Hello, I'm a childminder. i was just wondering how many of you 'swap' days if a parent sometimes wants you to ?

[swapping]

I know I'm not obliged to and that eg if the parent asks me to do the monday next week instead of the Friday then then that's a perk for me as I can still charge for the Friday as that's a contracted day. The parents just don't seem to 'get it' though and take it for granted that I'll just swap days.

I only do after school so it's a matter of £20 or so but still...

The same parent has cut one of my days from Sept so every penny counts.

I suppose the thing is that it actually makes no difference to me if they swap days sometimes, I just don't like it when they assume I will.

What do you do ??

Hang on, if you're still charging for the Friday, then it's not a SWAPPED day, but an additional day, isn't it?

I think swapping days occasionally is fine, if you have parents who are lovely and don't take the piss.

My CM has occasionally swapped days, but then I've also changed days for her because it enabled her to take on a new (badly needed) client.

However ADDITIONAL days are extra revenue (regardless of whether they don't come for the other day - you're still getting paid for it). If you are available, and free to take on another child for an additional day I can't see how that is a favour in the same way as swapping days.

Course if they get snarky because you say no then that's different .....

But a swapped day is an additional day too. The Friday is a contracted day but if they don't want to use it then that's up to them. They are lovely parents but I'm a very lovely cm . I don't want to seem greedy but the fact is I don't 'have' to swap days.

If occasional and you can accomdate numbers wise then I see no harm. You may want the favour returning at some point if you need to go to an appointment etc. Far better to have a good relationship that works both ways rather than not be flexible as they may change childcare providers in future due to this.

See to me a 'swapped' day would mean that they don't pay you any extra, that instead of the Friday, you have the child on the Monday. An additional day would mean that you have the child on Monday in addition to the Friday (regardless of whether the child turns up on Friday or not), so get paid for an additional day. You don't have to do it, but it seems much less like a favour, to me, but more like 'overtime'.

As I said - MY CM has swapped days for me, but then I have also swapped days for her. In her case she is had been looking for work on those days, and had her own DC anyway, so was still on 'childcare duty' as it were. I can't see the problem with being flexible in these cases. She has also done 'additional' days for me (and babysat).

If I have a space and it's convenient then I'm happy to swap days.

I wouldn't charge extra though, I'd just use the money for the original day to pay for the swapped day.

Yes , they use the word 'swap' meaning not using the contracted day and having a different day instead, ie not paying for the contracted day.

What I'm saying is that I want them to pay for the contracted day but if they don't want to use it for whatever reason they still need to pay for it even if they use a different day instead. The fact that I can offer a different day instead is a favour.

It's the same surely as them having to pay for not using a day if their child is ill, which obviously they do. I have a very good relationship with all my parents, I just want a short and concise way of saying that swapped days=additional days.

I say in my policies that contracted days need to be paid for, even if they are not used for whatever reason (illness of the child or the parent, family days out etc) but that I may be able to offer additional sessions at extra cost and subject to my other commitments. In practice, if parents with whom I have a good relationship wanted to swap days and I could do it without undue inconvenience I would probably let them without charging extra but remind them politely that it was a favour and not an entitlement.

I did recently say I would have to charge when someone wanted to swap days and that meant I was working on what would have been my day off. The parent then actually complained because they said I had not charged before in what they considered comparable circumstances (that will teach me to be nice!)

I'd make it dead simple. A 'swapped' day is them not wanting to use X day but want to use Y day instead - this you have to be happy about and agree to. If you aren't happy to 'swap' then they can ask for an 'adhoc extra' day which is charged as an additional day. Again you only agree to that if you want to. It's dead easy for me as I'm mostly booked up so couldn't just 'swap' due to the number of children on that other day. I'd happily swap days with parents if they weren't p* takers but I do know the sort who take things for granted and therefore understand you not wanting to give in every time. I had a new mindee start today and we had a schedule of days building up to full contract at the end of the month. I was informed that they wouldn't be coming on a certain day next week that was booked, as someone was taking them out for the day. I agreed to swap the day to another day as I was able to. Had I been full, they'd have just had to pay and loose the day as that's beyond my control. I like to help where I can and I like to think they'd help me out too if I needed it.

i dont swap, cant, have full time rigid days with an ofsted variation so set in stone who comes when, and thats fine by me.

if they arnt using the contracted day and you cant 'swap' them to another then thats their tough luck that suits you then of course they have to pay you.

last sentance wonks.. tired sorry.. if you cant swap them to suit you then they should pay for the service they booked but didnt require, its not a dating service is it..

Yes I'll swap if I've the space, and the parents aren't taking the mickey.
Likewise, if I have something come up then a couple of my parents are flexible enough to switch things around for me too.
Swings and roundabouts and respect.