Years ago, I took on a family that I thought would be perfect because mom was a former daycare provider. Surely she would understand! Surely for the next year I listened to "well, when I did daycare". It was during that time that I swore I would never take another former daycare provider on as a client.
I have since relaxed that policy, and had wonderful working relationships with two such families. However, this was because I did some careful screening during the interview process.
Recently, I received a phone call from a lady who was looking for spots for her grandchildren. Turns out that the parents were divorced and shared custody, and Grandma was calling for her son (the father). Big red flag - why is Son not calling daycares himself? Grandma goes on to tell me about problems with some of the other daycares THEY have interviewed.
She then began to ask about the fees. Not a red flag. The red flag came when she questioned me about Son having to pay for the weeks when the mom had the children. Well, yes, I explained, he would have to pay for those weeks. Her reply? "Well, when I did daycare..."
I knew very early on in this conversation that Grandma was going to be overly involved, and I learned years ago that this is going to lead to problems with grandmas. I had one grandma in the past that was such an issue that my contract now has a section all about how I only discuss things with the contracted parents, and what my expectations are of grandparents or anyone else picking up the children. I have turned clients down because grandma came with on the interview and I could tell she was going to be an issue. And this grandma having formerly "did daycare", was going to make working with this family a nightmare.
Grandma ended this conversation by saying that she hoped that I would consider the fact that Son is a single dad. I told Grandma that I hoped she would consider the fact that I have a family to feed and house.
Needless to say, this family has not been, nor will they ever be, enrolled.
Sophie
When a family wants me to reduce fees for a part-time space, I explain that no, I can't do that because, full or part-time, their child will be taking a space. Now, if they could find someone else who wanted to come the days they wouldn't be attending, they could split the fee with that family.
ReplyDeleteThis serves several purposes:
1. Points out that a child who comes three days a week (or every other week, or whatever), is filling a space that you now can't fill with a full-time child.
2. Puts the onus on them to do the work to fill the gaps, if they want the spot badly enough. (I like to watch thinking "As if. Where would I find someone else who only wanted every other week???" Well, yes. My point exactly.)
3. And if they really could find someone to fill their off-days? I'd call that a win-win!
4. Mostly, it makes them move on. :)