Part Time Family Not Quite Getting How Daycare Works

[jenboo]

Instead of having them pay x amount for 3 days a week, I would have them pay a part time rate (which totally can be the same as your 3 day rate ). I would ask for their schedule ahead of time and then tell them they have to stick to it.
Doing it this way eliminates their need to "get their monies worth" by coming that 3rd day.

[ellen211]

Try to talk to them about this matter. You can tell them that it's okay for them to come not on the said days but they have to inform you a day ahead so you can also prepare and change some plans.

[Ariana]

They do pay for 3 set days a week regardless and they're very good about it so that's where my problem is. I get that they want to use what they pay for and even encourage it, but she's giving me her own schedule saying that many of the weeks she only wants 2 of her days and then ends up coming on her 3rd day anyway AFTER she told me she wasn't going to use it without telling me. So I think I have a paid day off, but she decides to come without telling me if that makes sense. She always pays for 3 days whether she only comes 1 day or 3 and she knows those are set days and doesn't try to come on days she doesn't have reserved. BUT I'm trying to decide if I should keep allowing her to tell me she only wants 2 days and then show up for her 3rd without notice or if since she's paying for 3 days regardless, if I can say "sorry, you told me you weren't coming today so I took the day off." it doesn't seem right to not let her stay if she paid for it, but it keeps ruining my days off because I don't think anyone is coming and they just show up! I don't know if it's right for me to just let her decide if she wants to use 2 or 3 days on a whim. Do I need to be available for her paid days even if I think she's not coming?

I would not allow her to just come willy nilly! I would let her know that its not ok to just show up without notice. Let her know you need 24 hours notice. The first time she shows without notice don’t answer the door. If she complains say “sorry I didn’t know you were coming so we were sleeping/grocery shopping etc”. Trust me she won’t do it again.

I had a mom who wanted me for PD days if grandparents couldn’t do it and I told her not a problem but I needed a weeks notice. I knew she would not give me a weeks notice because she was an asshat. So the first time she springs PD days on me I refused telling her I needed a weeks notice for preparing my day. She was miffed but it never happened again!

[gumdrops]

I think if you tell her you she has to stick to the schedule she gives you, she's just going to tell you the kids will be there all 3 days. When they don't show up, it will feel like a bonus day!

[Indoorvoice]

I think if you tell her you she has to stick to the schedule she gives you, she's just going to tell you the kids will be there all 3 days. When they don't show up, it will feel like a bonus day!

Right?! That's one of the reasons I was struggling with what I should say or if I should say anything haha!

[Indoorvoice]

Thank you for all of your help and experience. Tuesday starts the new school year so I have a newsletter ready to send out with all the little changes taking place in my program and I put a notice in there about schedule changes and how to handle them. Luckily my families have been good about reading my newsletters so far. I'm going to just leave in the morning the next time she has on her schedule that it's a day off and we can go from there. They're such a good family so I haven't wanted to rock the boat, but even good families need gentle reminders sometimes of what is appropriate and what is not.

[CityGarden]

I am late to this discussion but wanted to chime in and say I love PT families. The way I have my fees broken down I make more with PT than full time per spot.

I require set days with a choice of either Monday/Wednesday/Friday or Tuesday/Thursday.

In terms of flexibility there are two options I offer:

1. If space allows they can switch schedules from M/W/F to T/TH and vice versa with 30 days advice notice in writing.
   
2. They can also add an occasional additional day if space allows for a daily fee. (My daily fee is significantly higher so that just adding two additional days makes it more cost effective for them to increase their contracted schedule from T/TH to M/W/F.)

Having the set days also allows me to plan and prep art activities, curriculum, snacks, etc. it also allows me to max my income potential.

Glad to hear you have a newsletter, I just did my first one and plan to do them monthly so I hope they are read!!!

[knoxmomof2]

I don't understand the point of the schedule if they're not going to stick to it? Except that they want to make sure that YOU are available if they need you, but they don't care about how their changes leave you in a bind. If they showed up on Saturday morning to claim their 3rd day, would you accommodate them? I assume not because that's not what they scheduled with you. You need to treat this the same way. I know it could cost you some extra days to work, but you have to decide how much your sanity is worth. It also sets a precedent for how your time is being respected. Right now, regardless of how great they are otherwise, she's being pretty inconsiderate.

I've had similar situations, and then I would grumble and complain to myself when they showed up outside of what I expected, but I would do it anyway because they were full rate and I was open anyway. Eventually, I got tired of being frustrated and I did something about it. I set things up to where I had a schedule from them and advance notice if anything would be different.

You have to decide how big of a deal this is to you. If it's a big enough deal, set up rules that go along with the schedule. I would start with the fact that she needs to give you notice of ANY schedule changes by x time on x day. Let her know that you will be open according to the schedule she gave you and that you will not be able to provide care for days outside of what she schedules with you without x amount of notice. Even if you just say "by 6 PM the night before", it still sets a precedent for her that she can't just show up like that.