what would you do

[franyfroo]

I have been speaking to other minders and lots of them charge for their holidays. I am intending to charge all new clients for one week at christmas. would i get away with changing this for existing clients to? i dont charge for any other holidays

If you were the only one locally charging for holidays and others had spaces, then you might struggle to get people.
To charge existing parents, you would have to introduce this charge at the next contract review for each of them and they'd have to sign for it.
When it comes to actually paying you the money, don't be surprized if parents make a fuss. They only look at the money side of things. They are having to shell out for you to "go-swanning-off at their expense" (direct quote from a parent) and yet they then have to also find and pay for someone else to look after their child. You can smooth the way around this by making a big point of it when you do the contracts, reminding them frequently in the months leading up to Christmas and doing the legwork for them and finding another childminder who has space to take them whilst you are on holiday.
You do very valuable work, you do deserve to be treated as equally in the workplace as the parents are with their 4-5 weeks paid holiday. But it seems it is always an occassion for tact and don't let them make you beg for your money. But if it all becomes a little scarey or seems to be putting off parents, the other thing to do is work out how much money the Christmas week is, divide that by 51 and charge them that much extra each week in higher hourly rates. This way you still get your money and they wont see it as having to pay for something that is unavailable.