my daughter goes to a private home daycare around the corner from our house and her provider is taking vacation next week...she gets paid for her vacations which i knew when we chose her and i didnt have a problem with that but yesterday (wednesday) she sent home a letter saying that she wants her pay for next week (while shes on vaca) this friday along with this weeks pay. it kind of caught me off guard because every other vacation or day she had to close she always had us pay the following week so thats what i was planning on...i checked her policies handbook i received when we enrolled my daughter and there was nothing in it about being paid for the vaca week before the vaca week.
so my question is....
is this a normal procedure for home day cares and can she just change the payment policy
our pay schedule is that we pay on friday for that week......like id be paying her tomorrow for taking Rose this week.....sorry i forgot to put this in my original question
thanks for your insight on the situation....i agree ill def just tell her i thought it was going to be the same as in the past so thats what id planned for i mean even if i knew last week i wouldn't be so perplexed about it lol but i was just notified yesterday....it was good to hear from moms who do/have done their own home daycares also thanks guys
Maybe she is needing the money for her vacation, so that is why she asked.
If you can't do it, then I would just be upfront and tell her that you hadn't planned on it that way, and thought it would be like in the past.
No, you should stick with what you usually do. I have been doing childcare for 3 years and while I've only taken one vacation, I did not expect the parents to pay be beforehand.
No. I used to provide in-home childcare as well, and no that's not how it works. I can understand why she would want it that way, so she has money on her trip, and if you have the money laying around and you're ok with that, fine. But if it's not in the policies handbook, she can't make you do that. Coughing up her pay plus arrangements for your child's care while she's gone is hard enough, but especially paying a week in advance with only a couple days' notice? Not a very reasonable expectation. If she knew she was taking her vacation for awhile (most the time you know this, unless you're going to a funeral or something), then she should have been saving up for it like everyone else does.
I know people have different views on this, but when I was providing childcare, I did take a few days off for the holidays and I took 1 week in the summer. NONE of which were paid time off. I figured parents needed to pay somebody for the time I was off (or lose their own vacation time watching their own child?) so during the interview process I said "we will take off 1 week in summer" and then gave them 2 months notice when we were actually leaving, along with the phone number and address of another childcare provider that I used for my own son when I needed it (the parents could do whatever they wanted, but I wanted to give them a lead if they needed someone). Another time, I watched my friend's son and we just coordinated together and I took my vacation to Florida on the same days she was taking her vacation to see family. I know that's neither here nor there, but NO to paying ahead of time if you don't have the ability or inclination to do so.
ADDED: Someone made a good point: if you pay on Monday and she's asking for pay on Friday, then 2-3 days early shouldn't be too big a deal, however, that's on you. You will surely have to come up with the money for another sitter (or take off work) for that Monday too. If she gets paid on Friday (from what your post said, it looks like that's the case, then no....I wouldn't pay a week ahead of time unless you just ''can").
I should have said that I don't charge for my days off. I agree with the other person that said the parents have to pay someone else. I do however charge for the parents vaca...strictly speaking, I'm open 52 weeks per year so they owe for 52 weeks per year if they want a space with me. I haven't had 2 weeks off since 1997. I had 3 days off a few years ago and some moms chose to pay me anyway. I just didn't require it.
Since you pay her after the fact you are within your rights to tell her you can't come up with it this way. But if you can, it would be nice for you to do it. I don't understand why she doesn't charge in advance in the first place.
I have done childcare for 14 years. Up until a few years ago I had alot of PTO (paid time off)...20 days per year plus 9 holidays. Sometimes I used it all, sometimes I didn't.
I changed my policy (and upped my rates to cover it..really just like $15 a week for the rest of the year and it was covered...new incoming parents never knew the difference and When I asked the few current families about it, they preferred the increased rate, to actual "double daycare" at the time it occurs).
But I never ever asked parent to pay beforehand. I do get paid on Mondays, before the work is done (Pay Monday for that week thats starting). If I actually took a full week off, I would never ask (or budget for) a family to pay me that Friday before my vacation week. When they returned they would owe me a double check.
Then I began using an Auto-deposit feature thru my Food Program several years ago, when I was still getting paid vacations. Then it didn't matter. Payments are set up for every 2 weeks (reduced the fee-per-transaction I pay for using the system...rather than a once a week pay structure). It was all automatic and recurring payments went in whether I was open or not.
Now that I do unpaid days off, I can go into the program and temporarily reduce a payment without the parent needing to "approve" anything (I can never raise the amount without approval steps). With a one day off here or there situation (I have taken 4 days off this year so far), I just go in and take one days worth off the next payment cycle. If it were a full week and planned, I would do it ahead of time to cover the actual week I were to be off.
If your provider gets paid Fridays at the END of the week, and she wants you to pay her a full week ahead of time for her vacation, I would politely and in a non confrontational, matter of fact way, tell her I am sorry, but that was not in the policies or spelled out and we have not budgeted to pay this until NEXT friday and just can not cover it. If you feel its needed, add in there that this disrupts the normal payment schedule and you don't feel it is fair to ask that of the families.
I always am one to be very business-like in the ways I can for some parents to "get it" (some just don't)..like if they choose not to bring their child, and then also do not want to pay and think thats going to be OK. I may have to reiterate things like "just because you didn't watch TV yesterday, you still have to pay the cable bill for that day. Same deal here. You pay for the spot on my license". In your instance the comparison for the provider might be that you can't go to YOUR workplace and just say "Hey, I am going on vacation, so I want my paycheck for next week NOW, cuz that works better for me!" Not going to happen!
Good luck!
No, it's not normal for home day care providers to change their payment policy...
I would talk to her and tell her that while you agreed with the paid vacations - understandable - you do NOT agree with the change in payment plans...that is not in your budget...
when do you normally pay for the week? On Mondays? If so, you are only paying a couple of days early, vs when she gets back, which would be a week and a half late. You didn't really say what your payment schedule is, so I may be way off, but, if she's asking just a couple of days early, I don't find that wrong.
It's not normal for any kind of daycare. Now, if she had put this scenario in her handbook, or communicated this several weeks in advance, I wouldn't have a problem with it, but she should be considerate of her clients & their financial situations. If you can't swing 2 weeks at once, then just tell her that. I'm sure she'll understand.
No thats not normal. I use an in home daycare and we pay here at the beginning of every week. Allthough we do not pay for time that are kids are not there. I would talk to her about this and maybe let her know that on such short notice of the payment change for vacation time you wont be able to pay the vacation week early.
Just so you know that your're not alone, I have to pay two weeks in advance...I don't like it, but I do get what I pay for so I just do it. I can sympathize...we all hate paying for something prior to receiving services, but in many businesses, we do pay ahead sometimes.
We always paid as scheduled (meaning we paid for one week each Friday) so when the provider took vacation we would stop by Friday evening to pay her or wait until Monday morning. Another option was a post dated check. I would tell her that since you never had to pay in advance, you were not prepared to do it this time and will have to wait and pay her as sheduled/on time but not early.
I would talk to her and let her know that this was unexpected and see if she would be fine waiting. If it is not in her policy then it is a lot to expect most parents to be able to afford 3 payments (this week, her vac week and suplimental care) towards daycare in a matter of 2 days.
