Negotiating with nursery

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Anyone had any experience of negotiating with a nursery - my DS is signed up for 5 days a week from August - but my in-laws have stepped in and said that they could have him every other Friday - I would love him to spend the day with his grandparents - would save me a bit of money but more importantly he would get some valuable family time regularly, but as far as I am aware you pay for the day - is this right? Has anyone had any success negotiating such a thing as every other etc? I'd appreciate any insight or experience before I hVe the conversation with them! Thanks x

I'd say it's highly unlikely they'd let you not pay for every other Friday, as it's not like they'd have another child there instead just those days.

So while there is effectively a space on those days as your child isn't there, they can't fill it.

You can always ask though!

From what I see on here constantly and having experienced it myself Grandparents can be extremely unreliable! Everything starts off fine but in time it fizzles and causes problems. I would keep him in nursery and allow the grandparents to pick up from nursery, give dinner, go for a walk etc.

Nursery won't be able to pay the staff less on the day you don't attend, so you will have to pay I'm afraid.

You could drop down to 5 days and hope you can put him in as an extra on the days he isn’t with his gps but if they become full you won’t be able to do that
Full time normally means a discount so it might be cheaper to just pay for full time but let the gps have him on the days they want instead of trying to negotiate a reduced price
I work in a nursery and we wouldn’t agree to your request

Drop down to 4 not 5!

There’s no harm in asking, but I’d ask more in hope than expectation.

I have a child once a fortnight, but I know of no nurseries or preschools that would do anything similar, for reasons already given by previous posts.

Also, IME grandparents can be unreliable over time when it comes to childcare. They often start out with good intentions, only to find it more of a commitment than they wanted. They frequently fail to understand they can’t just drop or swap a day for their holidays, appointments, etc.

I’m not saying every grandparent is like this, but I see a lot of this.

If you want a place on a Friday you need to pay for that place.

I'd just keep the 5 day place. You're probably only paying a fraction more for a 5 day place that you would for 4 and theres no way a nursery can fill a '1 day a fortnight slot'. Also it gives the grandparents some flexibility in that if a drs / hospital appt comes up or a holiday, meaning they cant spend the day with your child, you still have childcare and can go to work.

They're a business and won't work like this. Either you want Fridays or you don't. They won't be able to fill the alternate Friday space so will loose out on money. No childcare provider will work like this so you're just have to pay and sacrifice the days you won't want. On the flip side what happens on the rare occasion your parents are ill or on holiday them you will have a nursery space to send them too and won't have to worry about childcare cover.

I asked mine about the possibility of an extra day ever 2 weeks on an adhoc basis. They would have done it as there was one spare place but if someone wanted it full time I’d have had to decide to pay full time or give up the place. Didn’t do it in the end so it might be possible but you don’t know how long it would last for.

They won't do this because they'll lose a full day's pay every fortnight as it's highly unlikely another parent will want the spare session. You'll have to either pay for 4 or 5 days.

My dd used to go for just Friday morning every other week and a full Friday on the other week. I paid for 1 1/2 days a Fortnight.

However they did say that if someone wanted the full Friday they would get priority. Also as she didn't go any other days she wasn't effectively leaving only one day I booked, she was the one filling in gaps if that makes sense.

It can't hurt to ask but in your position I would put her in full time and let the grandparents collect her ad hoc when suited them.

Of course they won’t give you every other Friday on a contract! How could they sell that empty place every other week?

You can either pay for it and he doesn’t go.

Ask them to have him every Friday and cancel his day.

Our nursery did offer this. But do you get any discount for full time?

I'd put your child in for 5 days as you will have to pay for it and it is good for children to have a set routine when it comes to daycare. They will also end up with enough days when they are too poorly and nursery won't let them stay there for the day, so you might well need the grandparents help more regularly than you think... especially for the first few months when they catch everything!

You also need to factor in what you will do when in laws are on holiday or sick etc. If you keep paying for the full 5 days you have the space as back up.

My nursery would have but that was only because they had more than one nursery and staff were expected to move around as required, staff were not on full time contracts