Home Daycare Issue

[Anonymous]

We've been using the same home daycare for a couple years and really like our provider. I went down to part time this year to stay home with DC more. Her per day fee for three days was more than the weekly fee, so we agreed to pay the full time tuition rate. I guess we just assumed he could go on the other days if needed. This was fine the first couple times I did it. And then recently I asked her if I could bring him and she said she is now full on the days DC is not there. So, when I have doctor's appointments and other things I cannot take DC to, I have to pay a babysitter in addition to already paying for FT childcare?! I'm kind of frustrated. I don't know what to say to her about it since I don't want to cause a rift, and if I pay her part time/per day fee it will be more than the full week - but I feel like if we're paying for the full week we should be able to drop off DC the other days if necessary. But, I also understand that she has a limit to number of children and now she has other kids the days he isn't there. Advice please? I'm not a confrontational person and I really don't want to cause a rift or switch providers at this point, just feeling like something isn't quite right about this situation.

[Anonymous]

I think you're in the right here, but it may not be that easy to fix. Unfortunately this is something that should have been spelled out - if you were paying for a FT spot, you should have full-time flexibility.

You may need to play hardball and say, "if I'm going to pay for a FT spot here for only PT hours, it might be in my best interest to look for another provider." She might freak out about losing the money and tell the 2-day parent she can't watch their kid anymore. Or she might let you pay a lower 3-day rate and you can use the difference to pay the occasional babysitter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've been using the same home daycare for a couple years and really like our provider. I went down to part time this year to stay home with DC more. Her per day fee for three days was more than the weekly fee, so we agreed to pay the full time tuition rate. I guess we just assumed he could go on the other days if needed. This was fine the first couple times I did it. And then recently I asked her if I could bring him and she said she is now full on the days DC is not there. So, when I have doctor's appointments and other things I cannot take DC to, I have to pay a babysitter in addition to already paying for FT childcare?! I'm kind of frustrated. I don't know what to say to her about it since I don't want to cause a rift, and if I pay her part time/per day fee it will be more than the full week - but I feel like if we're paying for the full week we should be able to drop off DC the other days if necessary. But, I also understand that she has a limit to number of children and now she has other kids the days he isn't there. Advice please? I'm not a confrontational person and I really don't want to cause a rift or switch providers at this point, just feeling like something isn't quite right about this situation.

If you're paying for full time care, I would assume that means your child has a full time slot in the daycare whether he/she is there every day or not. Our daycare center doesn't offer part time rates, but there are definitely children (including ours) who go less than five days a week - I have never had an issue bringing my child in on a day she's usually at home with me. If your provider is charging you for a full week but not allowing you to use it, you definitely need to have a talk with her - it sounds like she's splitting a slot between you and another family without telling you.

[Anonymous]

In total agreement with the posters above. Either she reduces your rate to a genuinely pro-rated amount (as opposed to an inflated per day fee), or she allows you to bring in your LO whenever you want through out the week. You are paying her for five days a week and she's splitting part of that time - somewhat unfairly - with another child. Approach her with your concerns and see what she has to say. Her willingness to work with you will show a great deal about whether or not to continue day care with her.

Hope that you don't have to find another care provider, but if you do (and not sure where you live), I found Monday Morning Moms in Mo Co to be a great resource. They connected me with a terrific home day care.

[Anonymous]

Agree with previous posters. What your provider is doing is completely wrong. You are paying for a full-time slot, which means you should have access to full-time care when you need it. If she is going to force your hand to pay for full-time care, then she must provide it. Do you have a contract with her for full-time care at your full-time rate. She can't argue with that.

I hate to say it, but you should probably start shopping around for another provider before you confront her in case she won't back down.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for the advice everyone. When I filled out the contract at the beginning of the year, I did just mark the days he would be there, although I also had to mark down the amount I am paying. The kids (siblings) she has on the 2 days he is not there have been there longer than my son - they must have just gone down to part time this school year as well - or maybe last year I just didn't notice they weren't there every day,so I highly doubt she would drop them. I'm hesitant to talk in person with her much about this because there is always so much going on when I drop off/pick up. Tried talking to her about it today since I needed her to watch him next week and other parents were dropping off at the same time. Is email a chicken way out? I just feel like if I say we are paying for full time so expected we could use full time hours if needed, she will say the only other option is to pay the per day amount. Maybe if I point out in the email that we will also have to pay for a babysitter, she will back down a bit though. Just extra frustrating since we are going through IVF for #2 so I have lots of appointments that don't always fall on daycare days (and in fact I try not to do them on days I work if possible) - and we didn't really factor in having to pay extra for daycare.

[Anonymous]

That's pretty outrageous of her. I would demand pro-rating for the 3 days a week you are able to use the day care. If you want to be nice, just tell her financially, you can't swing it to pay double on the other 2 days when you need it.

[Anonymous]

I'd send her an email and don't think its a chicken way as then you have it documented. I'd take the pay and divide it by 5 and offer her that amount if she has filled the other two days. Or, she needs to keep his slot available so he can come on an as needed basis. Or, I'd find someone else. You are paying for her time and its nice you don't always need it but it should be there when you do.

[Anonymous]

From a providers point of view. I charge x amount per week fulltime. IF a parent comes to me and only needs part time care, then I do my daily fee, which IS slightly higher than the pro-rated daily fee. While I do charge slightly higher, in no way is it higher than what the full time rate is. That is just plain stupid. WHY do I charge a little more? Basically for the inconvenience of likely not being able to fill the days not needed by the family who is dropping to part time AND primarily the fact that the spot, whether 3, 4 or 5 days has to be pretty much counted as a full time slot that is taken, lowering the number of full time slots a provider has. Hopefully that makes sense. The only thing I do require is a minimum of 3 days of care. Only then are parents allowed to *drop in* should they need care on an off day but only if I have the space, since I am not charging them for it, I am not obligated to hold the spot

[Anonymous]

OP here. To the PP who is a provider, thank you for your input. What you wrote makes total sense to me. I don't mind paying for the full time slot, as long as we get full time flexibility with drop off hours on the days he is not there... which, keep in mind, I've used only two or three times in the last three months. DH and I talked about it last night and we agreed to email her this weekend and say we would like a pro-rated fee while he can only go for three days a week since we will have to pay a sitter for the other days if something comes up - and if the full time spot opens up again we have no problem paying for the full week. In the meantime, we are going to start looking into other options. I've found several preschools online that look great and are cheaper than what we are paying now. The only concern is DC is not yet fully potty trained for the ones that start with age 3, and if the IVF works and we have a DC #2, we would be dropping off in two different places on the days I work, which would be a huge pain. Anyway, thanks to everyone who has responded, definitely helps me feel like I'm not crazy for thinking what she is doing isn't right!

[Anonymous]

OP again. Got a reply to my email, and she is not budging . Basically said that the agreement was for the three days and she is giving us a discount by doing the full week instead of the per day rate. Guess it is time to start the search for new care unfortunately. Please let me know if you have recommendations for the Sterling/Reston/Herndon area.

[Anonymous]

too bad you arent down in my area. I would be more than happy to pro rate my fees for you.

[Anonymous]

If you need to look for a new place why not look for a place that takes infants and has a preschool that way you're not going yo 2 places? In case you need a new place, our daughter is at Reston Montessori and we really like it and they take infants. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Where do you live and how old is your child?

[Anonymous]

Op, if you like your provider why don't you just take a full time slot and only take your child when you want to? That might not be an option now, depending on her enrollment, but something to consider.