How can find out whether parents need me to work over xmas?

[Tippy Toes]

Any ideas? Thinking about what to book off but wondering whether parents will use my services anyway?

What do you do?

Thanks

[little chickee]

I personally just book my holidays and tell them im unavailable between such and such dates.

I take it you dont want to book hols as then you will be unpaid and you want them to tell you when they dont need you.

My advise? Ask them! Say that you are trying to organise your hols and as of course everyone will have different requiremients you need them to tell you their days when they will not need you and that you will try to work around that.

You can then work out which days you wont be needed anyway and book hols for whatever days extra you want.

[glitzygal]

hi, i sent out a news letter asking when schools and pre-schools. were closed and when they needed me, some came back with only few days and some non, but knew they still pay me as im offering to work,
depends if you want to work,, say ur available and you have to pay, or your not ect, up to you, i dont mind, i need the money so i preffer to work, i do have bank hols off tho,

good luck

[mama2three]

I put a note in with the last set of invoices , saying I was currently planning the festive period and would appreciate knowing what childcare requirements parents had in order to make my decisions and meet everyones requirements as far as possible.
One parent did come back to me saying well let me know when youre having off and we'll work round you! So my plan to maximise my wages for minimum work didnt come off this time . Never mind , was worth a try!!

[tashaleee]

I used to get this dilema and got fed up of waiting for the parents to let me book the time off as it was cheaper for them.... I now close from christmas eve til the first working day in January and charge half fees for all sessions (except those days that fall on a bank holiday where there is no charge) - parents seem fine with this and we all know where we stand each year..... :thumbsup:

[jumpinjen]

I gave out calendar sheets printed from the internet and asked them to highlight which days over christmas period that i would be having the children so that i could plan activities appropriately...... then highlighted teh weeks i wanted to know about (and put my holiday week on as well).... they all came back filled in..... none of them are coming!

jen x

[manjay]

Depends what is priority really. Christmas for me is family time so I just book the whole two weeks off every year. Families know this when they start and I know so I can plan my finances. Not easy money wise but I would prefer a little less money and have 2 weeks with my own little ones. Trouble is with sending out requests is that you might find you end up being needed every day but by different families. So you still end up working every day.

[snufflepuff]

I asked parents to let me know when they are likely to need me over xmas so i could plan time off etc. I thought that if they dont need me thats great, if they do i can work some days and take a few days as unpaid holiday if i needed to. (just because they say they need you doesn't mean you have to work it, if you want the time time off you can book it, it's up to you)

Anyway, one doesn't need me and just said they will take it as holiday (therefore still paying, and they are happy with that) and the other doesn't need me but tried a few times to pressure me in to saying they didn't have to pay....i made it clear that i would actually be open for business and willing to work on they days she is contracted for so she still has to pay.

[birch24]

I have given parents details of my holidays including when I am off at xmas, unless they are term time only or I am off I am expecting them to come.:D

[mushpea]

my last day is 23rd december back on the 4th january,, I refuse to work christmas week as i value the family time plus its also my birthday that week:D
I did offer to work christmas eve one year but all the kids were just to hyper and i couldnt get anything done for us!

[Chimps Childminding]

June and I usually close when the schools break up and go back when they do! However we have sent a letter out saying this year we are both available 20th, 21st and 22nd, then June is working the week between Christmas and New Year and I am working from 4th Jan onwards (as Junes dh is off that week). As we have so few children between us at present we are both able to cover all the children/days - although we have told parents that as we are usually closed there is no charge if the children don't come.

Lots of our parents are shift workers so appreciate the offer of us working it between us as it means they dont have to make alternative arrangements. Having said that we will see how many children we have as to whether we make the offer next year - don't really want to be working every day just for one child :(

[Ali56]

I take from christmas eve till first working day in January. Most of my families don't need care during that time, and I like to have some family time too. I just let the parents know that if they do need an odd day I could maybe accomodate them, depending on my plans. Usually all sorted by first week of december as I have asked them already!! :laughing:

[clio0602]

I put a note in with the last set of invoices , saying I was currently planning the festive period and would appreciate knowing what childcare requirements parents had in order to make my decisions and meet everyones requirements as far as possible.
One parent did come back to me saying well let me know when youre having off and we'll work round you! So my plan to maximise my wages for minimum work didnt come off this time . Never mind , was worth a try!!


I did this and parents said the same think they knew what I was up to :blush: