How Do You Handle Part Time Families?

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

Call me odd because I DON'T like having a bunch of par-timers so now I only have ONE part-time spot available (M/W/F and T/TH) that is filled. Yes, I make more money and yes, they are better about keeping sick kids home but it is HARD to find a part-time family in my area that isn't a helicopter parent.

Because these women are typically SAHM's or work very few days per week they tend to micromanage their child to the extreme. I was also the first thing to cut from the budget when things got tight. Plus, the 2-day families were expecting their child to learn and retain massive amounts of information from our curriculum when they were here 2/7 days per week. It was just too much for my liking.
If I could find a relaxed, cool Mom then I would entertain the idea again. But, thus far, these people have been straight up scary so I run away screaming instead.

My current part-timers I have had for over 2 years (had the older child, who is now in Kinder, and now I have the middle child - age 3) and for 1.5 years (had the older brother, also now in Kinder, and now I have their middle child - age 2). I LOVE the parents and I LOVE the kids. Perfect situation there and I know they plan on using my services for their 3rd children as well. happyface

My T/Th parents pay-$32.50/day
My M/W/F parents pay-$33.33/day
My M-F parents pay-$29/day

[Unregistered]

I might end up in a community where this might work well. What ages do you accept and what does your curriculum/activities look like?
The community has a lot of SAHMs.

I accept all ages: infant through school age. Though the only school-age I tend to enroll are former clients who need summer or break care.

Most of the kids I care for are 1-3 years old. Once they are old enough for preschool, they tend to do preschool two days a week and come to my house two days a week. For that reason I tend stress out about doing any type of formal or intentional curriculum. The parents who are looking for that, have their kids in preschool part of the week anyway.

What we do at my house is play! We have long periods of uninterrupted play time. I try to have a lot of open-ended materials out- boxes, blocks, tubes, manipulatives, fabric, etc. And they just play. I try to get out an art project or sensory play every day- play dough, painting, coloring, collage, water table, flour table, etc. The other great thing about having part-time kids is that I can do the same activity two times a week. I don't have to prepare a new thing each day.

We read tons of books, and I talk to the kids a lot. And that is our curriculum. The kids love coming to my house- even the preschool and kindergarten aged kids. I think kids don't get enough time to just play, and they are so happy to come to my house and do it.

Because I serve part-time families, I am able to be closed on Fridays.

Alexis

[Unregistered]

I accept all ages: infant through school age. Though the only school-age I tend to enroll are former clients who need summer or break care.

Most of the kids I care for are 1-3 years old. Once they are old enough for preschool, they tend to do preschool two days a week and come to my house two days a week. For that reason I tend stress out about doing any type of formal or intentional curriculum. The parents who are looking for that, have their kids in preschool part of the week anyway.

What we do at my house is play! We have long periods of uninterrupted play time. I try to have a lot of open-ended materials out- boxes, blocks, tubes, manipulatives, fabric, etc. And they just play. I try to get out an art project or sensory play every day- play dough, painting, coloring, collage, water table, flour table, etc. The other great thing about having part-time kids is that I can do the same activity two times a week. I don't have to prepare a new thing each day.

We read tons of books, and I talk to the kids a lot. And that is our curriculum. The kids love coming to my house- even the preschool and kindergarten aged kids. I think kids don't get enough time to just play, and they are so happy to come to my house and do it.

Because I serve part-time families, I am able to be closed on Fridays.

Alexis

****Meant to write "For that reason I DON'T stress out about doing any kind of formal or intentional curriculum."

[jenboo]

I accept all ages: infant through school age. Though the only school-age I tend to enroll are former clients who need summer or break care.

Most of the kids I care for are 1-3 years old. Once they are old enough for preschool, they tend to do preschool two days a week and come to my house two days a week. For that reason I tend stress out about doing any type of formal or intentional curriculum. The parents who are looking for that, have their kids in preschool part of the week anyway.

What we do at my house is play! We have long periods of uninterrupted play time. I try to have a lot of open-ended materials out- boxes, blocks, tubes, manipulatives, fabric, etc. And they just play. I try to get out an art project or sensory play every day- play dough, painting, coloring, collage, water table, flour table, etc. The other great thing about having part-time kids is that I can do the same activity two times a week. I don't have to prepare a new thing each day.

We read tons of books, and I talk to the kids a lot. And that is our curriculum. The kids love coming to my house- even the preschool and kindergarten aged kids. I think kids don't get enough time to just play, and they are so happy to come to my house and do it.

Because I serve part-time families, I am able to be closed on Fridays.

Alexis

This is great! Do you require a minimum amount of days/hours? I'm worried about not making enough $$ but it seems like you don't have that problem.

[AmyKidsCo]

Here's the thing - you have to know what works where you are.

Around here it's hard to find children over 2 because they usually start someplace as infants and just stay there, or if they need to find a new situation parents will put them in a group center so they can "learn" things.

I recently filled a FT 2+ year old opening with a 2 day/week PT'er. I don't have parents of 2 yr olds knocking down my door so I figure being paid for 2 days is better than nothing.

I still have another FT 2+ yr old opening to fill, so if I filled that FT opening and another family wanted to enroll a 2+ yr old FT I'd give the PT family the option of paying FT or finding another situation, but I highly doubt that'll happen.

Right now I'm happy getting paid for 2 days instead of none.

[daycare]

I have been in business for 13 years but closed last fall because I was pregnant with our now 6 month old twins. I reopened in July and here on small town America good full time families are hard to come by. Unfortunately I've ended up with families that want a day here and a day there. I need my spots filled yano? Do you guys just offer set days for part timers? I know the prek where our oldest went you chose between Tuesday/Thursday or Monday/Wednesday/Friday. I only want 3 dck's per day but some days I have 3 and some days none. It's making me crazy!

I pretty much offer whatever I need filled. I prefer full time, but beggars can't be choosers all the time. I have 13 spots to fill in a very competitive market.

I offer, part time days.
815-1230 or 845-1245 I only discount by $5.00 less than a full day. They either get breakfast and snack or snack and lunch, but not all 3

THen I offer part time days. I would love to say MWF and T TH, but it does not always work out that way.

All full time families have priority and all PT families need to have a flexible schedule, as you may be asked to swap days so that all schedules can be fulfilled.

The person who has the least amount of hours is the first person to asked to be moved then go up the line from there. If I can't get someone to move schedule, the lowest paying customer is either offered to go full time or must surrender their spot.

I have only ever had to ask one family to surrender their spot and it was a family that was already leaving. They just left earlier.

[biglou]

Don't like part time care. It is too difficult to fill the remaking days, continuity of curriculum is affected, etc.... We just turned down a family with 2.5 year old triplets! We offered her full time for $660 (10.5 hours per day) She then asked for part time and I offered 8 hours a day for 3 days at $500. As expected, she did not accept. My reason, It can take me more time to fill those 2 empty days than it would take to fill the full time spots! And there are two more points

This would give me 3 two day slots to fill and if the family leaves before planned, we have 3 spots to fill! Holy cow!!!

Sometimes we need to let some families pass by.

Big Lou

[Unregistered]

This is great! Do you require a minimum amount of days/hours? I'm worried about not making enough $$ but it seems like you don't have that problem.

Hi Jenboo,

I don't require a minimum amount of days. The least amount of time a family can sign up for is a half-day a week. They commit to this half day and pay a monthly fee for it.
For example: One half day for a 3-5 year old is $100/month.

This school year I have three children who are only enrolled for one half day a week. The rest of the time they are in preschool. I think the main reason they still come to my house for a half-day each week is because they've been at my house since they were toddlers, and their moms want to maintain their relationship with me. It is a wonderful thing.

I make as much money as if I had a more traditional schedule. Actually probably more. I tend to charge more than other programs in my town, and I think I get away with it because of the clientele I serve. At my preschool rates, I would charge $1000/month for a a full-time 3-5 year old, which is much more than the other programs in my town charge.

Good luck as you consider this option for yourself. When I opened up I didn't intend to serve this clientele. But when people asked me for part-time schedules, I didn't say no. From there it grew very organically. Now it would be pretty hard for me to carve out a full-time space for someone if they needed it.

[jenboo]

Hi Jenboo,

I don't require a minimum amount of days. The least amount of time a family can sign up for is a half-day a week. They commit to this half day and pay a monthly fee for it.
For example: One half day for a 3-5 year old is $100/month.

This school year I have three children who are only enrolled for one half day a week. The rest of the time they are in preschool. I think the main reason they still come to my house for a half-day each week is because they've been at my house since they were toddlers, and their moms want to maintain their relationship with me. It is a wonderful thing.

I make as much money as if I had a more traditional schedule. Actually probably more. I tend to charge more than other programs in my town, and I think I get away with it because of the clientele I serve. At my preschool rates, I would charge $1000/month for a a full-time 3-5 year old, which is much more than the other programs in my town charge.

Good luck as you consider this option for yourself. When I opened up I didn't intend to serve this clientele. But when people asked me for part-time schedules, I didn't say no. From there it grew very organically. Now it would be pretty hard for me to carve out a full-time space for someone if they needed it.

Thank you so much!

[hsdcmama]

I accept all ages: infant through school age. Though the only school-age I tend to enroll are former clients who need summer or break care.

Most of the kids I care for are 1-3 years old. Once they are old enough for preschool, they tend to do preschool two days a week and come to my house two days a week. For that reason I tend stress out about doing any type of formal or intentional curriculum. The parents who are looking for that, have their kids in preschool part of the week anyway.

What we do at my house is play! We have long periods of uninterrupted play time. I try to have a lot of open-ended materials out- boxes, blocks, tubes, manipulatives, fabric, etc. And they just play. I try to get out an art project or sensory play every day- play dough, painting, coloring, collage, water table, flour table, etc. The other great thing about having part-time kids is that I can do the same activity two times a week. I don't have to prepare a new thing each day.

We read tons of books, and I talk to the kids a lot. And that is our curriculum. The kids love coming to my house- even the preschool and kindergarten aged kids. I think kids don't get enough time to just play, and they are so happy to come to my house and do it.

Because I serve part-time families, I am able to be closed on Fridays.

Alexis

Oh, how I love to hear this. In my daycare I stress to parents the importance of play for kids under 5. IMO kids ages 4 and under are just not ready for the pressure of the school environment. Kids need to be free to run, jump, explore, get messy, and just discover the world around them. I feel the pressure from many angles to follow a preschool curriculum for my kids, but I just don't agree and I just won't do it. My kids LOVE coming here, every day their parents have to drag them out the door bc they don't want to leave. We learn SO MUCH and have so much fun without following a curriculum, I wish more people understood that my job is a daycare provider, I am not a teacher. I wish there was not so much pressure put on dc providers to be teachers as well, bc it's just too much -- for us AND the kids.

[melilley]

I offer p/t care and also make a little more that way. I charge $35 a day and do not do half days, only full, or $140 a week. I have a minimum of 2 days a week, but will sway from that if I have an opening. I also don't mind if they switch days as long as they ask first and I have an opening. But I also know how many full time kids I need to have enrolled to be financially secure and only allow a certain number of p/t. I also tell p/t parents that in the future I may have to replace them with full time children and will give them the option of going full time before I have to replace them. (I got that good advice from someone on here) So far I have had to do that once (last week actually) because I need to fill a f/t spot and couldn't find anyone in the older age group so I had to let two of my younger aged group go so I could open the f/t spot to a younger age group, and the parents understood.

[dcmommy]

It just drives me crazy because I can't fil the openings around the part timers and I am left with empty spaces on some days.

[biglou]

The trick is to have confidence in yourself and your program. Even a 20% discounted full-time spot generates more $ than a 2 or 3 day part-timer. As I posted above, we recently turned down part-time triplets! Well, I have already enrolled a full-timer into one of the spots at full price. It only took 8 days after the triplets were here. I still have one spot left, and 2 active leads to pursue. So, don't give away your spots to part-timers. Those weird hours often go unfilled for to many of us in the business.

Big Lou