How often does your provider raise her rates? I ask because I've been a family child care provider for 5 years now and I've never changed my rates. I'm looking to do just that in the next couple of months. Other providers, chime in here also--how often do you change your rates? TIA

By Yjja123 on Friday, June 18, 2004 - 12:33 pm:

I watched for 6 years without changing my rates.
Then I started being taken advantage of. She normally had me watch 5 days and I charged per day. She started working longer days (getting her hours in 3 days instead of 5!) So I decided it was time to put a stop to that.
I watch 2 kids. I used to charge $160 for 2 kids for 5 days ($32 per day/$17 per child).
I now charge $50 per day for first two days and each day after that is $20. This way I still make decent money and if she only works 3 days I make $120 as opposed to $96.
At first she was annoyed but she got over it. Not too many other baby-sitters will watch her hours and on the occasional weekend. She is a nurse so her hours can be crazy.
Good luck!
Yvonne

By Cat on Friday, June 18, 2004 - 12:46 pm:

I have a mom that's a nurse, too. She works 3 12 hour shifts a week. She has one little boy that just turned two last week and I've been watching him since he was 7 months old. Depending on her dh's schedule, I have this little guy anywhere between 6-14 hours a day. Like yesterday and today I had/have him from 6am-8pm. On Sunday I have him from 6am-2pm (dad works nights and gets off Sunday morning--I keep him while dad gets some sleep). The rate changes won't effect this family, though. They have different rates for different days (week days vs week ends, short days, long days, etc.). This little guy has become one of the family. I have a lot of families that will be changing their schedules this summer and their kids will only be here part time instead of full time. Dh thinks I need to drop everyone and only take full time kids. I like providing a service to parents that need part time care (which is very hard to find), but hate what that does to my income. It's hard to budget when I don't have something steady going on. Thanx for replying.

By Mommmie on Friday, June 18, 2004 - 03:36 pm:

The centers do it yearly each Sept and I would think you should too!

By Cat on Friday, June 18, 2004 - 08:27 pm:

I wondered how centers did this. I'm not talking a huge change. Just about $5 a week. I do know some providers that give themselves a 5% raise every January 1st. I'd think that would get confusing! After a few years you're going to end up with some interesting weekly rates! I guess I'll need to type something up and see how my daycare parents react. Thanx!

By Emily7 on Friday, June 18, 2004 - 08:33 pm:

Okay so I am watching my 2 nephews 3 days a week. From 9:30 to 5:00 (usually later though), my sister supplies some but not all of the food. I am being paid $20.00 a day, am I being taken advantage of or is it different because she is family? We never discussed payment, she just gave me a check today & asked if it was okay.

By Mommmie on Friday, June 18, 2004 - 08:40 pm:

Our church run center just puts out a notice at the beginning of the summer notifying parents of the rate increase effective Sept. 1 (that's when there's a lot of kids coming and going). They bill monthly rather than weekly and it's usually $5-20 increase a month. The school-agers' rate has remained the same, however, for quite some time. I believe it was in our original contract that there would be yearly rate changes.

Now this Sept. 1 they are making a big jump (ie toddlers going from $525/month to $700/month) so they announced it back in April so parents could make changes if they needed to. The school called around to the other church-run daycares (whose rates are higher than the for-profit chain centers) and discovered their rates were way under the competition, so they raised them to be line with the other church daycares in the area.

From what I hear they are not losing kids over it. They increased the number of teachers to make the ratios better also.

I'm sure you deserve a raise!

By Yjja123 on Friday, June 18, 2004 - 09:24 pm:

When I changed my rates I sent home a letter. It stated effective (2 weeks from the date of letter) there will be a change in the weekly rate.
I would write yours to state a $1 day increase (if you said $5 a week) just so it looks/feels less to them. Not that $5 is much of an increase anyway. Just type if up official (like the contract I assume you had to begin with?) and give it a start date. This allows them advance notice and if they are not going to be willing to pay it they will likely tell you right away--then perhaps you can negotiate. Most parents would rather pay a bit more than uproot their child from a loved and respected baby-sitter.
Good Luck!
Yvonne

By Yjja123 on Friday, June 18, 2004 - 09:28 pm:

Emily7
I think that is very low but it depends on how YOU feel. It gets tricky when you are watching for family but if she can afford more I would ask her for more. Call around and find out what local child care providers charge (every state is different so possibly that is the going rate where you live? Here it would be $20 PER child a day)
Good Luck!
Yvonne

By Mommmie on Friday, June 18, 2004 - 10:22 pm:

Emily7 - Our daily rate is $25/per kid (this is a church run daycare in Texas).

Honestly, I wouldn't go into the business of providing childcare for either family or friends. Problems always come up.

I don't know if you are being taken advantage of or not. I know some families who think all family-provided care should be free and others who think they should be charged the same as any other kid. Either way, I think the person providing the service should be the one to set the price and it's up to the "customer" to decide whether to use that provider at that price. If you turn the price setting over to the customer they are going to lowball you - of course!

By Cat on Friday, June 18, 2004 - 10:41 pm:

Emily7, $20 a day for two children is rather low. I get that for one child per day(full time, meaning $100 a week over 2yo--part time or drop in is more). She may be thinking that since you're family she can just pay you something so she's not "using" you. My mom and I were talking the other day that if she were to ever end up watching my boys on a regular basis, she wouldn't expect me to pay her the going rate of providers in her area, but I would pay her something. We don't live near her, though, but both my brothers do and their kids spend lots of time with my mom and she never gets paid.

Rates where I am range from $80 a week in the less expensive areas to $175+ a week in the more expensive areas. Our area is about in the high end middle and I charge $100 a week for over 2 and $125 a week for under 2. I'm going to change it to $110 a week for over 2 and $130 a week for under 2. Also, my daily rate (for part time or drop in) is now $25 a day any age. I'm going to make it $30 a day for at least under 2, and maybe all kids. Other providers are telling me to charge more for drop in. Dh also wants me to add something to my contract about full time kids bumping part timers and drop in kids. By August ALL my kids will be part time/drop in. That's part of the reason I need to raise my rates (that and I haven't in 5 years!). I like being able to accomadate these families, but I have bills to pay, too. Shoot, dh would like me to just dump all my part time kids and only take full timers. Honestly, there's only one child I'd rather not loose (the nurse's little guy). The rest I could take or leave. I do really like them all, but I'm not attached, if you kwim. Anyway, I'll get something typed up hopefully some time this weekend and make these changes effective August 1st (gives them a month). Anything anyone doesn't think is fair???

By Dawnk777 on Friday, June 18, 2004 - 11:01 pm:

Wow, I'm glad I don't have to pay for daycare anymore! LOL!

Cat, I think you deserve a raise if you haven't had one in 5 years!

By Feona on Saturday, June 19, 2004 - 06:37 am:

I am not even going to tell you the new york rates.

Okay just for a laugh --

$190 for full time week. 8-6
$8.50 per extra emergency hour

By Cat on Saturday, June 19, 2004 - 10:55 am:

Feona, I knew it was really high in some areas (including NY). I think CA is pretty high, too. There are some centers here that charge about $175 a week for preschool aged children and about $190 a week for infants (under 2). When dh first found out the going rate for child care here (three years ago when we moved here) he was all excited about how much money I could potentially bring in each week (with 6 full time spaces available). I told him it wouldn't cover the bills for the pretty white padded room I'd need to recover on the weekends! lol I do really well with four kids here (not including my own), maybe 5 depending on who they are. Six plus my two is really stressful, though. I can do it once or twice a week, but if I had to do it every day I'd loose my mind.

By Lauram on Saturday, June 19, 2004 - 02:20 pm:

I pay 291 a week for under 3. It goes down to about 205 when he turns 3. YIKES! That's for a center. Luckily I only have one in daycare. That's why we had an aupair last year- it was cheaper than 2 kids in daycare.

By Lauram on Saturday, June 19, 2004 - 02:20 pm:

Oh- and about increases, I paid 185 for that same place 5 years ago for my oldest ds for under 3.