I have a group of 12 plus a fifteen passenger van if I paid for the field trip, gas, helpers ect I wouldn't be able to afford to take the kids anywhere
Field Trip....Who Pays??
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Most of the time I cover the cost because I can only take 5 at a time and I usually get yearly passes for the zoo or Betty Brinn. We are going to go to the pumpkin farm next week and will ask parents for a few dollars each to help cover gas (30 min drive), lunch and the hayride. When parents sign up with me, they are told that we go on outings and sometimes parents have to pay. I also don't have the money to pay an assistant to sit home with someone just because the parent doesn't want their kid to go.lovethis daymommy to 7 kiddos - 5 girls and 2 boys- Flag
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I used to teach kindergarten, and we would often have parents send back permission slips without money. I hated the kids missing the trips, as they often tied into the lesson plans. Some parents did take advantage of this policy, but it was worth it to me.- Flag
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So then if a parent chooses not to go on the field trip do they still have to pay for daycare that day?- Flag
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My PHB says they have to pay for any trips we may take.
I did send out the slips and let everyone know I would be paying for any rides we take, but the $9.25 fee for admission, pumpkin, and hayride was their responsibility.
However, no one had an issue with it. They are all happy that we are going. My parents also said they'd be sending in extra money for rides and anything else.
happyfacehappyface
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Absolutely. The charge for our field trip right now is $5.00 for kids over 2. So really 2/3 of my dcks are free. I gave plenty of notice (1 mo) and its only a half day field trip. So yes, they are required to pay for the day. We will be gone for maybe 2.5 hours tops. Everyone was MORE than willing to pay the extra and they are all very excited for the kids and the fact that as a small FCC I take the initiative to do things like this with the kids while still being conscious of budgets and scheduling of naps and such.- Flag
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My PHB says they have to pay for any trips we may take.
I did send out the slips and let everyone know I would be paying for any rides we take, but the $9.25 fee for admission, pumpkin, and hayride was their responsibility.
However, no one had an issue with it. They are all happy that we are going. My parents also said they'd be sending in extra money for rides and anything else.
happyfacehappyface
Yea one of my dcms said she was throwing in extra money for face painting
We will see how long that lasts
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I worked in a non-profit center and we had to hire a bus for transportation. That was probably half the cost. We had the parents pay and one Daycare worker was left behind to care for any that wouldn't be going. Seems to me the last trip was $15.00 per child. That paid for the bus, Hayride & Pumpkin from the patch. Around here that's cheaper than the parent taking their child themselves.- Flag
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I pay most of the time, but I also am big on memberships so I have one to nearly everywhere we go frequently (zoo, both children's museums, bouncy houses/gym...). When I first started buying memberships I staggered them, like Jan, May, August, Oct... So that I wasn't paying out $$$ for all of them in one month and now I just renew as they come up. I have a small group though and most of my parents send money even if I say I have it covered.
I try to keep field trips under $5 if don't have a membership and I usually pay, but I do have it in my PHB that parents may be responsible for any fees for field trips and they need to have back up care available for the time we will be gone if they don't want their child to participate. Never had a kid not come. I've only charged the parents one time, we went to a local theme park and its 10.50 per kid but I asked parents to pay $5.
Our pumpkin patch costs around $6 just to get in, includes some little activities, but pumpkins, hayrides, and other activities are extra so I usually pay entrance and hayride, if they want DCK to get a pumpkin of their own (I get 2 DC pumpkins) they can send money (pumpkins run $5+). It works well because some of my parents go to the other pumpkin patch with DCKs and get pumpkins on their own so they don't want DCK coming home with another one & I don't want to lug 6-8 pumpkins home ::
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I put that the DC provider pays because I will only do low or no cost field trips with the kids. When I first started out I had a couple of families who were struggling financially, and there is no way they could have afforded to pay admission fees *and* pay for day care (and at the end of the day, I want to make sure *I* get paid). Now, if parents were pushing for these trips (or choosing your program over another because you offered them), that would be different.
As for the argument that public schools charge for trips - parents are also not paying tuition to the public school for their child to attend each week.- Flag
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That is my issue with requiring parents to pay. I think it's fine if parents have to pay but I think it isn't right that they still have to pay for the day if they don't go on the field trip.
I would never have been ok with my provider transporting my child anywhere so I would not have enrolled in a child care that had field trips that I was not able to opt out of and still had to pay tuition for that day.
As a provider, it is just not something I would feel comfortable doing and as a parent, it wouldn't work for me.
If it works for OP and all her parents are fine with it, cool.- Flag
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At my former center the parents would pay for all field trips.
During the summer field trips there was an upcharge. For example if we went to the local pool the charge was $3.00 even though it cost $1.50.
I had several confrontations with parents because they didn't want to pay more than cost of admission. I just explained to them that the cost of a field trip was more than admission. It was also the cost of gas, wear and tear on the van, etc. Also we never charged a supply fee so we just added the cost into the summer trips.- Flag
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I try to do one free small field trip per month that goes along with our community helper that we introduce every month) For September we went to the police station , and for October we are going to see a fire department. We do our one "BIG" field trip in the fall to the Zoo (during "Z" week) and the parents pay $10. This covers admission and food. During the summer we try to do the free water splash park at least twice a month.... I try to find free field trips whenever possible!I have yet to have a parent complain about paying for their child's field trip.
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