Holidays etc what do i charge? [blush]

[Lauraschildcare]

Hi all, Morning peeps.

Just wondering what the "norm" is regarding holidays...

My holidays -
Parents holidays -
Bank Holidays -
Food -
Trips out -
and any other charges you can think of

i dont want to seem like i am charging for everything and fleecing them, but i still have to treat this as my business and need to make money... my ncma worker said for me to charge £1 a meal, and then i suggested if i were to do that then i'll pay for trips out and snacks (e.g. fruit, juice, biscuits) no charge.

Thanks all.

I think you should include trips out and food in your hourly fees. Otherwise parents may feel you are nickle and diming (or whatever the equivalent British expression is) them. I think you should charge a standard eight hour day (or less if mindee normally comes for less than 8 hours) for bank holidays and parents holidays. You should not charge at all for your holidays.

Also, regarding food, if it's baby food then the parents should probably bring that but not expect a discount. When I used a childminder she said when my DD was old enough that she would eat what her kids ate then she would provide it, until then I needed to bring bottles/formula/babyfood.

Hi Uwila,

Thanks for reply. What if i add food into price and then a mother turns up and says will you put your prices down if i bring the food for child.

I dont think im going to enjoy the money talk much with parents :)

Hi there. Will are all different but this is what I do:

No charge for my hols (NCMA recommend 4 weeks paid though)
Full charge for parents hols
Bank Hols - I charge normal rate if not used and double if they use me (if not available to work at all then you shouldn't charge really)
Food - at the moment I only charge £1.50 for a cooked evening meal but I think I will be changing this i.e. small charge for breakfast, lunch but still no charge for snacks and drinks
Trips out - I pay for toddler groups etc. and basically anywhere we go HOWEVER I will also be rethinking this soon as it's putting me off doing regular more expensive activities because I just can't afford it for all of them. I do however have one parent who straight away asked if I could take mindee swimming, soft play etc and she'd pay!
I have late payment and late collection/early drop off fees too (more to put people off taking the mick!)

HTH :)

p.s. I hate money talk too!! :)

Looneytune, thanks!

that does sound like what i would do actually.

My partner said i was mad getting them to pay for me being on hols, but as i see it, i cant mind their child so they not only have to find another minder (unless we have the same time off) and also pay me.

Say we do both manage to arrange our holidays at the same time, would i charge then? probably not i guess.

I've not had any of my own hols yet so hard to say. I did once get a week off as a couple of parents had the same week off but I still charged as I couldn't afford the time off, was just nice to have a break - if I had decided I wanted a week off then tried to arrange with all parents then it may have been different?

Got to go now but you'll get lots more responses later I'm sure :)

Morning Jura

Yeah thats what i think im going to do. I will charge if they go but not if i go. If we coincide then no charge i think. reasonable?

Its all a bit of a fuss! lol

do's and dont's of childminding.

Just a quick question, did you pay your cm extra for food and trips etc :)

Right I pay the following:

4 weeks at half price for CM's holidays
4 weeks at half price for our holidays (in effect will work out same as what you plan)
no extra charges for anything else - trips, meals etc. Although because DS is at school the only meal he has is lunch in the holidays.

I used a childminder, who I absolutly loved, and would have jumped through hoops for her, so may be biaised BUT, she charged for 4 weeks holiday a year, and I paid and thought it was totally fair. We took our holidays at the same time and it was no issue. She gave us loads of warning....

If she was ill there was no charge. As regards food, I supplied all baby food, and once he was old enough, he ate with everyone else, no charge. All activities FOC too.

Haven't really got any points of view as regards above, just thought it might be useful to know what others were up to....

here is what i do!

My hols full pay
Parents hols full pay
Bank hols - full pay if the child comes or not
food - all included in hourly rate
trips out-all included in hourly rate

No parents have ever had a problem paying for my hols - but it does tend to be the norm around here!

Christmas Eve to New Years Day inclusive - £1/2 fees
Good Friday, Easter monday plus 4 days - £1/2 fees
My holidays - £no charge
Parents holidays - £full fees
Bank Holidays - termtime contracts - £full fees on a contracted day in a school week, £half fees on a contracted day if attending all year.
Food - £1.25 breakfast, £1.40 lunch, £1.80 evening dinner. Snacks £free
Trips out - regular toddlers etc no charge. anything parent asks me to go to parent pays 40p per mile plus admission fees. If I plan a trip (eg play centre, swimming, zoo etc) I provide an outing permission slip that tell the parents cost (admission fees & transport, I usually provide lunch). If anyone declines to pay we don't go or i go when their child isn't present.

Picking up/dropping off anywhere I can't reach on foot - parent pays bus fare or 40p per mile for round trip.

My holidays - no charge
Parents holidays - half fee
Bank holidays - no charge
Meals - supplied by parents
Snacks - no charge (I supply)
Activities/trips - no charge

Even if I do an "very expensive" trip out, perhaps to the theatre trip or safari park, I still cover the cost of this. Basically, the parents are often paying me thousands over the years, and I reckon that the odd "very expensive" trip is something I can afford to do. It means that all the parents love me more!!