Not doing well over here!

[CLL]

Perhaps I am being too generous then! Do you know what nurseries do? I am assuming they charge when child is on holiday? How much notice do you ask the parent gives you for their holiday? And what would happen if they didn't give you the required notice?

I charge full fee for child's holiday so I don't require any notice.

[tess1981]

I have a lower price £120 a week - Parents can use the full 5 days a week from open 8am until close 5.30pm and include all food/drinks... i do not work longer than this or before this and it has worked well... but back to the point, because i have a lower fee all year i charge 52 weeks of the year (unless i am ill or have a wedding etc to go to)

if a parent stands and argues about it i would suggest I am not the childminder she needs and suggest someone else.I dont want to work with someone who is going to dictate my business to me anyway

[tess1981]

also as CLL pointed out i dont need notice for child/parent holidays or days off... just let me know when they can

[christine84]

Hi itsybitsyteeny,
Yes I do have one full timer now. I'm still hoping for more soon. But I'm 37weeks pregnant now so cant even cope with another.

[joannes]

I'm about to start the registration process for child minding but my son's nursery charge full price but give us 2 weeks a year half price as long as we let them know which weeks we want in advance. If it also falls on his days, xmas and new year he got a day in lieu so he could take it another day. My opinion is if you allow holiday reductions you'd need to stipulate how many weeks holiday or they might take the micky and leave you with little/no income for several weeks a year x

[bunyip]

If you have seen a few of my posts you will know that I only just got registered in May. I paid a further £20 this month on childcare site as there was a parent on there I thought might be interested. I sent her a message and we got into a dialogue and I was asked what I charge when they are on holiday. I said I charge half my rate when a child is on holiday as I can't mind another child for a short amount of time.

Well I'm now wondering if this was a mistake as I haven't heard back since! I decided I would charge half rate for a child being away on holiday because I had seen other posts where a client might take advantage of gran being off work (for example) and so taking the child to gran for a free week of care. What do you all think?

Can I just put the holiday charge issue to one side for a moment, and make a few general points?

Be confident, and don't start thinking that a rejection is an indication that you're 'wrong'.

I wouldn't actually assume that a single issue ever causes a parent to go elsewhere. That rarely seems to be the case. Parents don't often say or even know what put them off (if, indeed, anything did - they maybe just decided to use a nursery or got a 'feel' for a different CM; or that job offer/extra hours at work never materialised, and they couldn't have the decency to get back to you .)

Even if I knew for certain that a potential client rejected me for a particular reason, I would not automatically take that as a cue for changing how I operate. Different people like or accept different things. I know some parents like the way I play with their lo when they come for an enquiry visit. I fully expect that others think, "why the h3ll is he playing with my child when I want him to pay full attention to our conversation?" There probably is no 'right' or 'wrong' way - just different ways, different people.

If I changed the way I do things at every rejection, I'd be spinning like a top.