Unpaid Days for Parents....Creative

[Abigail]

Lets say I offer 5 unpaid days per calendar year 90 days after enrollment. This means once they're with me for three months then they may use "free days" with advance notice and a written note. Does anyone do anything creative like give out "fake money" they make with their daycare name on it and have a spot to put the date, child's name, reason for using unpaid day, and my (provider) signature to validate it?

Then, I could give each parent one of these to fill out once they notify me they want to use a free day. Maybe I'm going overboard, but I did just post my Provider/Parent absences a few minutes ago from my contract and will have to reword it if I state they must sign a "daycare dollar" LOL.

[MARSTELAC]

I love this idea! I am going to steal it from you! Currently I use a logbook that parent must sign after they use free day so I can prove that they used it. I have had issues with a parent indicating they had free days left when in fact they did not.

[MarinaVanessa]

I've heard of vouchers that are given out to keep track of their free days. It was in another thread but I couldn't find it. You'd give it to the parent and have them fill it out to sign and return to you (which would cover the whole give-me-your-vacations-dates-in-writing thing). Then there would be a portion that you sign. If they didn't use all 5 days you could give them another with their "balance" of how many days they have left.

A little off topic but you may also want to think about how many days you give to which families. You could offer the same # of days they are in your care a week for vacation instead of just giving a flat 5 days a year to all families. For example, for FT families that are here 5 days a week I offer 5 unpaid days of vacation and for let's say a PT family that comes 3 days a week they get 3 days of unpaid vacation ... otherwise my PT family could get almost 2 weeks of unpaid vacation rather than the one week that I give to my FT families. KWIM?

[Abigail]

MarinaVanessa, I get what you mean. I'm really hoping for full timers only, but I better be safe than sorry and plan ahead and put it in my contract! I should state something along the lines that each family will receive the equal amount of vouchers for free days as they are enrolled. So if I get a two-child family three days a week, do I give them 6 total vouchers? I think I mentioned in my handbook they must be enrolled 90 days before they can use these. I'm not sure how to do it, but having something so *Cute* to hand the parents would be wonderful. My concern is what is they lose it? Should I worn them that I give out their vouchers in January each year or 90 days after enrollment and from their on out it is their responsibility to keep these in a safe place because without it they will not have any free days? ::

It would be really fun to create daycare coins and have them hung on the wall in each family's "crayola crayon" piggy bank or something as a visual reminder to see how many free days each family has used. Comments??? Then again, "Daycare Dollar" sounds kind of catchy.

[MarinaVanessa]

It would be really fun to create daycare coins and have them hung on the wall in each family's "crayola crayon" piggy bank or something as a visual reminder to see how many free days each family has used. Comments??? Then again, "Daycare Dollar" sounds kind of catchy.

That's a very cute idea. I had a visual image in my head about laminating pictures of the DC littles and posting them on the wall then tacking giant sized coins around a child's photo each day they took off for vacation ::. It would also make for a cute visual and would have a big title like "Vacations are fun" or something. Or the same idea but on a very large graph and use the giant paper bulletin board coins to graph the days, then you could use the excuse that you're showing them graphing .

I personally also keep track of their vacations, if they ever lost their voucher then I could easily replace it.

[My Daycare]

I love this idea! I am going to steal it from you! Currently I use a logbook that parent must sign after they use free day so I can prove that they used it. I have had issues with a parent indicating they had free days left when in fact they did not.

Me too!!!

[Abigail]

That's a very cute idea. I had a visual image in my head about laminating pictures of the DC littles and posting them on the wall then tacking giant sized coins around a child's photo each day they took off for vacation ::. It would also make for a cute visual and would have a big title like "Vacations are fun" or something. Or the same idea but on a very large graph and use the giant paper bulletin board coins to graph the days, then you could use the excuse that you're showing them graphing .

I personally also keep track of their vacations, if they ever lost their voucher then I could easily replace it.

That's very good....showing them graphing. I guess I could create a log also to keep track of everything as well incase they lose them. I get the image of a dollar bill with a child's picture in the center instead of a President's picture. Hmm, how about making these life-size dollars called "Daycare Dollars" and have a colored piggy bank on the wall that they sit in for counting? Should I make them all on dollar bills, or should I have coins that represent something as well? Too bad I didn't offer half-day care because then coins could be for half-days and bills for full days. Any ideas? I think this is so cute! I could make piggy banks on a construction sheet of paper. What is a catchy name for a coin? Child Care Coin?


On the back, I would print my Parent Absenses/Vacations word for word from the contract. This states what it is used for. I also need to put something along the lines of "This must be turned into daycare" "Void if unused before the end of the year"....How should I write those statements? My handbook doesn't cover anything money related, so I need to add these two topics on the back of the coin OR add it to the contract. Any advice? Thanks



OK, I just found THE CUTEST pig picture so I'll take a photo when I'm done cutting them out! Now I will have to work on making "quarters" or "dimes" or "nickels" or "pennies" with the center a picture of the child. The top where it usually says "United States of America" will say "My Daycare Name" and the bottom instead of saying "Quarter" will say "Free Day Pass" or something along those lines.....any short motto or day pass name I should give the coin?

[dEHmom]

Too bad I didn't offer half-day care because then coins could be for half-days and bills for full days. Any ideas? I think this is so cute! I could make piggy banks on a construction sheet of paper. What is a catchy name for a coin? Child Care Coin?

What about offering the parents the coin as a half day so they dont' have to take the whole day off should they have a dr. appt or something. They can use half a day instead?

[SandeeAR]

Mine get 9 free days a year. I determine when they use them......

Memorial Day
Independence Day
Friday before Labor Day
Labor Day
Thanksgiving Day
Day after Thanksgiving
Christmas Eve
Christmas Day
Day after Christmas


I get the Holidays "I" want and they don't pay for them.

[jojosmommy]

Mine get two weeks (10 days) off at no charge and I get two weeks (10 days) off paid- plus paid vacations. Sounds confusing but so far no issues. Everytime a parent uses a day off I ask if they want to pay as usual or use a vacation day. If they use a vacation day I track it on MMK under their billing cycle. When I close for vacation or training I ask if parents want to pay me or use their vacation time. (About half pay half use vacation.) I use the same method for tracking. If they dont use them up by Dec 31 their loss. Never had an issue. And always give plenty of warning for my vacations so they can decide what to do.

[Blackcat31]

Mine dcp's get 6 free days per year (their year) and when they want to use one I have a sheet that is numbered 1-6 and they sign and date each time they use one. If they forget to sign and date, NOT my problem....although no one has forgotten to sign because it involves something that benefits them.

Mine also get the holidays/personal days I choose to take off for free but everyone pays me for my two weeks vacations. I charge 1/2 their weekly tuition for the week I take on the 4th of July and a full weeks tuition at Christmas time.

[Abigail]

deHmom, I'm thinking about this, but I don't do half day rates. So far I really like my visual aid. LOL.

I want to be paid 50 weeks out of the year. I will give them 5 free days and I hope to not need more than 5 days unpaid for my illness so this should equal only 2 weeks unpaid each year. It may be more from my end. I'm thinking about adding an extended leave contract stating the first two weeks they're gone they pay full price and anytime after that they pay half the price like someone else on here does.

Anyways, any cute catchy bottom-of-the-quarter phrases like Child Care Cash or Child Care Coin to have at the bottom? Tonight I'm going to make a generic one with my cat's picture on it to use as a sample! LOL

I also need to put something along the lines of "This must be turned into daycare" "Void if unused before the end of the year"....How should I write those statements? My handbook doesn't cover anything money related, so I need to add these two topics on the back of the coin OR add it to the contract. Any advice? Thanks