Help Me Process This Situation And Figure Out What I Want To Do

[Indoorvoice]

I'm only caring for 2 families right now. One will be aging out at the end of this summer and will not be with me next school year. The other is a teacher family and is having a baby this summer who will start with me in the fall. I will only have enough spots open for the teacher family in the fall because of my kids and her new baby.

I haven't been charging the teacher family for summers. The other aging out family only has one child with me so I'm not sure it will be worth it to stay open all summer for just one child so I was thinking of letting her go at the end of the school year. This is the first year I have only had 2 families in my daycare. In my area, I think it will be hard to fill those spots just for the summer and I'm not set up for school agers.

I know I shouldn't hold spots, but I love the teacher family and their schedule and was looking forward to only caring for them next school year.

With them never having to pay for the summer before I'm not sure I'm feeling right asking them to pay for this summer. If I don't ask them to, I'll have to stay open for just my one dck aging out and they take advantage of sending all day every day whether they need it or not. It just sounds like a long summer.

Any thoughts to help me work through this? I just keep going back and forth and my mind and not coming to any good conclusions.

[finsup]

Would raising rates on both families, enough so that it would cover a summer with no income be a possibility?

See if aging out family would be willing to drop to part time? If that's affordable.

Hmm...Pick up an evening or weekend job a few times a week until summer and set that money aside to cover no income in the summer?

Could dcm who's having a baby do part time in the summer with their old kiddo? Maybe she would like a break and on one on time with the baby?

[daycarediva]

Can you advertise now for a SA space? Set money aside now to cover the summer? I would NOT want to work all summer for one child. I would even get a PT job waiting tables on Friday or Saturday nights to make up the monetary difference if need be.

[midaycare]

Can you advertise now for a SA space? Set money aside now to cover the summer? I would NOT want to work all summer for one child. I would even get a PT job waiting tables on Friday or Saturday nights to make up the monetary difference if need be.

Yes to this! Then again, I always loved waiting tables in high school and college...

[Pestle]

I might offer shorter summer hours, take a two-week vacation, open myself to drop-in care, and use the easier pace to write a novel/knit an afghan/do a major re-landscaping of my lawn/some other thing that can be done while watching just one child.

[Play Care]

I mostly had one child last summer and it was a PITA. I couldn't really get much done because I was IT (my own kids are older and not here during the day) I was bored

Not looking forward to it for this summer

[DaycareDays126]

I know it's uncomfortable, but I was just in a similar situation and I decided I had to bite the bullet and tell the teacher family they had 2 choices...pay their regular rate during the summer and be able to bring their children their normal hours throughout the summer OR they could remove their children from my program and could sign back up in the fall but I could not guarantee their spots would still be open. Switching my policy to everyone paying the same amount 50 weeks out of the year (minus my 2 week vacation) has made it so much easier on ME and that's who I have to look out for regardless of how I feel about the families.

[childcaremom]

I would term the one family and have the summer off with my own kids. I would get a non-refundable deposit from the teacher family to guarantee that she will return.

Then I would enjoy the summer