Parents With Fluctuating Schedules - How To Handle?

[gfrack]

Hi, we have 13 families with schedules that fluctuate each week - meaning their children come on various days. This makes scheduling difficult because on one day there may be 7 children in a room and on another 12, requiring more staff. We aren't that big of a daycare, so this causes some problems for us. How do you all handle fluctuating schedules? Do you have rules for your daycare that limit this? Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated! :confused:

[e.j.]

If parents need a guaranteed spot, they pay me to hold it open for them. For instance, if a parent works Monday thru Thursday one week but then works Tuesday thru Friday the following week (basically alternating Mondays and Fridays each week), they would pay for both Mondays and Fridays because it would be difficult for me to find another family whose schedule would complement theirs. Since they are paying for the time, they can choose to bring their child to day care on those Mondays/Fridays when they're not working. Most parents choose to do that since they're paying for the time. They just do errands, housework, nap, etc. during their child-free time.

If they don't need a guaranteed spot, they can take their chances that the spot won't be filled when they need it. In the above example, the parents might choose to pay for Tuesdays thru Thursdays and take the chance that I'll have a Monday or Friday opening when they need it. It may save them money but they need to have a good back up system in case I don't have an opening the day they need it.

i'm the only provider here, though, and I'm licensed for only 6 children at a time so my spots are very limited. It must be very frustrating trying to schedule 13 families with fluctuating schedules even with additional staff!

[Unregistered]

Thanks for your reply. It was very helpful. Yes, it has been really frustrating and it keeps us from taking on new children because the changing schedules can throw us out of ratio. You gave me lots to thank about. Thank you so much!

[AmyKidsCo]

I'm family child care so it's just me, no staff. I don't allow fluctuating schedules because the family is basically taking up a full time space, whether they use all their time or not.

ITA with e.j. - if they want a guaranteed spot they need to pay for it.

[MarinaVanessa]

Anytime a family takes up a full time spot the they pay the full time fee. This way I don't have to worry about filling in the gaps on the days they aren't working and I can still make sure that I'm being paid enough to cover my costs.

Even then I require that any families that have a fluctuating weekly schedule give me their work and daycare schedule two weeks in advance. If they don't they risk losing their spot that week.

[amberrose3dg]

They should be paying for full-time regardless. That way you can account for staff and your budget. I do not know any center that lets parents pay as you attend. This is exactly why attendance has nothing to do with payment. If they do not like that they can pay higher drop in care rate and take their chances they will have care when they need it.

[LysesKids]

Hi, we have 13 families with schedules that fluctuate each week - meaning their children come on various days. This makes scheduling difficult because on one day there may be 7 children in a room and on another 12, requiring more staff. We aren't that big of a daycare, so this causes some problems for us. How do you all handle fluctuating schedules? Do you have rules for your daycare that limit this? Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated! :confused:

My 2 families that have changing schedules pay for the the entire week regardless of need in order to guarantee the spot is available when needed (both PT); that said, I also require a written copy of their schedules by Friday evening at pick up each week in order to plan for the upcoming week.

[Snowmom]

There are centers in our area that do allow part time schedules for part time rates (higher dollar amount per day than full time) but they do not allow part time rates for a fluctuating schedule like you mentioned.
There is no way they could fill the unused days.
I think you'd be losing out on too much money allowing anything but full time rates for a family using fluctuating days week to week.

[daycarediva]

Anytime a family takes up a full time spot the they pay the full time fee. This way I don't have to worry about filling in the gaps on the days they aren't working and I can still make sure that I'm being paid enough to cover my costs.

Even then I require that any families that have a fluctuating weekly schedule give me their work and daycare schedule two weeks in advance. If they don't they risk losing their spot that week.

They should be paying for full-time regardless. That way you can account for staff and your budget. I do not know any center that lets parents pay as you attend. This is exactly why attendance has nothing to do with payment. If they do not like that they can pay higher drop in care rate and take their chances they will have care when they need it.

THIS!

"rotating" means full time care is needed, but they don't want to pay for it.

I would up date your contracts asap. Maybe offer a discount IF you can fill days that they don't attend, but then ONLY IF.

[Ariana]

The only way it worked for me in home care is knowing their schedule for the year in advance. I only do part time care though so it worked for me at the time. In the end however I saw it as a colossal waste of money because I could not take on other children and the income was not consistant. They would be here anywhere from 0 to 4 days a week!

[Unregistered]

Thanks everyone! Your comments are very helpful. I can see where we made a mistake taking on anyone and everyone in the beginning. Now to correct it .... Thanks again!

[amberrose3dg]

Honestly if they get mad or walk they will run into that anywhere they go. The only way they will find someone to put up with that is most likely illegally operating.Spots have a dollar amount set. I do not know of a way to fill it when it is not being used.

[lovemykidstoo]

I've only had 1 family do this. They needed 3, sometimes 4 days a week. She was a nurse, so it rotated each week. I was really down on numbers at the time, so I said I would do it, but they had to guarantee pay for 4 days no matter if they used 3 or not. So really I was only out 1 day and I was so down in numbers that difficulty filling other spots wasn't an issue. Would I do it again? No.

[storybookending]

THIS!

"rotating" means full time care is needed, but they don't want to pay for it.

I would up date your contracts asap. Maybe offer a discount IF you can fill days that they don't attend, but then ONLY IF.

My first family, other than my niece, had a schedule like this. She would come anywhere from 2-4 days a week and I started to regret taking them on once I was full and realized the money I was losing not being able to have another child fill the gaps in such a messed up schedule. I ended up terming about 6 months into our contract for so so SO many other reasons.

I was able to replace her immediately with an amazing family that I originally had to say no to due to not having space (although I had the space open for about 3-4 weeks as it was an “under 2” space and I was waiting out this mom’s maternity leave.) It ended up working out great for me as this child is full time and was a fairly easy baby and this family is a dream.

I learned a lot about myself and how I wanted my daycare ran with my first family and my first term. I have since implemented a weekly rate instead of a daily rate I was doing. Basically they pay for the spot not their attendance whether they use it or not. It is what I need to do for me financially and parents hear this up front and they either take it or leave it.