Holding Spot For Sibling, And Sibling Discount?

[Dsquared]

Hello,

I have a family who has been with me for over a year now. Mom is due February 4 with baby girl. She will be taking maternity leave but has not yet told me if the son will stay with me through the maternity leave or come back in April with the new baby. She said she will talk to her husband and let me know. I think its odd that she expects i'll hold a spot for both kids until April. It will effect our finances if she decides to keep the boy i watch home during her leave. She also asked me if I charge a sibling discount. how do you all handle these situations? Is it fair for her to pull the son for 3 months? Do you hold spots? Do providers offer sibling discounts? I live in northern Virginia and daycare is expensive. I charge $250 a week. Thanks for any advice!

[Unregistered]

I would charge this:

Half tuition for the time the kids are at home with her, the first week's tuition for both, and a registration fee for the baby. I do a 10% sibling discount because it's incentive for a family to choose me.

Get all this in writing and have her sign it. Also note in it that the spot will only be held for the older child if she pays the half tuition rate. If she doesn't, she will forfeit the spot.

[Josiegirl]

I made the mistake last year of not charging any holding fee or anything and figure I lost well over 2K. Then baby sister never even came. You have to do what's best for you to protect your finances. I have now changed my policies to reflect full rates need to be paid from the time I have an opening til they can start. I cannot afford any drop in pay anymore.
I also charge my 'school year only' clients a fee of $200 so they'll have a spot in Sept. again. It's mainly for their intent of return. I'd never done any of that before but after seeing how MY finances were the ones to suffer, I had to make changes or else I'd be the one to get $crewed.
If you're okay with half the tuition, go ahead with that but if you need the full rate applied, tell them, and also tell them you'll be looking to fill their spots if you need to. Parents change their mind all the time, protect yourself.

[LysesKids]

Hello,

I have a family who has been with me for over a year now. Mom is due February 4 with baby girl. She will be taking maternity leave but has not yet told me if the son will stay with me through the maternity leave or come back in April with the new baby. She said she will talk to her husband and let me know. I think its odd that she expects i'll hold a spot for both kids until April. It will effect our finances if she decides to keep the boy i watch home during her leave. She also asked me if I charge a sibling discount. how do you all handle these situations? Is it fair for her to pull the son for 3 months? Do you hold spots? Do providers offer sibling discounts? I live in northern Virginia and daycare is expensive. I charge $250 a week. Thanks for any advice!

I do infants only and will only hold spaces 3 months provided the newborn will take a spot of a child aging out; I require a full month deposit with a signed intent to contract paper before the spot is held - if the spot is already open and available I will only hold it one month with full deposit and then expect full fee (I can only take 4 kids). The deposit is counted towards first month of care provided the baby starts on the date set... no pushing back start date without $$ compensation (get it in WRITING)

I agree that you should charge at least half fee for the little boy if he stays home 100%, full fee if he attends at anytime. If she doesn't want to pay the fee start looking to fill both positions immediately. I will not hold a spot for free

I also do not offer leave discounts because my babies are only here 12-16 months at most before they age out. I do not offer sibling discounts of any kind for same reason, limited spaces and it doesn't cost any less to care or feed 2 siblings than it does 2 kids from different families...

[Blackcat31]

Hello,

I have a family who has been with me for over a year now. Mom is due February 4 with baby girl. She will be taking maternity leave but has not yet told me if the son will stay with me through the maternity leave or come back in April with the new baby. She said she will talk to her husband and let me know. I think its odd that she expects i'll hold a spot for both kids until April. It will effect our finances if she decides to keep the boy i watch home during her leave. She also asked me if I charge a sibling discount. how do you all handle these situations? Is it fair for her to pull the son for 3 months? Do you hold spots? Do providers offer sibling discounts? I live in northern Virginia and daycare is expensive. I charge $250 a week. Thanks for any advice!

I only enroll infants from current families or under specific circumstances but I will hold an infant space open IF the family pays the 2 week holding fee (NON-refundable) AND continues to bring/pay for the older siblings space as normal. NO discounts or breaks on absences etc..

If they do not want to pay to hold or for older sibling, I won't hold the space and will fill it asap.

I am a business not a charity. Although I love and adore my DCKs while I have them, its not my job to make the transition of adding to their family MY problem in any way. Including financially.

I don't offer sibling discounts for that reason as well. I provide the SAME quality care to ALL children so unless a parent wants me to short change one of their kids (kidding) I don't discount for the limited number of spaces I have.

Again, I refuse to take a financial loss due to someone else's life choice.

It's disrespectful for a parent to assume you would do anything differently.

[Ariana]

They need me more than I need them is the way I think about it!

A few years ago a college friend of mine wanted me to take her infant but she refused to pay a 50% tuition holding fee for 3 months. I let it go and held the spot. She wouldn't even sign my contract until my police records check came back (it had lapsed because I took a year off and they were backlogged). I kept getting people wanting to sign up and after a few weeks I realized she is the only one benefitting out of this deal. I am losing major income and she is not even willing to pay me or sign a contract eventhough she knows me and knows I would provide great care (she kept telling me how relieved she was to find out I was doing care etc ). I ended up withdrawing my services and she never spoke to me again. She wanted me to sacrifice everything and she didn't have to sacrifice anything to get THE BEST possibke care for her child. She needed me WAY more than I needed her.

I no longer hold spots more than a couple of weeks and I do not do sibling discounts.

[Cat Herder]

All my slots are paid slots.

No discounts.

No holding.

2 choices, enrolled or not enrolled.

I used to be more "flexible" and "empathetic". Past clients taught me that I was simply taking resources from my own family to give to theirs. Families will always do what is in their best interests, so should you.

[Baby Beluga]

I recently held a spot for 11 weeks for a family and it worked out well.

Parents paid 50% of full time tuition for those 11 weeks. They had the option of paying the fee all at once OR paying the weekly holding fee each week when paying older child's tuition. If holding fee was late the spot was forfeited and no tuition would be refunded. I had a separate 1 page holding contract that outlined everything - parents and I signed it.

Parents paid the entire fee at once, I held the spot and about 2 weeks before little one started I gave parents the actual handbook/contract. Overall it was a very smooth process.

As far as maternity leave/discounts for the older child? I personally would not discount or hold a spot for him. He can still attend (and mom may even want him to) so full tuition would be required.

[Josiegirl]

All my slots are paid slots.

No discounts.

No holding.

2 choices, enrolled or not enrolled.

I used to be more "flexible" and "empathetic". Past clients taught me that I was simply taking resources from my own family to give to theirs. Families will always do what is in their best interests, so should you.

Very well said.

[JackandJill]

I would still charge the regular fee for older sibling to hold their spot, regardless of their attendance while mom is home with baby.

I take 50% to hold a spot for an incoming infant, and that is limited to 8 weeks. After that they pay the full price to hold the spot. And I only offer this to existing families.

I don't do any sibling discounts because I am so limited on the number of children I can take.

I would tell mom you need an answer (in writing and signed) by mid January so you can fill the spot if she decides she can't/won't accept what you plan to offer.

[laundrymom]

You have to decide what works in your program, market, and budget.
Here I allow them to bring the oldest daily while on maternity leave. I offer them first choice of any openings I have for their new baby. If they turn it down I fill it and they could possibly lose out on a spot and need a sub until I have room. I enroll the sibling at the rate of the older child. I do not charge my new family rate. Depending on how long they've been here, it could be $5-15 per week of a discount. I rarely have an opening and often times they send an infant when an older begins school. They plan their children that far apart.

[laundrymom]

As far as maternity leave/discounts for the older child? I personally would not discount or hold a spot for him. He can still attend (and mom may even want him to) so full tuition would be required.

Exactly they are on mat leave. I am not. They should have budgeted for this through pregnancy.
I took off less than a week with my first three and 8 days with my fourth so as not to lose income/inconvenience clients. I'm not losing income because they didn't prepare.

[Dsquared]

Thanks for all the great advice! I will tell her I do not do sibling discounts. As for her bringing her son, I think I am going to tell her he need to keep coming or I may need to fill the spot. This forum is the best!

[Meeko]

Sibling discount is a "trigger" for me! Drives me crazy that people even think about asking for them. I personally think it's downright rude.

They are saying

"We have decided to have another child. This is an added strain on our finances. So we want YOU to take a cut in YOUR income to make life easier for us"