CM's need some reassurance

[leonifay]

ok, i saw a parent about 2 months ago, i dint hear from her untill last night, now she wants to use me and sign a contract.
the problem is, that in the mean time i met with another parent and signed with her, i have space for the 2 children, but it means i would have to be at 3 diffrent nuserys (as i pick up current mindee from nusery), and give them all dinner in a 1 hour block, something i'm not prepaired to do.
whern i told her that i wouldnt be able to look after her dd because of this she said that i shouldnt have signed contracts with anyone else with out checking with her first, and that i had been unprofessional.
she told me she would get back to me within a week and never did, i assumed she had found someone else, especally as the start date we discussed was 3 weeks ago.
am i in the wrong here, have i been unprofessional or is she being a pain in the arse??

You are right. She may never have got back to you. Were you supposed to wait forever?

I tried doing 2 school runs once and it was really stressful. If the first school came out late for some reason, then I would have to phone the second school to let them know I was on the way and could they hold on to the child. I have had countless picnics in fields in between pre school runs with my DD and another child and I won't do it any more. I have advertised that I go to 1 school and 1 pre school and no others.

Hiya,

I have had similar issues, you are not in the wrong here! We offer our services and u til the contract is signed we are under no obligation to proceed, same as the parents aren't under any obligation until they sign with us.

Unfortunatley, there seems to be a lot of people out there that think CM's should sit around and wait for them to decide, as if we don't have mortgages to pay/kids to feed too!

I would send her on her way, she has had plenty of time to sort it out and 2 months with no contact is certainly long enough for anyone to assume they didn't want the space!

Thank god for the nice parents out there that make up for the ones that are pains!

Lisa

She is probbaly just cross at herself as deep down she'll know its her own fault.
Good job you didnt sign with her if she is so unreasonable and quick to point the finger!

Her own fault entirely. She didn't get back to you, she hasn't paid any kind of retainer or completed any kind of paperwork. She's just taking it out on you because she's messed up and missed out. Ignore.

Jeez, she is totally in the wrong. And out of line to call you unprofessional. Any professional with half a brain knows that no deal seled until it is in a written signed contract. Of course you thought she was not coming with 2 months of silence.

She's probably not going to get back to you because she has no ground on which to make any sort of claim.

Also, if I was the other parent, I might not be happy about my kid being ferried around on mutiple school drops offs and then having the meal rushed down them. So, this arrangement is also not fair on your existing mindees.

thankyou so much, i didnt think i was in the wrong, but i started to doubt.

You've not been unprofessional at all, don't doubt yourself. Its ridiculous to expect you to have kept her place when she failed to contact you when she said she would.

I've found it easier since I started giving out application forms. Parents now understand that I am not reserving a place for them until I have their application form and deposit.

ayla99 - great idea about the application forms! rather than hijack this thread am gonna start a new one......