A Play on Words in your Handbook and Contract

[Abigail]

Do you have a preference on how you refer to the family you provide care for in your handbook and contract and other paperwork? I have been using "client" as the term for families and someone mentioned from our local Child Care agency that they were not a fan of the term client. It still works, but I'm wondering what your take is on the term. Should I change it to family instead?

Also, in my contract I refer to I as myself....it's from my point of view. For example: under provider absences, it will say "I may take up to 7 days...." and then under client vacations and absences it says "The client...." Does that make sense? I've seen other contracts where it's written from the parents point of view meaning "I the parent" instead of "I the provider"...what is your take on that too. Thanks!

[Lucy]

I keep it legal-like. Parent(s)/Guardian(s), and Provider.

Example: Provider has the right to terminate the contract with no notice if the Parent(s)/Guardian(s) repeatedly fail to make timely payments.

[SilverSabre25]

I keep it legal-like too--Provider (me) and Family (daycare family).

[littlemonkeys]

I keep it legal-like. Parent(s)/Guardian(s), and Provider.

Example: Provider has the right to terminate the contract with no notice if the Parent(s)/Guardian(s) repeatedly fail to make timely payments.

This is what I do too.

[kendallina]

I use, "You" and "your child".

[My Daycare]

I keep it legal-like too--Provider (me) and Family (daycare family).

Me too.

[Greenshadow]

I use Provider and Parent/Guardian too. I try to be as specific as I can and "Family" doesnt sound very specific to me.

[Abigail]

So no one actually uses "client" to refer to the parents?

[Missani]

"Provider" and "Parent(s)/Guardian(s)" (which is kind of a pain to type out all of the time.) I do use "Child(ren)" as well when speaking of the child(ren) and not specifically the Parent(s)/Guardian(s).

[Abigail]

"Provider" and "Parent(s)/Guardian(s)" (which is kind of a pain to type out all of the time.) I do use "Child(ren)" as well when speaking of the child(ren) and not specifically the Parent(s)/Guardian(s).

Wow, I know someone used the terms "Client" because that is how I came up with it! LOL. At least since mine is typed and if I change it all I need to do is hit find/replace and only type is once and it will automatically update all the entries of client to parent/guardian. I'm not sure if I want to put (s) after parent and guardian though because that is a lot of symbols to look at since it's already a slash/ joining the words.

[My Daycare]

I asked almost the same question before. Here are the answers that I got.

https://www.daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15708