How's This Sound?

[NiNi.R.]

Policy Changes (The layout may be a bit strange as I only copied/pasted the changed parts in my handbook for the thread):

Hours of Operation will now be from 6:30am-5:30pm only no exceptions. (current hours are 6am-6pm)

Full time care- Fee is $95.00 a week per child. Child can be in care a maximum of 50 hours a week and no more than 10 hours a day.*(currently i have children in my care 12 hours a day with no extra charge)

*See section titled Overtime in the event that you qualify for full time care and need more than 10 hours of care per day.

Overtime
Full time care qualifies the child to be in my care a maximum of 50 hours a week and no more than 10 hours per day. Anything over 10 hours a day is considered overtime. In the event that you need more than 10 hours of care, there will be a fee of $5.00 an hour per child added to your weekly fees. For example, if you need 11 hours a day = $100.00 per week, 12 hours a day = $105.00 per week. There are no exceptions to these fees; charges are not excluded to parents that work less than five days a week. I still have to provide care five days a week for other children regardless of rather or not your child attends. Weekly rates will be figured based on the hours you contract me for.

Dear Parents:
The above policies are changes being made to the Parent Policy Handbook. The changes will take effect 01-03-2012. I realize this will inconvenience some of you. I did not come to this decision lightly. I've realized over the course of the year that I'm overly exhausted and not the provider and mother I set out to be. I've seen the average daycare rates go up for our county but have stuck to the lower end because I do understand the financial burden that childcare places on you parents. After some research I decided that it would be best to keep my rates the same, close earlier, and charge an overtime rate for those of you that need your children in care over 10 hours a day. As I said I didn't come to this decision lightly. I do believe this will help make me a better, happier, more engaged provider. I love your children like they are my own and hope you continue care with me. However if you do decide that these policies will not work for you, please be sure to give me a 30 days paid notice. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to ask!

[familyschoolcare]

So if a parent needs 11 hours m-f that is $100 but if they need 10 hours m-th and 11 hours on Friday that is also $100?

I am reading all of this right?

[familyschoolcare]

So if a parent needs 11 hours m-f that is $100 but if they need 10 hours m-th and 11 hours on Friday that is also $100?

I am reading all of this right?

[NiNi.R.]

Sorry it's probably kind of hard to understand when you can't see the rest of my handbook. I work on contracted hours. Those hours are what the rates are based on. So for example I have one dcm that currently keeps her children here from 6am to 6pm 4 days a week and will occasionally bring them 5 days a week at no extra charge. So according to the new policy she would need to:

1. Find someone to have them picked up by 4pm every day

2. Pay an extra 7.50 per child a week to keep them here from open-close.

Does that make more sense?

I guess if i had a parent who needed 11 hours only one day a week I would advise them to have an alternate person to pick their child up on time.

[beachgrl]

I was wondering about that too since it was stated $5 hour over ten hours, wouldn't it be much more if the parent needed several days where they would be over ten hours or are you saying just $5 extra a week if they go over ten hours? Seems confusing the it's worded...

[NiNi.R.]

I thought I read somewhere on here where someone also did their overtime this way but maybe I'm wrong. I open to any other suggestions! I'm trying to get something set and hopefully full proof before I do this and would like to hand out sometime in November. I've been stewing forever on how to go about charging overtime.

[bice99]

I charge $5 per hour per child for overtime that I have agreed to ahead of time. It is written into their contract so if they show up early, great. But that's PER DAY! Parents will keep their kids with you for 12 hours a day, 4 days a week and only have to pay $10 more? With mine, it would be $40 per week. BTW - my contracted hours are now 9 hours or less. All my parents work within 10 minutes of my house or can have one parent drop off and the other pick up.

[wdmmom]

Your best bet is to not allow overtime.

I have a maximum allowance of 10 hours per day. That doesn't mean you can come for a half a day Monday but need to be here for 14 hours on Tuesday.

10 hours per day, no exceptions.

Then you don't have to worry about who pays you what per week and keep track of unnecessary schedules/paperwork.

All of my kids come the same hours each day and no one is allowed beyond 10. Even if I did offer to do overtime, it wouldn't be for $5.00 an hour, it'd be more along the lines of $10 per hour.

Your rates are significantly lower than what I'm used to. Where are you from? Is this close to the going rate?

[NiNi.R.]

I'm in a very very small town in Kansas. I think the population is around 3,000. Anyways, people around here are 95.00-125.00 a week per child.

Here is my dilemma. I have a mom that works 4 10s. Currently, she is my only family that does this. But there is a major corporation not to far from here that does the same. A lot of people from my town work here so I know that at some point I'm bound to run into this same situation. I'm trying to come up with a way to charge extra for the families that have me working over 10 hours m-th because obviously that is a long day and I still have to get up on Friday to watch the other children's who's parents work 5 days a week still. So this is what I come up with.

I also considered doing like nan...the later the pick up the more I charge.

4:30-$90.00
5:00- $95.00
5:30-$100.00
6:00- $105.00

Any ideas?

[AfterSchoolMom]

I think that most parents wouldn't blink at an extra $7.50 per week (though I'm confused as to where that number came from, sorry). If you really don't want kids in your care from open to close, you really should raise that amount significantly...make it cost prohibitive for them and worth while for you, kwim?

[wdmmom]

I'm in a very very small town in Kansas. I think the population is around 3,000. Anyways, people around here are 95.00-125.00 a week per child.

Here is my dilemma. I have a mom that works 4 10s. Currently, she is my only family that does this. But there is a major corporation not to far from here that does the same. A lot of people from my town work here so I know that at some point I'm bound to run into this same situation. I'm trying to come up with a way to charge extra for the families that have me working over 10 hours m-th because obviously that is a long day and I still have to get up on Friday to watch the other children's who's parents work 5 days a week still. So this is what I come up with.

I also considered doing like nan...the later the pick up the more I charge.

4:30-$90.00
5:00- $95.00
5:30-$100.00
6:00- $105.00

Any ideas?

How far is this employer from your daycare? Do they run different shifts or is it the same 10 hour shift everyday?

I charge more the later the pickup as well. If they are out the door at 3pm, they have my lowest rate possible. It goes up from there. Anyone that is here the last hour of the day pays more.

[MarinaVanessa]

I charge exactly like NiNi described. I guess for me I don't mind or care if they want to have a child here from open to close or more than 50 hours a week, I just want to be paid appropriately. The way I see it is if I'm already going to be here I might as well get paid a little extra money.

The logic behind the $5 per hour is that it's enough to make it expensive to the parent if they pay it regularly but not enough that they want to avoid it altogether. For example: Family A's schedule of hours are Mon-Friday 6am to 4pm (10 hour maximum) and they need to begin picking up at 5pm everyday ... that's an extra $25 in my pocket a week. Hey, if they want to pay an extra $25 a week to keep their child here an extra hour a day ... why not?

[NiNi.R.]

I charge exactly like NiNi described. I guess for me I don't mind or care if they want to have a child here from open to close or more than 50 hours a week, I just want to be paid appropriately. The way I see it is if I'm already going to be here I might as well get paid a little extra money.

The logic behind the $5 per hour is that it's enough to make it expensive to the parent if they pay it regularly but not enough that they want to avoid it altogether. For example: Family A's schedule of hours are Mon-Friday 6am to 4pm (10 hour maximum) and they need to begin picking up at 5pm everyday ... that's an extra $25 in my pocket a week. Hey, if they want to pay an extra $25 a week to keep their child here an extra hour a day ... why not?

I have a question?...Do you charge 5.00 extra for every day. So another words if this mom needs me 11 hours a day 4 days a week it would be 20.00 extra a week. Or is it an extra 5.00 a week for every hour over 10 hours that they need?

How far is this employer from your daycare? Do they run different shifts or is it the same 10 hour shift everyday?

I charge more the later the pickup as well. If they are out the door at 3pm, they have my lowest rate possible. It goes up from there. Anyone that is here the last hour of the day pays more.

The employer is about 20 minutes away. She drops them off at 6:30am and starts work at 7am. Rarely is she off work by 5. More often than not she doesn't get here til 6 and sometimes will have someone else arrive at 6 because she has to work even later and can't make it on time. A lot of times they even need to work on the Fridays and occasionally when she can't find anyone else I will have them on Fridays basically for free because I have no idea how to charge extra for that day. It's a pain and I'm sick of it. So I'm trying to find a way to charge because like I said if I term chances are their replacement will also have a 4-10s schedule. So I would like to get paid a good amount for the parents causing me to work 60+ hours a week.

[MarinaVanessa]

I have a question?...Do you charge 5.00 extra for every day. So another words if this mom needs me 11 hours a day 4 days a week it would be 20.00 extra a week. Or is it an extra 5.00 a week for every hour over 10 hours that they need?

I charge by the hour. It's an extra $5 per hour past 10 hour a day and past 50 hours a week for full-timers. For part-timers I charge $5 an hour past 10 hours a day or past 30 hours a week. In other words if they are FT's and they come 6am-4pm mon-fri but need me until 5pm on Mon and Tues then that's an extra 2 hours so it's $10. If they need me until 6pm on Wed then it's $10 just for that day (now total of $20). I just do per hour because it's easier for me to do it that way.

Also, as a sidenote, these are for approved late hours. Anything that's not approved (they are just running late or don't tell me) is charged $5 for each additional 15 minutes (or part). So ... if same family came on Thurs and picked up at 5pm but never asked me if they could then they would pay an extra $20 just for picking up late that day.

[daycare]

other than what the other people posted the thing that caught my eye was you stated in your letter to the parents:

I've realized over the course of the year that I'm overly exhausted and not the provider and mother I set out to be.


While I can relate to this 100%, I think that you just need to mention that you can no loger offer it so that you can tend to you own family, or so that you can have more time to regenerate. Any other reason.

I don't know how I would feel if my provider told me this..... Just my two cents for what it's worth...