After school fees

[kmc13]

Hi,

I've been asked for a price to pick up a sibling from a school which is 16miles away from me and dropping her straight home afterwards so a 32mile trip. It's going to be nearly 2 hours in the car because of traffic with two 3yr olds with me.

Should I charge a pick up fee or just my normal hourly rate?

Or should I not do it all? I need the business and I've worked with this family for a year now but it also means I won't be available to pick up from my local school in the future.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks

[bunyip]

I'd see this as highly problematic, and you have already noted some of the problems.

For a start, it isn't really what I'd call childminding. It's more like a minicab service for an unaccompanied minor. You are not getting at all involved in any sort of relationship with the child, let lone their learning and development, unless you count a sporadic conversation conducted via your rear-view mirror.

Do you really want to close the door on any opportunity of pick-ups from your local school? I can't see you being asked to do many more jobs at the school 16 miles away either.

The biggest stumbling block for me would be the 2 hour trip for the two 3yo's. Since you mention "sibling", I'm guessing one of those 3yo's is the sibling of the schoolie, so their parents won't object. But if I were the parent of the other 3yo I'd be less than pleased. It's not going to be an attractive concept to any new enquirers either. And at some point you'll need to explain to an Ofsted inspector how a 2 hour car journey contributed to the children's learning and development.

I do understand the pressure of needing the business. I guess the worst case is that, if you turn it down, you could lose the 3yo sibling too, right?

It looks to me as if you could agree to this, and it would be a short-term fix to keep the family on board with both the 3yo and the schoolie. The price you pay for that would be long-term. No pick-ups from your local school,; no other schoolies, in fact; and a daily routine that the parents of most EY children would find unacceptable.

Personally I think it's too high a price to pay for the business.

If you do decide to do it, then you need to quote a fee that will offset all the other opportunities of work you'd be foregoing by agreeing to it.............which is probably rather more than the client wants to pay.

[natlou82]

I agree entirely with Bunyip. It's clear you must have a good working relationship with this family to even consider this. But I believe if you do agree to do it you will regret it in many ways as Bunyip mentioned. Good luck with your decision.

[JCrakers]

I feel this is a problem. If I was a parent of one of the 3yr olds I wouldn't be happy with the children being in the car for such a long length of time. 2 hours is a long time! Do you want to be stuck in traffic with 2x3yr olds and what if one falls asleep? Some parents don't want their little on sleeping so late in the afternoon, but along car journey can mean they nod off.


I feel that you need to rethink....you could end up losing the 3yr old...or Ofsted may not be happy with the situation. It's risky. It's not an ideal situation to be having children in the car for such long periods.