parent of kids in daycare - I have a question about contracts

[mrbigstuff]

In the daycare facility (home daycare) my child attends, we pay for two weeks' vacation to the provider plus school holidays (about 12) plus snow days. (I have no problem paying vacation time to the provider, as I believe in having time off.)

What do others do in terms of holidays, etc? It raises a problem, naturally, when we have to work on a holiday and find daycare for our child.

Also, are others concerned about their employment and how do you deal with this, contractually, with the daycare provider.

Thanks for any input.

[anonymouse1]

We provide holidays--for us it's a fairness issue--if we get paid for holidays, so should the person taking care of our child. If we didn't get paid (and were still on salary) that would be different.

[macphanatic]

Our daycare charges us half price for vacation weeks (when we take our son out of daycare). They are only closed the traditional 7 holidays (New Years, Memorial Day, 4th, Labor Day, Thanksgiving+Friday, and Christmas). They also do two in-service days, which tend to be President's Day and Columbus Day.

No discount for snow days, although they have never been closed in the last 9 years that we've used them. They've been open when all of the schools have been closed. This is a nice feature as they have a drop in program that we could use for our oldest (9) if needed. They have called twice in 9 years asking if we could pick up early due to bad weather conditions.

[Speedy]

Whatever the market will bear.

[dmann]

I can't speak to the contract issue (don't have kids), but my sister and her husband schedule their vacation time around the kids vacation time so one of them can be home when the kids are off.

On occasion, my dad (who is semi retired) or I (self employed with a somewhat flexible schedule) will help out for the day.

DM

[datbeme]

I'm not saying the agreement is wrong. It sounds like the provider has several school-age children of his or her own, so if that's what you've agreed to, that's fine. But it does seem odd to give so many concessions related to whether or not school is in session. Major holidays, 2 weeks of vacation (and possibly Spring Break) make complete sense. Snow days and other school days off don't make any sense to me at all. You should be paying for and receiving day care on those days.

Also, I don't know how formal this contract is, but you seem to be asking about your obligations to continue paying for daycare if you lose your job. I don't think you should be held responsible for anything beyond 2 weeks notice. With in-home daycare, I also wouldn't feel comfortable with an agreement or contract that is terribly stringent to begin with. We put 3 kids through daycare in the same home, and while we paid for vacations, etc. as mentioned above, I don't think we were obligated to pay if our child was home sick or if we took a day off here or there. I know we didn't have to find alternative care on snowdays or non-major holidays—whether school was in session or not.

[mrbigstuff]

datbeme wrote:
I'm not saying the agreement is wrong. It sounds like the provider has several school-age children of his or her own, so if that's what you've agreed to, that's fine. But it does seem odd to give so many concessions related to whether or not school is in session. Major holidays, 2 weeks of vacation (and possibly Spring Break) make complete sense. Snow days and other school days off don't make any sense to me at all. You should be paying for and receiving day care on those days.

Also, I don't know how formal this contract is, but you seem to be asking about your obligations to continue paying for daycare if you lose your job. I don't think you should be held responsible for anything beyond 2 weeks notice. With in-home daycare, I also wouldn't feel comfortable with an agreement or contract that is terribly stringent to begin with. We put 3 kids through daycare in the same home, and while we paid for vacations, etc. as mentioned above, I don't think we were obligated to pay if our child was home sick or if we took a day off here or there. I know we didn't have to find alternative care on snowdays or non-major holidays—whether school was in session or not.

thanks for the response, datbeme. I am not in danger of losing my job, as far as I know but I wanted to know what others do.

in terms of paying for days, yes, we end up paying for a two week vacation plus the kids' two weeks during the year, plus holidays and to top it all off, snow days when called. so, we're outlaying lots of cash for no care, it seems.