Under 5 starting pre school

[Bekstar]

Hi

I look after a child 3 full days a week, he currently goes to local pre school nursery for 3 hrs 3 afternoons but dad wants to increase the hours to 2 full days but with me still taking and collecting, and then having him full days in holidays.
This is where I'm confused, I can't charge for a full day surely only having him 2-3 hrs but he's still in my under 5 ratio so I can't really fill a day as he'd be there before and after and in the holidays I'd have to many under 5s :-(

Help please
Becky x

[lilac_dragon]

You've answered it yourself - he's occupying a full time space and you can't fill it and still have him in holidays or school closures - so you charge for that day.

Very few childminders don't charge.
You're not being mean or selfish - you're running a business.

[lynncjt]

I charge full days - I can't fill the space for the time they're not with me!

[bunyip]

Hi

I look after a child 3 full days a week, he currently goes to local pre school nursery for 3 hrs 3 afternoons but dad wants to increase the hours to 2 full days but with me still taking and collecting, and then having him full days in holidays.
This is where I'm confused, I can't charge for a full day surely only having him 2-3 hrs but he's still in my under 5 ratio so I can't really fill a day as he'd be there before and after and in the holidays I'd have to many under 5s :-(

Help please
Becky x

I can see the dilemma. On the one hand he's taking up an Early Years place, which means a loss of potential earnings. But OTOH you're only really doing a school-run type of job, so it could be hard to convince dad that he should pay more than a schoolie would. Hmm, tricky.

The "loss of earnings" argument is sometimes a difficult one. I can have 3 full time EY children and 3 schoolies under 8yo. But if I had 4 schoolies under 8yo, then I'd only be able to have 2 full time EY children. So do I tell the parents of schoolie number 4 that they've stopped me earning a full day's pay and so they'll have to pay for it?

In your case, I can see how you might be entitled to ask for a full day's pay, but since all CM contracts are freely negotiated that's not to say the parent will see the reasoning and agree to it.

IIWY, I'd probably be prepared to accept a 'before and after school'-type fee. But at the same time, I wouldn't stop looking for more work and be within my rights to give notice if dad wasn't prepared to budge on the fee.

Above all, I'd be wanting to know the underlying reason why dad wants the little chap to spend more time at pre-school nursery and less at mine. If this is about funded preschool-nursery hours, then there's little likelihood in you being able to charge for the full day. If dad thinks nursery is better than you are, then you need a meeting to find out what's got into his head. If he won't say, then there's the beginnings of a breakdown in confidence that I'd be seriously concerned about if it were me.

[jennie1312]

bunyip has said the same as i would of said. You need to arrange to talk to the parents and find out the reason why dad wants the child to go to pre-school instead of you, and then talk through how he is still using an ey place and you can not fill it so will need to still charge for it. good luck, let us know how it went.

[dette]

on the days where LO is only before and after you could charge an enhanced rate for those hours,alot of minders do for schoolies and you could say LO falls into that group on those days.that would go a small way to bridging the financial gap

[louise88]

Hi

I look after a child 3 full days a week, he currently goes to local pre school nursery for 3 hrs 3 afternoons but dad wants to increase the hours to 2 full days but with me still taking and collecting, and then having him full days in holidays.
This is where I'm confused, I can't charge for a full day surely only having him 2-3 hrs but he's still in my under 5 ratio so I can't really fill a day as he'd be there before and after and in the holidays I'd have to many under 5s :-(

Help please
Becky x

You could just charge half your hourly rate for preschoolers. If the parents question this you just need to explain that they're still occupying 1 of ur spaces even though the child is at pre school. I'm sure they'd understand! Good luck :-)