I'm thinking if I require 30 days notice (which is feasible since most don't just up and decide to put them in a preschool overnight) then at least for the last 30 days they can not keep changing that date!!

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

2 weeks

[jenn]

I discuss with the parents that if they plan to leave for preschool or whatever, to give me as much time as possible. I don't have a high turn over. I usually lose them to preschool or kindergarten. The only parent that has not given a 2 weeks plus notice was one that left angry (your child is not teething, he is 4 1/2 and teething would not make him bite people or chew on the carpet anyway), and I wouldn't have wanted them for 2 more weeks. If I want someone to leave or they are mad about something, I just want them gone. I don't require them to give me 2 weeks and I am not required to give them 2 weeks if I terminate.

[originalkat]

I used to have a 2-week notice, but last August I changed my payment policy to a monthly rate (BEST thing I have EVER done! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!) So when I changed to the monthly rate I switched to requiring a 30 day notice. I feel so much better about it because around here it takes longer than 2 weeks to find a replacement. My daycare income is our ONLY income since hubby is a student right now so I have to fill my spots.

[JoseyJo]

We require a 2 week notice but I don't think it has ever gone that way! Either they have given lots of notice (going to K, have a new baby and deciding to stay home, etc), or in a few cases I have "helped them term themselves" due to bad fit and have been happy to let them out of their notice

[Willow]

I rarely have any turnover so I don't "require" any notice. I ask for two weeks but if things head south I don't want to be tethered to a toxic family.

I've termed twice, once was effective immediately the other lasted three weeks.....was a *very* uncomfortable three weeks so I'd much prefer they hit the bricks asap if possible.

Everyone else has aged our into kindy and after school programs. I knew for months it was coming so there was no need for parents to give anything official in writing.

[mamac]

2 weeks PER child.

Family with one kid would give 2 weeks notice.
Family with two kids would give 4 weeks notice.
Family with three kids would give 6 weeks notice.

Stole that from Nan.

I guess I will never be finished with my handbook. I guess it's a good thing I haven't printed off a bunch of copies yet.

Maybe I'll just have my handbook, my contract and my contract addendum that I can keep adding to...

[craftymissbeth]

I guess I will never be finished with my handbook. I guess it's a good thing I haven't printed off a bunch of copies yet.

Maybe I'll just have my handbook, my contract and my contract addendum that I can keep adding to...

At this point my handbook is darn near 30 pages... so I don't print ANYTHING out until I'm absolutely 100% certain.. like their pen is just about to hit the contract

[mamac]

At this point my handbook is darn near 30 pages... so I don't print ANYTHING out until I'm absolutely 100% certain.. like their pen is just about to hit the contract

:: I would love to do that but I am refusing to buy ink for my printer at this point in time. It's going to cost me about $150 to replace all the ink so I was thinking of having them done in bulk at a print shop to try to save money and avoiding the headache of having to worry about running out of ink all the time. I know I'll eventually have to have a working printer at the house though. Just not looking forward to paying for it. And at that point I may have them pay me a deposit before printing anything. ::

Edit: Btw, would you mind sharing your handbook? With 30 pages I'm sure there MUST be something in there that I'm missing!

[williams2008]

I require a two weeks notice per child.

[AmyKidsCo]

Two weeks notice.

From the fill-the-spot and less-lost-income point of view I'd rather have 4 weeks, but emotionally when a family gives notice the last two weeks seem too long - Sometimes I'd rather just get it over with quickly, like pulling off a band-aid.

[MarinaVanessa]

2 weeks PER child.

Family with one kid would give 2 weeks notice.
Family with two kids would give 4 weeks notice.
Family with three kids would give 6 weeks notice.

Stole that from Nan.

**Argh** Looks like I'll be working on this today during nap time. Currently I require a 2 weeks notice but it never occurred to me to require 2 weeks per child. Genius I tell you. Now you'll just have to quote how you word that for me.

My handbook is just like the Winchester Mystery House only instead of the house growing it's my handbook which grows.