Daycare center closing early for holiday weekend - is this appropriate?

[Anonymous]

I would be awfully annoyed. Ask the director what is going on. Since it is not in your contract, ask if there is a reason for the closure unmentioned, and if there is no justifiable reason, ask how she intends to make it up to the parents in either other time open on a day intended to be closed or cash. I would also ask if this is something she intends to repeat.

And start keeping your eyes open for another daycare...you still on other lists? Awfully unprofessional and makes me wonder how else she doesn't follow rules.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Sorry if I'm frightening to anyone. Also, thanks for all the tips on budgeting without knowing anything about my personal financial situation. I'll be sure to save up lots of money and get a job that gives me more vacation time.

Regarding budgets - I think we can all recognize that we budget to our income and expenses. Whether you make 40k, 60k or 100k a year, you plan your living, childcare, savings, etc accordingly. Yes, we all (hopefully) make plans for unexpected events. Calling it a "hardship" really wasn't appropriate. I'm not going to miss a mortgage payment, my kid and I will still eat, etc.

In that context, I really wouldn't consider my daycare wanting to take an extra half day off an "unexpected event." I'd consider a snowstorm or a pipe bursting an unexpected event. They announced this closure two weeks prior - so it's not a total scramble, but it's still not great.

Maybe I'm too business focused, but my real issue is that I signed up for a daycare center with certain expectations, based on their published guidelines. Those guidelines state the days they'll be off and the circumstances which warrant other closures. This is not within those guidelines.

In this case, I'll have to take 5 hours off of work - and honestly, whether its vacation time or unpaid time really doesn't matter. It's more than 10% of one week's paycheck. I look at it as if my job came to me and said "hey, do you mind if we just close early this week - and we won't pay you for the last 5 hours. OK?" I guess some of us would be happy to take that. I'd rather just have the extra cash in my pocket to buy a plane ticket to go see grandma.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would be awfully annoyed. Ask the director what is going on. Since it is not in your contract, ask if there is a reason for the closure unmentioned, and if there is no justifiable reason, ask how she intends to make it up to the parents in either other time open on a day intended to be closed or cash. I would also ask if this is something she intends to repeat.

And start keeping your eyes open for another daycare...you still on other lists? Awfully unprofessional and makes me wonder how else she doesn't follow rules.

I would do this too. This is NOT ok.

[Anonymous]

I would be annoyed with the late notice for sure. Very unprofessional. There's nothing you can do about it now except ask for a break on fees for that afternoon since it isn't listed in their days of closure.

Is there anything in the contract to address situations like this?

[Anonymous]

Our director tries to do this a lot. We successfully fought back against unannounced closures (unless all parents agree) but our parent board has a lot of authority.

[Anonymous]

Does your daycare have a parent's association? Is it something you can reach out to them and discuss?

Are there times when the daycare is flexible in your direction so that it all balances out?

[Anonymous]

Are you sure it's not for professional development?

[Anonymous]

The director of this center is taking a half day on the 2nd. Are the daycare workers getting paid or are they getting screwed too?

[Anonymous]

OP - I would definitely be annoyed and would ask for some sort of credit. And I would mention to the director that the majority of working parents do not get July 2nd off and will need to take vacation time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Sorry if I'm frightening to anyone. Also, thanks for all the tips on budgeting without knowing anything about my personal financial situation. I'll be sure to save up lots of money and get a job that gives me more vacation time.

Regarding budgets - I think we can all recognize that we budget to our income and expenses. Whether you make 40k, 60k or 100k a year, you plan your living, childcare, savings, etc accordingly. Yes, we all (hopefully) make plans for unexpected events. Calling it a "hardship" really wasn't appropriate. I'm not going to miss a mortgage payment, my kid and I will still eat, etc.

In that context, I really wouldn't consider my daycare wanting to take an extra half day off an "unexpected event." I'd consider a snowstorm or a pipe bursting an unexpected event. They announced this closure two weeks prior - so it's not a total scramble, but it's still not great.

Maybe I'm too business focused, but my real issue is that I signed up for a daycare center with certain expectations, based on their published guidelines. Those guidelines state the days they'll be off and the circumstances which warrant other closures. This is not within those guidelines.

In this case, I'll have to take 5 hours off of work - and honestly, whether its vacation time or unpaid time really doesn't matter. It's more than 10% of one week's paycheck. I look at it as if my job came to me and said "hey, do you mind if we just close early this week - and we won't pay you for the last 5 hours. OK?" I guess some of us would be happy to take that. I'd rather just have the extra cash in my pocket to buy a plane ticket to go see grandma.

OP, you make some very good points here, but all I can say is, you're going to have to get used to this sort of thing. It's one of the inconveniences of life that multiplies when you have kids. By the way, where is your DH? Why can't he take time off to stay with the child?

[Anonymous]

I would be happy to take unpaid time off to spend with my child.
I'm not obsessed with work.

[Anonymous]

I'd be annoyed, too. Our daycare is in a federal building, so they sometimes close early the day before a holiday, but it's all based on what the agency does, so it's part of the policy. Randomly closing early with minimal notice is not cool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Sorry if I'm frightening to anyone. Also, thanks for all the tips on budgeting without knowing anything about my personal financial situation. I'll be sure to save up lots of money and get a job that gives me more vacation time.

Regarding budgets - I think we can all recognize that we budget to our income and expenses. Whether you make 40k, 60k or 100k a year, you plan your living, childcare, savings, etc accordingly. Yes, we all (hopefully) make plans for unexpected events. Calling it a "hardship" really wasn't appropriate. I'm not going to miss a mortgage payment, my kid and I will still eat, etc.

In that context, I really wouldn't consider my daycare wanting to take an extra half day off an "unexpected event." I'd consider a snowstorm or a pipe bursting an unexpected event. They announced this closure two weeks prior - so it's not a total scramble, but it's still not great.

Maybe I'm too business focused, but my real issue is that I signed up for a daycare center with certain expectations, based on their published guidelines. Those guidelines state the days they'll be off and the circumstances which warrant other closures. This is not within those guidelines.

In this case, I'll have to take 5 hours off of work - and honestly, whether its vacation time or unpaid time really doesn't matter. It's more than 10% of one week's paycheck. I look at it as if my job came to me and said "hey, do you mind if we just close early this week - and we won't pay you for the last 5 hours. OK?" I guess some of us would be happy to take that. I'd rather just have the extra cash in my pocket to buy a plane ticket to go see grandma.

I agree OP. This would be annoying AND a hardship for me. Some of the PP really need to break out of their bubble and join the real world. Not every one has vacation time for these pop-up issues that were not outlined in the daycare's schedule. I count my vacation hours down to the hours and this would definitely through a monkey wrench in the plans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your list $250 by taking half a day off work then you must earn $500 per day or $2500 per week or $10k per month. I think you will be fine.

But it's a hardship for her, lol.

[Anonymous]

I would definitely be annoyed - especially with such short notice. I wouldn't ask for a refund of fees, but I would perhaps write back to the director explaining how such short notice is difficult to deal with and asking if she can build such time off into the advance schedule in the future.