what do you do about holidays?

[kindredspirits]

hi everyone,
another stupid question i know - but as i've mentioned before my registration is due in a few weeks so i'd like to start working as soon as possible... however, we have a holiday booked for a week in october - (ibiza - i can't wait!!) i know i don't charge for the time i'm on holiday, and obviously as i know the dates i'll tell parents as soon as they enquire - but should i find another minder to recommend for that week or is that something i leave to the parent??
what do you do about holidays?

thanks anna x

[sarah707]

I used to recommend another minder but I don't any more... lots of reasons really...

Once the minder I recommended let the parent down badly while I was away...

Another time the parent decided to keep her child at that minder because she made friends with a little girl there...

Another time the parent complained for weeks about everything and the hassle just wasn't worth it!


Nowadays I just give them as much advance warning as possible and refuse to feel guilty about taking a break!

[sarah32]

I give my parents dates of my holiday for year ahead. The holiday I had in May they knew I was taking in January and they all planned a holiday on the same week.

[chels55]

I charge half fees for my holidays.
just give parents as much notice as possible they can arrange alternative childcare

[haribo]

i dont work school hols so i this isnt really a problem for me as i take my holidays then but i have in the past took a week off , i gave plenty of notice, spoke to a couple of minders i know and asked if they had vacancies, and gave mum their numbers so she could make the choice. now tho i have a good c. minder friend and we tend to pass work between us so would prob recomend her.if you dont know any c.minders yet you could speak to your c.minding co.ordinator and see if she can find someone to cover.

[Blaze]

I don't recommend anyone else full stop...the most i will do is print out a list of minders from the local CIS website.

[manjay]

No use me recommending anyone else as the other two minders in my village are full. I warn parents at the outset that I will take holidays and then give them as much notice as possible.

[ajs]

i have just written a note to all of my parents telling them i'm having the last 2 weeks of august off and if they want help with finding someone to just ask and i'll see what i can do
i'll probably just print the list too and leave it to them to sort

[miffy]

I work closely with two other minders in my village and wherever possible they cover for me when I'm on holiday and I do the same for them.

We've worked this way for a long time and it's never caused any hassle but I think I've been lucky.

It isn't up to you to find cover for your holidays so don't worry about it - just make sure that you give parents as much notice as possible

miffy xx