How much vacation time for your in-home daycare?
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Anonymous
| I looked at one recently where the providers take 3 weeks a year, plus all federal holidays. Is that the norm? |
Anonymous
| ours is 2 weeks (xmas and august), plus federal holidays, and a very, very occasional staff training day. |
Anonymous
| When we did in-home, that was about what ours did. We tried to schedule vacations for the same time to ease the burden a bit. |
Anonymous
| 3 weeks, one week in August, 2 weeks winter time. |
Anonymous
|
Wow...3 weeks that seems really high.
We have used two in-home daycares. One took off federal holidays and the week between christmas and new years. The other is hardly ever closed (not even all the federal holidays). |
Anonymous
|
As a home child care provider, I can say that I feel sorry for the provider described above...
" Wow...3 weeks that seems really high. We have used two in-home daycares. One took off federal holidays and the week between christmas and new years. The other is hardly ever closed (not even all the federal holidays)." Wow is right! When does this person go to the doctor, dentist, spend time with family, or, (gasp) RELAX? Home child care providers work 10 or more hours a day often without a break. We spend many more hours planning activities, buying supplies, preparing food, cleaning, meeting required training hours, etc. I would like to think that parents would WANT the person who cares for their child to be relaxed and as un-stressed as possible. If Grandma or Auntie can't watch Baby for a couple of weeks a year then perhaps home daycare is not for you. |
Anonymous
| The ones I visited usually too two weeks off per year plus the federal holidays. Some providers had specific times of the year they were off, others told us it depended but would let the parents know a couple of months in advance. |
Anonymous
| 3 months. Of course, she only accepts children of teachers, so they all want summers off anyway. |
Anonymous
| we ended up going with a daycare center in part because we didn't know how we'd manage the 2-3 week vacations (at unspecified random times of year) that most of the in-home caregivers took. I'm not begrudging them their right to vacation, but none of them were much cheaper (if at all) than our center, and at the center, we only had to plan around holidays and teacher work days. We don't have family in the area and can't just take off work for weeks to watch our child so the caregiver can go home to Iran or whatever. |
Anonymous
| This is the quandry raised by using an in home provider dependant upon a single person to be avaialble for the children it its care. Of course everyone needs a vacation or two a year, I think 3 weeks a year is completely reasonable. On the other hand, it is really hard for families to track their vacations to those of the caregiver and alternative care for an infant or toddler is not always easily attainable, so the concern that families considering using home daycare have are also reasonable. There is no reason to get defensive about the concern of a potential parent, he/she is going through the process of considering what the cost of in home daycare is and this is clearly one of them. It is also entirely reasonable for a caregiver that wants to appeal to her customers to make her vacation more workable for parents by limiting them to common vacation times such as the holidays and August. All small business have these types of costs for the small business owner, it is simply different than working for a larger business or government where there is more flexibility in choosing leave times. |
Anonymous
|
Ours did 1 week vacation plus all federal holidays. And very occasionally (maybe once a year) a day off for doctors appt or family obligation. She was just a single provider (no assistants).
I personally think 3 weeks seems high - there are a lot of jobs (esp private sector) where people get 2 weeks a year. So covering your provider's 3 weeks of vacation might be tough 11:07. |
Anonymous
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20:18 here.
I was very surprised by our new providers limited time off, but that was her choice. There is no reason to feel sorry for her....she set her guidelines. |
Anonymous
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Three weeks is much too much!
Daycare centers are not closed for that long ! I would never opt for Homedaycare as they are not much cheaper than ceners either! |
Anonymous
| I take almost 4 weeks per year. I also schedule all days off each December for the whole following calendar year so parents can plan in advance for the entire year. (2 solid weeks -one in summer one between Christmas and New Years- as well as Federal Holidays and a few random days important to my family) I RARELY have closed for an unscheduled day in my 9 years as a licensed provider, once when I had the stomach flu, and once for 3 days so I could be with my Mother at the end of her battle with cancer. I need to have surgery and have scheduled it for a week I already have off so as not to incovenience parents - this will mean I am in the hospital during Christmas-I feel being dependable is that important. I only care for 6 children maximum in a loving home environment and clients who enroll stay long term 90% of the time, I rarely have openings and not for long usually. That said, I am also MUCH cheaper than any center in my area. Time off is extremely important when you are the only one responsible for little people all day long period. My vacation schedule is one of the first things I show parents at interview and if they feel I take too much time they of course have the option to not enroll here. I also have not raised rates in several years, but rather added 2-3 vacation days instead which parents preferred rather than higher tuition through the year. This year I will raise rates slightly instead of adding vacation days so I would imagine this will be the maximum number of days I will have for my career in the childcare business. The parents I have as clients use their vacation days at the same time I do usually, between two parents coverage has not been an issue that anyone has brought up or complained about. Most of my clients also utilize visits with grandparents or other family members on scheduled vacation days. Providers run the serious risk of burn out which makes it hard to do a job like ours if time off is not available during the year. |
Anonymous
Don't most in-home day cares inside the Beltway charge $250-$300/week whereas most day care centers charge $1400-2000/month? |