What To Do? What To Do?

[Is it bedtime yet?]

About 2 months ago I had a former family contact me about providing care for their yet to be born baby. I was really excited because I had watched the family's older daughter for 5 years and loved her. Plus, the mom was super loyal and kept the daughter with me even though she moved multiple times and sometimes drove more than an hour a day out of her way to bring DCG here. Anyway, I committed without talking about deposit or payment. I have never held a spot for a baby before and figured I had 5 months before the baby started so taking a few days to think about it would be ok. Well, life got crazy and 2 months went by and I just now caught my breath to stop and think about it. The baby was born last week, but still has 2 1/2 months before she starts. I have a ton of families wanting my spot and now I am starting to sweat the lost income. I know ultimately they will pay whatever I ask them, but is it fair since I have waited so long to address it to just drop it in their lap now? I had planned on asking for $50 a week starting June 1st until the baby started(obviously late on that ). That is what I will be charging my teachers to hold their spots for the summer. Since it is without any notice now, should I just charge them a deposit and call it good instead? DCM ran into me at a party the other day and mentioned that they could fill out paperwork and pay a deposit at any time. If so, how much of a deposit? I currently just charge $50 and first week up front, but that's for kids that are starting within 2 weeks. So deposit, or weekly fee???

[NeedaVaca]

Could you try to put a positive spin on it? Like, I hated to have to charge you for the full 5 months of holding your spot so I waited to do the contract to save you some money, starting now I will only charge you $50 per week until your start date to hold your spot? Something along those lines will make them see they actually got a great deal

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

Could you try to put a positive spin on it? Like, I hated to have to charge you for the full 5 months of holding your spot so I waited to do the contract to save you some money, starting now I will only charge you $50 per week until your start date to hold your spot? Something along those lines will make them see they actually got a great deal

That sounds like a great way to go about it!

[CraftyMom]

I might use the fact that you have multiple interests in the spot.

"Dear dcf.
I can't wait for the new baby to start with me! However, I currently have several other interests in this spot. To continue to hold it for you I will have to charge $x/week. If this isn't feasible I will have to fill the spot with another family. Thank you for understanding!"

[Is it bedtime yet?]

Could you try to put a positive spin on it? Like, I hated to have to charge you for the full 5 months of holding your spot so I waited to do the contract to save you some money, starting now I will only charge you $50 per week until your start date to hold your spot? Something along those lines will make them see they actually got a great deal

I like this idea

[Is it bedtime yet?]

I might use the fact that you have multiple interests in the spot.

"Dear dcf.
I can't wait for the new baby to start with me! However, I currently have several other interests in this spot. To continue to hold it for you I will have to charge $x/week. If this isn't feasible I will have to fill the spot with another family. Thank you for understanding!"

I like this except the end. I really wouldn't give it to someone else, because I know the family so well and it is an almost guaranteed 4-5 years of the DD coming to me. If it were anyone else I would have no issue with saying that. I just wish I hadn't waited so long to bring it up

[SignMeUp]

If you are going to talk in person, maybe something like this:

"You know what? I know we didn't discuss this earlier, but there IS a holding fee to keep a space saved for this long. I wish I didn't have to charge you, but it's just too expensive for me to be able to hold a space open for such a long time. I hope you understand ... and I know that you know how much I want to care for your baby "


I got the "you know what" from one of my old daycare moms She prefaced any bad news with this, and it was like a little warning that 'something' was coming, but that it wasn't 'too' bad Maybe it's regional and won't work for you, but everyone here seems to understand it