I Love My 4 Day Work Week… Is It Time To Give It Up?

[Crazy8]

Since November I have had my Fridays off and I love it!! But calls for daycare are VERY infrequent here, lots of SAHM's, and I have 2 kids who will age out this summer. I would love to find part timers to replace them but just got a call (first one in about 3 months) for a M-F baby for September. They would start off part time soon so I do need to think about this now instead of later this summer like I had planned.

If you currently had your fridays off and loved it… Would you take the full timer for September and just **** it up knowing all good things come to an end or hold out hope for more kids who only need a M-Th schedule??

I have also thought of going back to M-F but doing only teachers kids so I have my summers off.

Which would you do??

[Unregistered]

I think it would depend on money for me if needed the money then yes I'd go m-f I didn't and I thought I could find part timers m-t I was totally continue taking long weekends.

[VTMom]

I currently have Fridays off as well (as of October), but I'm closing up shop in July, so I don't really have the same consequences as you. I recently had 2 kids come back (after leaving for a different daycare) and 2 new PT kids. It made me heart sick to think of working Fridays again so I decided it wasn't worth giving up my Fridays. Both families were able to work around it.

You had mentioned that you were considering going M-F during the school year for teachers' families. What about M-F through the school year, but M-Th during the summer? I would think that would be a good compromise. Or maybe half days on Friday?

Ultimately, it's what works best for you. My feeling is that families will make it work if they want you.

[finsup]

For me, it would all come down to money. If I didn't need the money, I'd hold out for mon-thurs but if I did need it then I'd take the m-f. I sometimes have Fridays off now and wish I could have them all that way! But then again if this is your only extra kid on Fridays it may not end up being a very hard day at least

[Crazy8]

For me, it would all come down to money. If I didn't need the money, I'd hold out for mon-thurs but if I did need it then I'd take the m-f. I sometimes have Fridays off now and wish I could have them all that way! But then again if this is your only extra kid on Fridays it may not end up being a very hard day at least

I do need SOME money when these 2 kids leave for school in September, but I don't need every penny of full timers if you know what I mean. Its just so hard to know if I will get some part timers down the road.
I happily gave up the extra money of the 2 kids I had on Fridays and yes, Fridays would be easier with just 1-2 kids but I would still be stuck here. I love that every friday now I can make dentist/dr. appointments, run to the grocery store, go to the school to watch my kids after school games/activities (this is a huge one that I really would miss).

There is just such uncertainty that I'd find the part timers and since I don't need them till September I really can't plan it yet but this one wants to take my current 1 day a week opening (which I wasn't trying to fill) for a few months and then come back in September full time. We have mutual friends so I also don't want to screw her over in Sept. and say I am keeping my fridays off. UGH!

[Crazy8]

I currently have Fridays off as well (as of October), but I'm closing up shop in July, so I don't really have the same consequences as you. I recently had 2 kids come back (after leaving for a different daycare) and 2 new PT kids. It made me heart sick to think of working Fridays again so I decided it wasn't worth giving up my Fridays. Both families were able to work around it.

You had mentioned that you were considering going M-F during the school year for teachers' families. What about M-F through the school year, but M-Th during the summer? I would think that would be a good compromise. Or maybe half days on Friday?

Ultimately, it's what works best for you. My feeling is that families will make it work if they want you.

Oh my goal if I took only teachers kids M-F during the school year would be to have the summers off completely, or maybe just do 1-2 days a week during the summer!! I can go the 2 months without pay, the time off with my own kids is worth more to me than the money for a short amount of time (I would save up earlier in the year if I knew that was the plan).

[Unregistered]

I currently open M-Thurs since September and loving it. I am losing a few kids to preschool come fall, but decided to keep my M-Thurs schedule because I like the flexibility and less stress. I will begin advertising for the fall soon. I plan on holding out because I believe the families that will work with my schedule will be families that agree with my curriculum and child philosophy.

[nanglgrl]

I wash facing a similar problem recently. I have closed at 3:30 for almost 2 years, M-F. I didn't take under 1 year or schoolagers and it was great until my group went off to free pre-k, another mom got a promotion that allowed her to work from home and another mom had a baby and decided to be a sahm.

Up until recently I was trying to figure out it if would stay open later, take infants and schoolagers, find a new job or what. I held out for a long time but finally just decided to start I interviewing people that normally weren't within my criteria. Now I'm open until 4:30, have a part time 4 month old and will have 2 schoolagers this summer. They are both 6, the same age as my daughter so hopefully it will work out.

I don't like being open until 4:30 and I'm not used to infants but my hope is it will get better over time. I don't plan to take any more infants, and will see how the schoolagers do this summer (both have younger siblings currently enrolled). I finally decided I either needed to stop complaining about low-enrollment (I did a lot of complaining) or **** it up and change. The one thing I did decide was I would not be open past 4:30 which is still better than 5:30 and wouldn't open before 7:30. It worked, I'm now completely full and even have people working around my part time slots..cross your fingers for me!

[e.j.]

I love that every friday now I can make dentist/dr. appointments, run to the grocery store, go to the school to watch my kids after school games/activities (this is a huge one that I really would miss).

I think so much depends on what you can afford and what's most important to you as far as Fridays off vs. summers off is concerned. When my own kids were school age, summers off would have been nice but it wasn't an option for me. I did switch to a M-Th schedule and loved it for the reasons you mentioned above. It worked so well for me - and us as a family - that I refused to budge on that schedule for any reason while my kids were in school. I turned down a lot of families who wanted Fridays in hopes that I would find others who needed M-TH and the risk I took worked out well for me for many years.

This past fall, I very reluctantly agreed to go back to working on Fridays for a couple of my families. Basically, I made the decision for financial reasons. I lost 5 kids to kindergarten at the beginning of this school year so I was afraid I wouldn't be able to re-fill my slots quickly enough if I stuck to a M-Th schedule. I was also afraid I would lose the families who needed Fridays to someone else who could accommodate their schedule.

It was a very tough decision but I have no regrets. Although I did it mostly for financial reasons, I love both families and their kids so I'm happy to be able to help them out. Right now, they are the only 2 kids here on Fridays which gives me a nice, quiet end to the week. My intention is to wait until they leave (hopefully not for the next few years!) and then I'll re-assess things. If I can afford to close on Fridays again, I will because I did enjoy it while it lasted!

[Shell]

Nope, I wouldn't give it up. That's the beauty of owning your own business ::