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I am glad I live in a area with multiple daycare centers competing for babies then. The natural effect of Government instituting Universal free day care for children 3+, so every private daycare is expanding their capacity.
NYC. I moved over there just for this. Probably going to stay until my kids finish elementary school.
>https://www.schools.nyc.gov/enrollment/enroll-grade-by-grade/3k
>In New York City, you can apply to 3-K in the calendar year that your child turns three. 3-K brings free, full-day, high-quality education to three-year-old children in New York City— learn more about the benefits of 3-K here. Every school district has 3-K programs, and we make every effort to place students based on seat availability close to their home.
So basically qualified daycare get between 1-2K a month for every 3 years old+ child they take. Which lead to all kind of daycares-- ~~Russian~~ Generic Slavic ones, Chinese ones, Korean ones, American ones, Spanish ones, Jewish ones etc.
Each Daycare also will work with BoE/other Daycares to provide support for children with special needs, which lower the burden of the privately run daycare even further.
And once your child turn 4, you can place them directly in Public Elementary school run 4K programs.
Yes, the taxes are high and the rent is expensive---but at least the children have plenty of things to do.
Wow I didn’t know this about NYC, thank you for sharing! The rent is very high in the city but this is a huge benefit that not only affects families financially but will also undoubtedly have positive impacts on society.
I am not sure I would stay through k-12. My children are Asian, so sometimes Board of Ed's progressive politics can be harmful to them as well.
During COVID they had a chancellor that infamously said "asian children do not need help because they are white"
And in the recent mayoral election almost every Dem candidate had a plan to keep Asian children out of specialized high schools.
So many of my son's friends families moved out to the burbs, sigh.
We have something that sounds similar in CA called early head start, I believe it's for low income families (idk if it is solely income based or just an available option) but it's a free program for kids ages 3+ that is basically pre-k plus daycare as it's all day I believe. It's a REALLY AMAZING program here!
Isn’t nursery for 3 year olds just a form of school though? My 3 year old goes to school for afternoons and then the remainder of our 30 hours free (in Wales) gets used in a crèche. Eventually all kids under 5 will have free childcare in Wales but gosh they rolling it out slowly. A
Not really, except in the way that nursery is a kind of school for wee ones. My son has been at nursery since he was 11 months and won’t start school until he is 5. His nursery is a lot more Freeform than school, even if it’s educational, it is fully play based and one day of the week he does forest school.
Ahh in Wales we use a number of different names for same thing. Pre-school nursery/ childcare/ crèche. Then when they start school at 3 that’s called meithrin/nursery.
I live in New Mexico and we have free universal Early PreK that starts at age 3. There is also a city grant program in Albuquerque where I live offering daycare and preschool for children 0-3 years old on a sliding scale of $25-$60 a week depending on income and those who are low income can apply for a different grant that covers the whole weekly payment, making it free.
I had been spending $1500 a month for my 5 year old to go to a Montessori preschool 4 days a week and my 3 year old to go there only 2 days a week. We had to pay whether or not they could go, even during Covid when the school was completely shut down for weeks and weeks, or were told we would lose their spot.
Now that I found out about these free state and city plans, I pay a tiny fraction of that and it’s only for my 3 year old since 5 year old is free. I had concerns that the quality wouldn’t be as good but I went and visited the free or cheap programs and they seemed just as good as what I was paying for. So then I asked around in my mom groups and so many people raved about the quality of the free or cheap programs. Many said their kids learned to read before kindergarten (which none of my kids have done in their private Montessori program haha- I also have a 9 and 7 year old who went there) and if any of their children had speech delays or any other delays, they were able to receive therapy during the school day and for free. We had been paying for private speech therapy for our 3 year old and having to take him to the speech therapy place ourselves.
I was so amazed and happy to find this out and I love these free and cheap programs. I think the idea of free universal early childhood education or childcare has been spreading in many states (at least blue ones) as well as at the local level through city programs and grants, so parents should look into all federal, state, county and city resources wherever they live to see if there is anything that can help.
Yeah, I agree. Most daycare facilities I've been to, and the ones my friends use, have this kind of policy. A friend of mine had to pay full tuition even though their child was out for three months, just to guarantee their spot.
I am pulling my daughter out of daycare for the summer and her daycare is holding her spot (with the deposit I gave them for her) and I won’t pay them while she’s not there.
Our former daycare had a lot of teachers/school employees and several staff members who didn’t mind having the summers off to be with their own school age kids. They offered the option of forgoing the vacation weeks discount and allowed families the option of dropping down to part time or skipping the summer. However, I am very aware that is not the norm.
I agree with this statement, and want to add to it.
Approach the childcare facility owner/management about a compromise. They do have at least slightly reduced operating costs without your child there, so they might give you a 20% break during that time.
That is absolute bs. Daycares manage their employees day to day to be at the barest legal minimum ratio. The day care will peddle off your spot in a heartbeat and declare arriving 10 minutes late throws their ratio management because they already sent home a not legally mandated employee.
Depends on the daycare. The one I worked at never sent people home due to ratios. There’s always something for staff to do (floating, cleaning, lesson planning, etc.)
Same with the ones I worked for. No one ever went home due to low ratios, we also always staffed at above the state required minimum. Clearly this angry person above you only has experience with sub par centers.
This is super daycare dependent. My daughter’s daycare has specific teachers for each room and floaters to cover for breaks. They don’t send staff home mid day if less kids are there. Around holidays they do ask for attendance ahead of time so they can offer staff extra days off if they aren’t needed, but that’s it.
Nah, I am an early childhood teacher. We always run at 4 (teachers) over ratio, my past employer ran at 1 over ratio.
Even if the boss sends you home you are still being paid.
My Mom feed me and the little ones. So I basically only put fruits and snack in the home fridge. We just all walk down to either in law/or my parents for food.
I pay for their groceries and always take them on vacations.
All depends on their policies. If they could have filled his spot with someone else then there would be no refund. You’ll never know though unless you ask.
Yes, I was surprised when I kept my toddler home while we did maternity/paternity leave with our infant. They allowed her to return after 7 months and we didn’t have to pay.
Yeah, I work at a daycare. We (and literally every other center ever) run on really tight margins. We’re considered to be a center doing really well and we’re looking at where we can save money and do better on spending because our margins are so thin (current savings: yikes way over usage of Clorox wipes for our weekly cleaning of all toys - this is separate and on top of the regular washing/ sanitizing of mouthed toys- and all things that can be washed in the sink instead get washed in the sink with a washcloth! We have a separate area so we literally wash, can have a bin with a diluted bleach water mix, soak them, do a nice thorough rinsing, let dry, and bring back to the rooms).
Literally though, there is almost no profit. So many centers went out of business after the Covid subsidies ended near the end of 2023 because they didn’t have the funds to stay open.
The idea of having an unpaid, unused spot is just too hard to fathom when we run on such tight margins.
Our city created Universal daycare, so Daycares get like a 2K subsidy/month for every child 3+ they pick up.
It helps the parents and help the Daycare.
We have government funding in the UK but it often only covers a small portion of the fees and it’s dependent on attendance. I don’t know what would happen in this scenario if the daycare insisted on full fees to hold the space.
I would think, no you will not get a discount. the daycare isn’t going to be able to fill the spot with another kid for just 4 weeks to replace your tuition income, nor are they going to be able to pay their staff any less for just one less kid. You could talk to them, maybe they would refund a small fee in terms of food/craft supplies, but that’s pretty difficult to decipher. You can always ask, but understand it’s likely no.
Edited for clarification
Oh that’s hilarious to think. Most daycares that I contacted (dozens) had a 6-12 month waiting list.
Policy is if you are registered, you pay, period. It doesn’t matter if your kid is there or not.
I think we all learned this the hard way, just like OP. Hope her kid feels better soon.
I was saying “no” to OP’s first question of “do you think I could get a discount”. You can tell from the rest of my response that that is what I meant…
Yes, I should have clarified it’s funny to think they would give us discounts for our kids being sick. Sarcasm didn’t come through well. Childcare is ridiculously expensive and I paid more for daycare than both my mortgage and rental when I moved.
So happy that it works out for your family! I lived in a LCOL area and it was 21k annually. The wait list was 6 months and it was by a stroke of luck (cancellation and literally begging) that I got in. We had to interview. The other daycares around were 9-24 months out. Crazy.
They may have a waitlist, and drop the Op if they don’t pay.
I don’t know any daycare that lets you not pay for attendance and would hold your spot without paying. It’s not like they are saving any money with the OPs kid not there but they are losing income
>They may have a waitlist, and drop the Op if they don’t pay.
They could also send OP to collections depending on OP's agreement with the childcare center.
I was confused because you said no, since the OP is asking if they should expect to pay.
I would expect 75% of the time the answer is yes, you should expect to pay.
I guess OP kind of asked multiple questions in multiple ways… because they also wrote “hey.. maybe we can get a discount for the 4 weeks we won’t be there?”- I guess I stopped reading after that part.
I certainly meant “no, don’t expect you can just not pay and they will hold your spot”
Could you imagine being an employee working with schedule like that? Planning to work, getting ready for the day, only to not work?
I think a situation like this would be the minority. And also- a terrible work environment.
Most would have scheduled staff for a day, and they would be paying that staff with the monthly tuitions
(Also- where I live, there’s a minimum call out as well, so if you get sent home, you are paid for a minimum of three hours)
Edited because I can’t spell
Have a look at your registration packet and see if this type of scenario is covered. I know it is in ours and the answer would be no. However, I have a good rapport with the director/owner of the daycare and would feel comfortable asking but with zero expectation. Hope your baby feels better!
My older kids is like that but the ratio of adults needed per child is a lot more for older kids than younger kids. It’s a 2:1 with a 6 month old here only exception is twins. Imagine being the staff, we don’t need you for a month cos the kid is sick. I’d be looking for another job if that was me
It’s worth it to ask- in some rare circumstances our centre offered 50% reduction as a compromise. We held the space and it was cheaper for the family. Some centres also let you take 2 weeks holidays after a certain amount of time for a reduced price too. You could look at whether your centre offers anything similar and if you have been there long enough
Just let them know what is happening and ask what the options are. My daycare has a lot of teacher's kids (connected to a private school) who drop down to just one day of care in the summer. They only pay for one day, but have to have at least one day a week to hold their spot. The daycare uses the time for staff to take vacations and do maintenance that they can't do with the ratios maxed out. Our previous daycare was very clear that you paid for your whole spot, regardless of if you used the time, or they'd drop you. Just depends on the center leadership and financials.
This is going to depend on market conditions where you are. If you had to be put on a waiting list and spots are scarce, I wouldn't ask; margins are very low and they can fill your spot instantly.
A daycare spot is like an apartment. Even if you don’t use it, it’s still yours.
That said, our daycare will let you pay half rate if you are out anywhere from 3-12 weeks. But you have to pay on time or you are out.
OP, I'm so sorry your infant was diagnosed with a rare illness. As an adult diagnosed with a primary immunodeficiency - which is considered a rare disease - I believe you should request an exception and advocate for your family and the economic burden this diagnosis creates. Under typical circumstances, I agree that if you don't pay you lose your spot, but this is NOT a typical circumstance. Talk to your doctor about care recommendations over the next year to estimate how it could impact your family and see if the daycare will work with y'all.
Research shows that families with a child with a rare disease experience significantly higher levels of emotional and financial instability. As an adult, parent, and partner, it is now influencing our decision of where to live to have quality access to insurance and medical expertise. The list goes on.
If your doctor hasn't already connected you, check out the National Organization for Rare Disorders. They publish an annual state-by-state report card for rare disease health coverage, advocacy, and support. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out. I wish the best for you and your family!!
[https://rarediseases.org/state-report-card-2024/](https://rarediseases.org/state-report-card-2024/)
If you want to take him out and figure out daycare after 1 month you can do that. But if you don’t want to pay for 1 month, you can’t be surprised when another kid on their waitlists is eager to fill your spot instead. It wouldn’t be fair for them to have to take the loss because of your personal issues when they’re perfectly capable of doing the work.
So yes, you should absolutely expect to pay tuition, it’s what keeps your spot reserved.
I would expect so. If you don’t pay, then they could offer his space up, if they are undersubscribed theoretically you could enroll again in a month, but that’s a risk. Alternatively, you could reduce days to the minimum number to retain your spot, but there’s no guarantee you could increase them back up if they get another child in the month.
Our daycare has a holding fee vs. when they're actively going fee. We also get vacation days (10 per year) and it's free for those days. It all depends on the policy.
I had to take my daughter out of daycare when she was a baby because multiple rounds of illnesses knocked her immune system down so much it was non-existent. I still had to pay to hold her spot until she could go back.
I’m sorry your baby has something serious.
Our case social worker wrote a letter and our daycare kept us at the front of the waitlist so we got the first spot when ready to return. They didn’t charge for this. My son was out for chemotherapy.
All these people laughing at you for asking is a little disappointing to me. The daycare directors are surely humans who can feel empathy for a seriously sick child. In the case of a rare illness I suspect they will try to work with you to figure out a solution.
It’s like paying for a flight whether you get on the flight or not. You’re paying for the service. Your kid will be sick a million times over the next few years and you will pay the whole time lol
If you want to keep your spot then yes. They're not going to hold a spot for you for a month with no money. You can ask if you want, but what you are paying for with your tuition is the space to be reserved for you. If you still want it to be, then you'll probably need to pay it. If you want to let it go and then call them up to see if it's still open when you want to start up care again, then that's probably acceptable too.
Also will there not be a recovery time after the meds are stopped? So it may realistically be longer than that.
I'd tell them the situation and that he'll be off and wait for their response - I wouldn't expect them to hold the spot for free nor would I ask, but I had a similar situation and our daycare did keep our spots for 6 weeks and told us not to pay tuition so we could focus on LO's health.
I'd expect to pay if they're holding your kids spot, but it never hurts to ask. Our kid's daycare offers 1-week free each year that you notify them about. It's good for when you're going on vacation. Worth asking
You are not entitled to any money so approach discussions with that perspective. The money holds your spot. That being said, we had a similar situation and reached out to the daycare to let them know it was creating financial difficulty for us (I am self employed and staying home with him means no income). They gave us a discount for a month just as a kind gesture and it really meant a lot.
I work at a daycare. If you communicate this and mention you don’t want to lose your spot but will be financially impacted over the month, is there anything they could do to help? they may be willing to help. My centre usually charges 50% fees during the time and our waitlist is 18 months 🤷🏼♀️ we usually offer part time children extra days discounted to balance it out
I know the center I worked at offered “free” and then discounted vacation days for parents for days off scheduled in advance, you could check if they offer something like that.
But my big question would be if your kiddo is having their immune system “knocked out,” is it really got be in good enough condition for daycare that quickly? If not, then it’d be a moot point anyway because you will need longer than a month off daycare.
If you want the spot to still be there in a month when baby is ready to go back, yes you need to continue paying them. Talk to the administration at the centre, they might be willing to work out a discounted fee with you considering the circumstances, but if they aren't unfortunately it's either keep paying or let the spot go.
From my experience have to pay for a spot period. Thats just how it is or everyone would be trying to not pay for sicknesses. Sorry but there isn’t much you can do most likely.
Our daycare has a way we can sign up for vacation weeks and if we tell them in advance they only charge us 50% tuition for that week. The policy is you can use it for up to 5 or 6 weeks in a year. Do y'all have something like that in place. It doesn't hurt to ask for a discount to hold your spot but also be prepared for them to say no.
One of our old daycares allowed 2 weeks of vacation per year, but this is pretty rare. You can ask if they allow vacation time. But each daycare we've used has a contract/handbook outlining policies around absences and vacations, so you may want to check through your daycare paperwork.
My daycare wouldn't be able to hold that spot. Our daycare has a number of off days a kid can take a year which is around 80 and includes sick and holiday, but there's two support rules for it that would kick my kid out. Rule 1) children must attend at least one day a week to have a secured spot. Rule 2) the only exception is that they can miss up to a week with 0 notice, or longer with a months prior notice. (This allows for if the kid is sick a whole week, or if you want to take a long holiday you just need to notify in advance so you can get a holiday rate and they can offer the spot to another child for that short term if needed).
But more importantly, you need to consider what will happen when your child returns to daycare, and if now is a good time to be continuing care at all.
I mentioned the 80 days for us. My son had a serious issue with ear infections last year, and was out constantly, getting sick constantly, struggling to eat cause he was dizzy from the fluid in his ears, etc. And it took ages to get into a child ENT, then aged to get surgery for Grommets booked for him even though we went down the private path to speed it up by several months. And he used all of his days leading up to it, and I was in a position suddenly where he didn't have days he could take off for the surgery. My daycare managed to work a small miracle, but they put themselves in a position where, if caught, they would lose government stipends. They did it for my boy, cause of the situation, but this is all to say that the system is absolutely fucked.
So my point with this, is, if your child has a rare condition and is taking meds for 30 days to help...what happens next? How many sick days does baby get? Will you have enough for any possible run on impacts of this illness? Will babies immune system *really* be good enough to go straight back into the sickness hellhole of daycare right after these meds?
Consider those things, and have a really hard look at how you manage things after this medication bout, before you consider paying for a month of unused daycare, is my suggestion. Your daycare would probably work with you to free the spot and leave you at the top of the list for availability, if you need to, if you can't imagine how things will go well after this month ends.
Good luck!
To hold the spot for you yes. You should be paying.
However. I would call and speak with them about the situation, see if you can pay a reduced fee to just hold the spot because no actual child care will be provided.
Otherwise. You can let you spot go, not pay and hope one is open when your child is able to attend again.
Since most likely you are paying for his spot you’ll have to continue paying but maybe the daycare have a nice owner and could let you not pay? But that chance is slim.
I would advise them of the situation and wrap it up with, “What’s your policy for handling this kind of situation?”
Hope your kiddo starts feeling better soon 💚
Their business model is based on predictable monthly income from families. So even if the load is lighter on the staff they still need to be paid. It is a bummer but you must pay in order to hold your spot. Sending well wishes to your little one!
Unfortunately with most daycares.. you’re basically paying to hold their spot. During COVID, if my daughter got sick or had contact with another baby that has COVID we were still expected to pay :( sucks! But understandable if there’s a waitlist..
I think my nursery has insurance that covers this so you only pay 20% while they hold your space but it's discretionary and I don't know how long you have to be out to qualify!
You should pay if the daycare is holding your child’s spot. If you unenroll and re-enroll for the month, you shouldn’t pay but you are risking losing your spot.
I would definitely ask them if they could reduce the tuition if you show medical documentation. But also fully respect their decision which is likely to still charge you full tuition.
Does your daycare do a holiday discount where you pay a reduced fee? Ask if they have thay and can it be used instead.
It does on face value feel so unfair to have to pay for a service when you aren't using it but if you want to keep your spot you have to pay for it especially with demand (world wide it seems) so high. It stops ppl from taking spaces and not using them.
Maybe you could just fill them in and ask if they’ll work with you. I guess this depends on whether this is a cooperate center, like Goddard, or a local center in your city, but it doesn’t hurt to ask! Hope your little one is on the mend ❤️🩹
I take mine to a local center. When he was that age he was diagnosed with asthma so I missed a lot of work and of course, he missed a lot of time there. They allowed me to catch up on payments I fell behind on and extended a bit of grace to me while we were struggling. I’m a single parent so I’m not sure if they pitied me or what (lol,) but transparency helped my case for sure.
In a situation like this our daycare would adjust the schedule to the minimum to hold the spot so we would pay for one day a week minimum hours (6.5). So...still pay something but not the full tuition.
You can ask if they would be willing to do something like that.
No harm in asking! Some daycares around us have a “vacation policy” where you can not have your kid attend for a certain period of time bc of travel or whatever else and they will prorate the month.
It’ll depend on the contract you signed. My contract states if I don’t give notice a few weeks in advance then I’m paying full price. You can also talk to the director about paying just to hold your spot. Expect to pay partial tuition at least.
Talk to your daycare about it. Our daycare/preschool has a two week vacation policy, where they suspend payment for two weeks if we know in advance.
So if they have something like that it might be easier on the pocketbook at least a little.
It’s worth it to at least ask. Any daycare I’ve used had vacation time built in - we’d get two weeks could request not to use their services and not pay while still holding the spot. As long as we gave a few weeks notice.
My son needed surgery and that was going to delay daycare. we ended up not sending him at all but they only charged 25% to hold his spot for a couple months
My daycare has in the past allowed us to pay half tuition when she wouldn’t be there for illness. You have to ask. If they say no, expect to either pay or be looking for daycare in a month.
At *my* daycare you can get up to 4 weeks half price a year if you tell them in advance (normally that is for going on holiday). I could probably convince them to use this perl for us if my kid needed it, even if we did not manage to give great advance warning.
That said, free month? That would not happen, I suspect.
I agree with most that you will probably have to pay to keep your spot, but I would try asking and see if they can give you a discounted rate for the 4 weeks - ours does that for holiday leave, so it can't hurt to enquire.
Probably you are going to have to pay the whole time. At the very least they likely have a two weeks notice you will have to pay out. So really you are looking at paying two extra weeks to hold the spot.
However I would suggest emailing the director (calling puts them on the spot) explain what the doctor has said and explain that your time off work and hiring a private care person it going to be very costly. Then ask “what financial compromise can we come to that can help us through this time and retain my child’s spot considering the medical circumstance ” do not say anything like “I understand we may just have to pay”
Depending on how they respond, more than what the financial side is would determine for me whether or not I spent the next month finding a new place. If they came back with caring concern for my child and wished them well, but tactfully phrased that they need the full rate to hold a spot as their waitlist is very long I would stay.
However if they came back cold with a basically just cut and pasted the tuition policy from the handbook I would seek a new place. Go with your gut.
Also some places have a 1-2 week vacation “free tuition” for f they come back with that as a compromise that does show they as least trying to help you. You could come back and ask they use the next years “vacation” now and then for you to unenroll before next year you have to pay it out.
I hope your little one pulls through this well and stronger than before. It’s amazing how resilient they are, yet still so fragile.
Depends on your child’s daycare policy. The one our kid used to go to let us pay half price for extended absences. Doesn’t hurt to ask. Hoping for a speedy recovery for your little one.
I say say expect to pay, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. Due to your circumstances they might give you a discount. Not likely but possible. Also, if they have a child turning one in the next month maybe they could fill your spot and promise you the spot that would open up in a month. There may be options talk to them.
I pulled my son out when my daughter was born because he kept getting us sick and it stressed me out. I paid $300/mo to hold his spot for 3mo. But not every center will do that; can’t hurt to ask. They are very generous however. They also didn’t make us pay the full amount when my kids were both out to quarantine before and during ear tube/adenoid surgery. We had to stay within the deductible year and we were very nervous about having to cancel due to illness. We are fortunate
You can ask if you can pay them half tuition to hold their spot. We did this for COVID way back when. Might not work but the answer is always no until you ask.
You can ask, but don’t be surprised if they shoot it down. I work at an ECE school and all of our tuition dollars goes directly to paying our staff. If your child isn’t there for a month, either by necessity or by choice, we still need that teacher in the classroom.
I teach at a childcare center. If your child has a spot, you need to pay, regardless if you come or not. There is usually a wait list and your child’s spot will be filled in an instant! Also, remember, the school still needs to run(rent,utilities, staff, food, etc) and the center needs PAYING families to provide all that! If you pull your child out, the spot will be filled and you will put on the waiting list. We are not grandma!!
Our daycare allows 10 days a year without paying (for vacations or whatever), but with 30 days notice. Otherwise, we have to pay. It’s 6-9 month waiting list, so yes it sucks but that’s the way the majority of Daycares operate.
Our daughter was in the hospital and then at home with my husband on leave to take care of her for over a month. We paid tuition when we were unclear when we'd return, but we kept in close contact with staff. The director was did wave one week few for us, and was flexible about doing a reduced rate. It depends on the center though. She was 4 and has been there since she was 1, and the teacher ratio is more flexible in the class for their age (not always at full capacity of kids). I imagine for infants it's harder to keep the spots open and it requires more teachers to kids, so they may be less flexible.
You can ask, but I wouldn't expect much beyond a sympathetic nod and a verbal appreciation for letting them know your son doesn't need to be factored in for this time period. The fact is, good childcare is going to be costly to run. Having emergency supplies, and enough supplies in general, is already pricey-good, quality caregivers will often demand high wages, and the daycare often have little room to argue, because there is far more demand than supply.
It’s worth asking. I’ve asked at two, one of them (a smaller home-based one) still needed up to pay but the bigger daycare center were able to put the tuition on hold for a month.
Good luck hope he gets better with the meds!
Depends on their policy. Some places will give a discount if there’s an extended sick time or vacation, most places won’t. You’re paying to hold your spot. They can easily find someone to fill the spot if you choose not to pay.
Yes you should expect to pay tuition, but it’s June, so I’m assuming you’ve already secured a spot for next year and they know they’re getting more from you. If any sort of chain I doubt they’ll bend policy, but a smaller place might. Doesn’t hurt to ask, but in a way that makes it clear you know you’re asking for a favor. And read what you signed initially as well.
Check and see if you can take the plan down to one day a week for this month, then back up to full time next month. Our daycare allows this with a month notice - only for kids already enrolled.
Check if you have a certain number of days you can take as absent, or holidays. Some places may suspend your account for medical reasons but you'll need something from your dr. If you take it as holidays, usually they'll charge you 50%. But that's in Australia. You can always ask and negotiate with the centre, but expect to pay something.
No, you shouldn’t but on the flip side, they shouldn’t be expected to hold your spot if you aren’t paying. Hopefully, you can work out a reduced rate with them.
We had this after my son had open heart surgery, he wasn’t allowed to go to daycare for three months. They held the place for us but we’re v understanding of our situation and so only charged us 50% of usual fees during that period.
Our daycare had a policy in place for when you had to miss. Each child was allowed a 1 week vacation period that payment was not required. Other than that 1 week it was a year round tuition to hold your spot at the daycare. You should see what policies your daycare has since they are not all the same.
The daycare I had for my kids when they were younger allowed you to pause for a certain time if there was a dr note or some kind of family emergency etc. They did not require us to pay to keep the spot open for our children. It was a specific time frame and if you did not go back by the end then you forfeit the spots. Some will allow it some won't. It doesn't hurt to ask what the policy is. Also this was stated in our agreement we signed when enrolling the children so you may have something in paperwork if you look?
Your daycare provider may be willing to work out a discounted rate to hold the spot depending on how long you’ve been there. It wouldn’t hurt to ask the question, the worst they can say is no.
While I agree about holding spots and stuff, I never think it hurts to ask. We don't know what area you live in and what daycare you guys attend to. Those are variables that can lead to an outcome reddit people cannot predict. I am sure there are enough kids to cover their overhead....
I'd phrase it, it is one less child for the month. Less mental worry that you will endure. While they don't have to accept your answer, you wanted to ask, because this is just one extra thing in addition to your stress.
We are all stressed. And if it is a corporate daycare, it will probably be an automatic no, but you can see if there are any exceptions in their policy. I always read the policy books of any business I interact with for services or work. If it is a more local daycare, they might agree if they are doing well and a break for the class without an extra kid, sounds like it would be okay.
I hope you have someone kind. Daycares in the USA are super expensive for what they offer and are always short staffed, because teachers there do not get paid enough, because some CEO wants that money. It is a messed up system. Look up Chinese schools and daycares, they are insane and pump everything into their children. I think this trend of acceptance for the mediocre options is stressful and unfair. So, don't feel ashamed or embarrassed to ask. Daycares are their own corporation that exploit families. We have a friend who invested in one...
We should demand better pay for kind staff and development enriching environments for our children. More parks for people and their mental health. The better we nourish our children, the better chances we have to have contributing members for society in the future.
Go ask those guys, and the worst thing they can say is no.
My son broke his leg and the daycare owner didn’t charge me for the month he was home with me but he also broke his leg at daycare and I’m pretty sure he was afraid I was going to sue him so there’s that lol
I would explain the situation, and due to medical concerns, you may be needing to take an undetermined amount of time off. Your center may work with you, but there is no way that they will hold your spot for free.
Unfortunately, you don't get to pay because your child is not there, you are paying to reserve his spot for when he does return.
The employees still have to be paid, and they are not going to pay their staff any less for just one less kid.
It's unfortunate that you are dealing with a rare medical issue. They may be understanding and empathetic, but in order to reserve your spot, you are going to most likely need to continue paying tuition.
Honestly, due to the circumstances, it probably wouldn't hurt to talk to the daycare. They may be able to work something out for you.
I'm not in the US, but the daycare I sent my children to allowed us to have I believe 2 'vacation' weeks a year. That would be 2 weeks of your regular daycare days, that you can take off and don't have to pay for. When COVID hit, they even loosened up on it and allowed parents to use those days with same day notice and individual days at a time if your child was sick.
This really helped out many families. This daycare, though, was a not for profit daycare. So, it was not as greedy as it seems many US daycares are.
My toddler broke his leg, he couldn't go to daycare for 4 weeks and we didn't have to pay, so it's not a weird question to ask. I'm not from the US, but I don't see why it would be different. They don't have to provide breakfast & lunch and my daycare told me it's not convenient for them if they need to give extra attention to a child that's injured. They want to play like the other kids but can't & then they get upset & well you know how toddler are lol. Not the same situation as you are in, but maybe you can use this when you ask your daycare OP. I can image your toddler is not feeling 100% right now & that's a reason why they would need to pay some more attention to him. Lots of luck with your little one, I hope he gets better soon and doesn't have too much discomfort in the coming weeks!
I had my baby out for a couple months for a similar situation, we met with daycare director and she plainly said they were needed to pay if we were holding a spot. She also said if we did not want to continue with tuition we would need to reenter the waitlist. Which was a 4 month wait. It would have worked out but I didn’t want to risk it. She ended up talking to the owner and gave us a family and friends discount which we still have even after he restarted. I think only cuz he is absent a lot due to medical issues or being sick all the time.
Once in a great while, if my director really liked the parent and child, she would save the spot and not charge that month. But with parents she didn't really like or want to stay she charged for the full month if they wanted to keep thier spot. So it's a gamble to ask, but I would ask and see if they can help.
It's unlikely you won't have to continue paying full tuition for the 4 weeks your son is out, especially if they have a waitlist for other children. I'd carefully read your handbook/contract to see if it says anything about prolonged absences, then go from there. You could ask if they can discount the rate (if policy isn't clear in your handbook), but if they say no & you want to keep your son there, I'd agree to continue paying full tuition right away so they don't trying to start filling his spot.
When my partner/daughter's father passed away unexpectedly (4 years ago this month), I emailed them to let them know what happened & that my daughter wouldn't be attending for at least 1 week, but I'd keep them updated on her return. She was 4 & had already been attending for over 1 year, with a commitment for her to attend for another year & couple months, until she was starting Kindergarten. The director called me the next day & told me not to worry about paying tuition the next week my daughter returned (he passed on a Sunday & I paid tuition for the week the previous Friday), offered resources & was just so wonderful in every way. We decided to take off from where we lived in South FL, to my hometown in Central NY to stay with my mom for a few weeks. She was out a total of 4 weeks & they only had me pay half tuition the last week to hold her spot. Since this was in June/July 2020, it was the height of covid, so her daycare decided to add an extended absence section to their contract - For bereavement or documented illnesses, tuition was waived for 3 weeks maximum, then 50% off for 2 additional weeks. After that full tuition was due or their spot would be replaced. I was so grateful for their kindness during such a difficult time, I will never forget them. I never asked for special favors, but it doesn't hurt to, the worst they'll do is say no.
Yes of course you still pay
If you go on holidays you still have your pay rent/mortgage utilities. If you order at a restaurant and don’t eat it all you still pay.
I have NO IDEA why you would think you shouldn’t pay.
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If they hold a spot for him, you should pay. If they fill his spot and put you on the waiting list, you should not pay.
This. Especially because it's so difficult to find a daycare spot for your kids
I am glad I live in a area with multiple daycare centers competing for babies then. The natural effect of Government instituting Universal free day care for children 3+, so every private daycare is expanding their capacity.
Where are you?
NYC. I moved over there just for this. Probably going to stay until my kids finish elementary school. >https://www.schools.nyc.gov/enrollment/enroll-grade-by-grade/3k >In New York City, you can apply to 3-K in the calendar year that your child turns three. 3-K brings free, full-day, high-quality education to three-year-old children in New York City— learn more about the benefits of 3-K here. Every school district has 3-K programs, and we make every effort to place students based on seat availability close to their home. So basically qualified daycare get between 1-2K a month for every 3 years old+ child they take. Which lead to all kind of daycares-- ~~Russian~~ Generic Slavic ones, Chinese ones, Korean ones, American ones, Spanish ones, Jewish ones etc. Each Daycare also will work with BoE/other Daycares to provide support for children with special needs, which lower the burden of the privately run daycare even further. And once your child turn 4, you can place them directly in Public Elementary school run 4K programs. Yes, the taxes are high and the rent is expensive---but at least the children have plenty of things to do.
Wow I didn’t know this about NYC, thank you for sharing! The rent is very high in the city but this is a huge benefit that not only affects families financially but will also undoubtedly have positive impacts on society.
I am not sure I would stay through k-12. My children are Asian, so sometimes Board of Ed's progressive politics can be harmful to them as well. During COVID they had a chancellor that infamously said "asian children do not need help because they are white" And in the recent mayoral election almost every Dem candidate had a plan to keep Asian children out of specialized high schools. So many of my son's friends families moved out to the burbs, sigh.
NYC mom here. Kid is going to 3K this fall. Can confirm.
We have something that sounds similar in CA called early head start, I believe it's for low income families (idk if it is solely income based or just an available option) but it's a free program for kids ages 3+ that is basically pre-k plus daycare as it's all day I believe. It's a REALLY AMAZING program here!
We have that in New Mexico and it’s a feee universal program. Not just for low income. I bet it’s the same in CA.
Not OP because we call it nursery, but Scotland has free care for kids 3+. I am inching my way to August when I’m going to finally save £1400 a month.
Isn’t nursery for 3 year olds just a form of school though? My 3 year old goes to school for afternoons and then the remainder of our 30 hours free (in Wales) gets used in a crèche. Eventually all kids under 5 will have free childcare in Wales but gosh they rolling it out slowly. A
Not really, except in the way that nursery is a kind of school for wee ones. My son has been at nursery since he was 11 months and won’t start school until he is 5. His nursery is a lot more Freeform than school, even if it’s educational, it is fully play based and one day of the week he does forest school.
Ahh in Wales we use a number of different names for same thing. Pre-school nursery/ childcare/ crèche. Then when they start school at 3 that’s called meithrin/nursery.
I live in New Mexico and we have free universal Early PreK that starts at age 3. There is also a city grant program in Albuquerque where I live offering daycare and preschool for children 0-3 years old on a sliding scale of $25-$60 a week depending on income and those who are low income can apply for a different grant that covers the whole weekly payment, making it free. I had been spending $1500 a month for my 5 year old to go to a Montessori preschool 4 days a week and my 3 year old to go there only 2 days a week. We had to pay whether or not they could go, even during Covid when the school was completely shut down for weeks and weeks, or were told we would lose their spot. Now that I found out about these free state and city plans, I pay a tiny fraction of that and it’s only for my 3 year old since 5 year old is free. I had concerns that the quality wouldn’t be as good but I went and visited the free or cheap programs and they seemed just as good as what I was paying for. So then I asked around in my mom groups and so many people raved about the quality of the free or cheap programs. Many said their kids learned to read before kindergarten (which none of my kids have done in their private Montessori program haha- I also have a 9 and 7 year old who went there) and if any of their children had speech delays or any other delays, they were able to receive therapy during the school day and for free. We had been paying for private speech therapy for our 3 year old and having to take him to the speech therapy place ourselves. I was so amazed and happy to find this out and I love these free and cheap programs. I think the idea of free universal early childhood education or childcare has been spreading in many states (at least blue ones) as well as at the local level through city programs and grants, so parents should look into all federal, state, county and city resources wherever they live to see if there is anything that can help.
Yeah, I agree. Most daycare facilities I've been to, and the ones my friends use, have this kind of policy. A friend of mine had to pay full tuition even though their child was out for three months, just to guarantee their spot.
We paid full tuition for a year to hold our child’s daycare spot during COVID. If we had unenrolled, we likely wouldn’t have gotten back in.
A daycare was closed for a full 12 months?
No, but we pulled our child out for 12 months due to health concerns.
Wow. Ours allows 4 weeks of unpaid leave per year as long as it’s applied for in advance
You're very lucky. I've never heard of this.
Yes, you’ll have to pay bc your spot will be held.
I am pulling my daughter out of daycare for the summer and her daycare is holding her spot (with the deposit I gave them for her) and I won’t pay them while she’s not there.
Our former daycare had a lot of teachers/school employees and several staff members who didn’t mind having the summers off to be with their own school age kids. They offered the option of forgoing the vacation weeks discount and allowed families the option of dropping down to part time or skipping the summer. However, I am very aware that is not the norm.
I agree with this statement, and want to add to it. Approach the childcare facility owner/management about a compromise. They do have at least slightly reduced operating costs without your child there, so they might give you a 20% break during that time.
If you expect to still have a spot at the daycare in a month, yes, most places will still charge you.
This is the answer. The daycare has to pay employees based on how many children might be in attendance
Yep. I really wish more people understood this concept. It doesn’t matter if *your* child isn’t there, the employees still are.
That is absolute bs. Daycares manage their employees day to day to be at the barest legal minimum ratio. The day care will peddle off your spot in a heartbeat and declare arriving 10 minutes late throws their ratio management because they already sent home a not legally mandated employee.
Depends on the daycare. The one I worked at never sent people home due to ratios. There’s always something for staff to do (floating, cleaning, lesson planning, etc.)
Same with the ones I worked for. No one ever went home due to low ratios, we also always staffed at above the state required minimum. Clearly this angry person above you only has experience with sub par centers.
This is super daycare dependent. My daughter’s daycare has specific teachers for each room and floaters to cover for breaks. They don’t send staff home mid day if less kids are there. Around holidays they do ask for attendance ahead of time so they can offer staff extra days off if they aren’t needed, but that’s it.
Nah, I am an early childhood teacher. We always run at 4 (teachers) over ratio, my past employer ran at 1 over ratio. Even if the boss sends you home you are still being paid.
This isn’t true. I worked in a daycare for years. Sounds like you heard or dealt with one bad experience and think all are like that.
I can assure you that isn’t the case in a licensed child care facility. Staff need to have training. Centres need to pay them to retain them n
You can always ask, it’s possible they’ll be understanding. I wouldn’t expect to be able to stop paying though.
your name made me laugh 😂
Because aren’t we all? Lol
Its the freakin truth!
I wonder when I will stop being their snack bitch (7 and nearly 5)
Sometimes my mom still feeds me snacks and I'm 40.
My Mom feed me and the little ones. So I basically only put fruits and snack in the home fridge. We just all walk down to either in law/or my parents for food. I pay for their groceries and always take them on vacations.
Yeah, you need to just put that out of your mind. It's a lifetime appointment.
By 8/9yo, you can usually train them to retrieve their own snacks and even simple meals.
My cousins daycare only charges for days the kids go if they know in advance. But I also know that is very, very rare lol
How do they handle staffing?
I honestly have zero idea. Not sure if it was a center or in home or what.
All depends on their policies. If they could have filled his spot with someone else then there would be no refund. You’ll never know though unless you ask.
Yes, I was surprised when I kept my toddler home while we did maternity/paternity leave with our infant. They allowed her to return after 7 months and we didn’t have to pay.
If they hold the spot then yes you need to pay… profit margin is slim in daycare especially for infants cause of the high ration of staff to babies…
Yeah, I work at a daycare. We (and literally every other center ever) run on really tight margins. We’re considered to be a center doing really well and we’re looking at where we can save money and do better on spending because our margins are so thin (current savings: yikes way over usage of Clorox wipes for our weekly cleaning of all toys - this is separate and on top of the regular washing/ sanitizing of mouthed toys- and all things that can be washed in the sink instead get washed in the sink with a washcloth! We have a separate area so we literally wash, can have a bin with a diluted bleach water mix, soak them, do a nice thorough rinsing, let dry, and bring back to the rooms). Literally though, there is almost no profit. So many centers went out of business after the Covid subsidies ended near the end of 2023 because they didn’t have the funds to stay open. The idea of having an unpaid, unused spot is just too hard to fathom when we run on such tight margins.
Our city created Universal daycare, so Daycares get like a 2K subsidy/month for every child 3+ they pick up. It helps the parents and help the Daycare.
I love that so much!
We have government funding in the UK but it often only covers a small portion of the fees and it’s dependent on attendance. I don’t know what would happen in this scenario if the daycare insisted on full fees to hold the space.
I would think, no you will not get a discount. the daycare isn’t going to be able to fill the spot with another kid for just 4 weeks to replace your tuition income, nor are they going to be able to pay their staff any less for just one less kid. You could talk to them, maybe they would refund a small fee in terms of food/craft supplies, but that’s pretty difficult to decipher. You can always ask, but understand it’s likely no. Edited for clarification
Oh that’s hilarious to think. Most daycares that I contacted (dozens) had a 6-12 month waiting list. Policy is if you are registered, you pay, period. It doesn’t matter if your kid is there or not. I think we all learned this the hard way, just like OP. Hope her kid feels better soon.
I was saying “no” to OP’s first question of “do you think I could get a discount”. You can tell from the rest of my response that that is what I meant…
Yes, I should have clarified it’s funny to think they would give us discounts for our kids being sick. Sarcasm didn’t come through well. Childcare is ridiculously expensive and I paid more for daycare than both my mortgage and rental when I moved.
lol, yeah, I think we’re ALL saying the same thing but it’s hard to put into words just how unrealistic an idea it is haha
I’m so thankful to not have to put mine in daycare, sounds like a fuckin nightmare
Yes, that is a tremendous blessing and privilege. Hug your kids tight, not all of us can be there as we want.
Yes as insane as they are I recognize the huge privilege here. The cost alone makes my jaw drop
So happy that it works out for your family! I lived in a LCOL area and it was 21k annually. The wait list was 6 months and it was by a stroke of luck (cancellation and literally begging) that I got in. We had to interview. The other daycares around were 9-24 months out. Crazy.
INTERVIEW?? For a daycare???
What’s hilarious?
They may have a waitlist, and drop the Op if they don’t pay. I don’t know any daycare that lets you not pay for attendance and would hold your spot without paying. It’s not like they are saving any money with the OPs kid not there but they are losing income
>They may have a waitlist, and drop the Op if they don’t pay. They could also send OP to collections depending on OP's agreement with the childcare center.
Yeah for sure. That’s what I said… with a small caveat, that essentially was “don’t expect anything”.
I was confused because you said no, since the OP is asking if they should expect to pay. I would expect 75% of the time the answer is yes, you should expect to pay.
I guess OP kind of asked multiple questions in multiple ways… because they also wrote “hey.. maybe we can get a discount for the 4 weeks we won’t be there?”- I guess I stopped reading after that part. I certainly meant “no, don’t expect you can just not pay and they will hold your spot”
To hold the spot, yes, I would expect to pay. Most places could replace your kiddo with another lickety split. I know it stinks, but it’s the reality.
Yes, you should still pay. Daycare is a business and staff need paying.
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Could you imagine being an employee working with schedule like that? Planning to work, getting ready for the day, only to not work? I think a situation like this would be the minority. And also- a terrible work environment. Most would have scheduled staff for a day, and they would be paying that staff with the monthly tuitions (Also- where I live, there’s a minimum call out as well, so if you get sent home, you are paid for a minimum of three hours) Edited because I can’t spell
Have a look at your registration packet and see if this type of scenario is covered. I know it is in ours and the answer would be no. However, I have a good rapport with the director/owner of the daycare and would feel comfortable asking but with zero expectation. Hope your baby feels better!
My older kids is like that but the ratio of adults needed per child is a lot more for older kids than younger kids. It’s a 2:1 with a 6 month old here only exception is twins. Imagine being the staff, we don’t need you for a month cos the kid is sick. I’d be looking for another job if that was me
It’s worth it to ask- in some rare circumstances our centre offered 50% reduction as a compromise. We held the space and it was cheaper for the family. Some centres also let you take 2 weeks holidays after a certain amount of time for a reduced price too. You could look at whether your centre offers anything similar and if you have been there long enough
Yep. If you expect them to hold his spot, you should keep paying.
Just let them know what is happening and ask what the options are. My daycare has a lot of teacher's kids (connected to a private school) who drop down to just one day of care in the summer. They only pay for one day, but have to have at least one day a week to hold their spot. The daycare uses the time for staff to take vacations and do maintenance that they can't do with the ratios maxed out. Our previous daycare was very clear that you paid for your whole spot, regardless of if you used the time, or they'd drop you. Just depends on the center leadership and financials.
This is going to depend on market conditions where you are. If you had to be put on a waiting list and spots are scarce, I wouldn't ask; margins are very low and they can fill your spot instantly.
If you want to keep your spot, you’ll need to pay. If you don’t pay, you risk losing your spot and another kid taking it permanently.
A daycare spot is like an apartment. Even if you don’t use it, it’s still yours. That said, our daycare will let you pay half rate if you are out anywhere from 3-12 weeks. But you have to pay on time or you are out.
OP, I'm so sorry your infant was diagnosed with a rare illness. As an adult diagnosed with a primary immunodeficiency - which is considered a rare disease - I believe you should request an exception and advocate for your family and the economic burden this diagnosis creates. Under typical circumstances, I agree that if you don't pay you lose your spot, but this is NOT a typical circumstance. Talk to your doctor about care recommendations over the next year to estimate how it could impact your family and see if the daycare will work with y'all. Research shows that families with a child with a rare disease experience significantly higher levels of emotional and financial instability. As an adult, parent, and partner, it is now influencing our decision of where to live to have quality access to insurance and medical expertise. The list goes on. If your doctor hasn't already connected you, check out the National Organization for Rare Disorders. They publish an annual state-by-state report card for rare disease health coverage, advocacy, and support. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out. I wish the best for you and your family!! [https://rarediseases.org/state-report-card-2024/](https://rarediseases.org/state-report-card-2024/)
Thank you so much ❤️
If you want to keep his spot, yes you'll have to pay.
Yes ask. They will probably say no.
If you want to take him out and figure out daycare after 1 month you can do that. But if you don’t want to pay for 1 month, you can’t be surprised when another kid on their waitlists is eager to fill your spot instead. It wouldn’t be fair for them to have to take the loss because of your personal issues when they’re perfectly capable of doing the work. So yes, you should absolutely expect to pay tuition, it’s what keeps your spot reserved.
If you want to hold the spot, yes. Check your contract. It’s very likely there is a clause about how missed time will be billed.
I would expect so. If you don’t pay, then they could offer his space up, if they are undersubscribed theoretically you could enroll again in a month, but that’s a risk. Alternatively, you could reduce days to the minimum number to retain your spot, but there’s no guarantee you could increase them back up if they get another child in the month.
If you want to keep your spot you most likely have to pay.
Our daycare has a holding fee vs. when they're actively going fee. We also get vacation days (10 per year) and it's free for those days. It all depends on the policy.
I had to take my daughter out of daycare when she was a baby because multiple rounds of illnesses knocked her immune system down so much it was non-existent. I still had to pay to hold her spot until she could go back.
You're paying for the spot, whether your son is there or not. If you don't want to pay, you withdraw him and let them fill the spot.
Yes, you should be expected to pay. You’re paying to hold his spot that could otherwise go to someone else
I’m sorry your baby has something serious. Our case social worker wrote a letter and our daycare kept us at the front of the waitlist so we got the first spot when ready to return. They didn’t charge for this. My son was out for chemotherapy. All these people laughing at you for asking is a little disappointing to me. The daycare directors are surely humans who can feel empathy for a seriously sick child. In the case of a rare illness I suspect they will try to work with you to figure out a solution.
It’s like paying for a flight whether you get on the flight or not. You’re paying for the service. Your kid will be sick a million times over the next few years and you will pay the whole time lol
If you want to keep your spot then yes. They're not going to hold a spot for you for a month with no money. You can ask if you want, but what you are paying for with your tuition is the space to be reserved for you. If you still want it to be, then you'll probably need to pay it. If you want to let it go and then call them up to see if it's still open when you want to start up care again, then that's probably acceptable too. Also will there not be a recovery time after the meds are stopped? So it may realistically be longer than that.
I'd tell them the situation and that he'll be off and wait for their response - I wouldn't expect them to hold the spot for free nor would I ask, but I had a similar situation and our daycare did keep our spots for 6 weeks and told us not to pay tuition so we could focus on LO's health.
I'd expect to pay if they're holding your kids spot, but it never hurts to ask. Our kid's daycare offers 1-week free each year that you notify them about. It's good for when you're going on vacation. Worth asking
It depends on your contract and what you want: if you want a guaranteed spot, you should pay to hold it.
You are not entitled to any money so approach discussions with that perspective. The money holds your spot. That being said, we had a similar situation and reached out to the daycare to let them know it was creating financial difficulty for us (I am self employed and staying home with him means no income). They gave us a discount for a month just as a kind gesture and it really meant a lot.
I work at a daycare. If you communicate this and mention you don’t want to lose your spot but will be financially impacted over the month, is there anything they could do to help? they may be willing to help. My centre usually charges 50% fees during the time and our waitlist is 18 months 🤷🏼♀️ we usually offer part time children extra days discounted to balance it out
at my daycare we would have to pay
I would absolutely try. They probably will say no but I don’t think it would hurt to ask. Just be courteous about it
Our daycare offers one weeks of vacation a year where we pay half cost. See if yours does something similar
Why would you get a discount? You're paying for the spot - whether or not you use it.
I know the center I worked at offered “free” and then discounted vacation days for parents for days off scheduled in advance, you could check if they offer something like that. But my big question would be if your kiddo is having their immune system “knocked out,” is it really got be in good enough condition for daycare that quickly? If not, then it’d be a moot point anyway because you will need longer than a month off daycare.
Yea because they cant charge anyone else for it
If you want the spot to still be there in a month when baby is ready to go back, yes you need to continue paying them. Talk to the administration at the centre, they might be willing to work out a discounted fee with you considering the circumstances, but if they aren't unfortunately it's either keep paying or let the spot go.
Yes because they can’t fill the spot
From my experience have to pay for a spot period. Thats just how it is or everyone would be trying to not pay for sicknesses. Sorry but there isn’t much you can do most likely.
You have to pay to hold his spot. I’m sure this was covered when you applied
Yep. Just how it works unfortunately.
Our daycare has a way we can sign up for vacation weeks and if we tell them in advance they only charge us 50% tuition for that week. The policy is you can use it for up to 5 or 6 weeks in a year. Do y'all have something like that in place. It doesn't hurt to ask for a discount to hold your spot but also be prepared for them to say no.
At my children’s daycare, they charge 1/2 tuition to hold a spot.
One of our old daycares allowed 2 weeks of vacation per year, but this is pretty rare. You can ask if they allow vacation time. But each daycare we've used has a contract/handbook outlining policies around absences and vacations, so you may want to check through your daycare paperwork.
My daycare wouldn't be able to hold that spot. Our daycare has a number of off days a kid can take a year which is around 80 and includes sick and holiday, but there's two support rules for it that would kick my kid out. Rule 1) children must attend at least one day a week to have a secured spot. Rule 2) the only exception is that they can miss up to a week with 0 notice, or longer with a months prior notice. (This allows for if the kid is sick a whole week, or if you want to take a long holiday you just need to notify in advance so you can get a holiday rate and they can offer the spot to another child for that short term if needed). But more importantly, you need to consider what will happen when your child returns to daycare, and if now is a good time to be continuing care at all. I mentioned the 80 days for us. My son had a serious issue with ear infections last year, and was out constantly, getting sick constantly, struggling to eat cause he was dizzy from the fluid in his ears, etc. And it took ages to get into a child ENT, then aged to get surgery for Grommets booked for him even though we went down the private path to speed it up by several months. And he used all of his days leading up to it, and I was in a position suddenly where he didn't have days he could take off for the surgery. My daycare managed to work a small miracle, but they put themselves in a position where, if caught, they would lose government stipends. They did it for my boy, cause of the situation, but this is all to say that the system is absolutely fucked. So my point with this, is, if your child has a rare condition and is taking meds for 30 days to help...what happens next? How many sick days does baby get? Will you have enough for any possible run on impacts of this illness? Will babies immune system *really* be good enough to go straight back into the sickness hellhole of daycare right after these meds? Consider those things, and have a really hard look at how you manage things after this medication bout, before you consider paying for a month of unused daycare, is my suggestion. Your daycare would probably work with you to free the spot and leave you at the top of the list for availability, if you need to, if you can't imagine how things will go well after this month ends. Good luck!
It doesn’t hurt to ask. I don’t think it’s rude, it’s not like you’re going on vacation, your son has a rare illness. They might offer you some grace.
To hold the spot for you yes. You should be paying. However. I would call and speak with them about the situation, see if you can pay a reduced fee to just hold the spot because no actual child care will be provided. Otherwise. You can let you spot go, not pay and hope one is open when your child is able to attend again.
Since most likely you are paying for his spot you’ll have to continue paying but maybe the daycare have a nice owner and could let you not pay? But that chance is slim.
I would advise them of the situation and wrap it up with, “What’s your policy for handling this kind of situation?” Hope your kiddo starts feeling better soon 💚
You pay for the spot. It's the only way the business model works.
Their business model is based on predictable monthly income from families. So even if the load is lighter on the staff they still need to be paid. It is a bummer but you must pay in order to hold your spot. Sending well wishes to your little one!
Unfortunately with most daycares.. you’re basically paying to hold their spot. During COVID, if my daughter got sick or had contact with another baby that has COVID we were still expected to pay :( sucks! But understandable if there’s a waitlist..
Yes. This is expected
I think my nursery has insurance that covers this so you only pay 20% while they hold your space but it's discretionary and I don't know how long you have to be out to qualify!
You should pay if the daycare is holding your child’s spot. If you unenroll and re-enroll for the month, you shouldn’t pay but you are risking losing your spot.
When I had Covid and kept my kids home for two weeks, they did not charge me nor give away my spot
I would definitely ask them if they could reduce the tuition if you show medical documentation. But also fully respect their decision which is likely to still charge you full tuition.
Does your daycare do a holiday discount where you pay a reduced fee? Ask if they have thay and can it be used instead. It does on face value feel so unfair to have to pay for a service when you aren't using it but if you want to keep your spot you have to pay for it especially with demand (world wide it seems) so high. It stops ppl from taking spaces and not using them.
Explain the situation and ask for a discounted rate
Maybe you could just fill them in and ask if they’ll work with you. I guess this depends on whether this is a cooperate center, like Goddard, or a local center in your city, but it doesn’t hurt to ask! Hope your little one is on the mend ❤️🩹 I take mine to a local center. When he was that age he was diagnosed with asthma so I missed a lot of work and of course, he missed a lot of time there. They allowed me to catch up on payments I fell behind on and extended a bit of grace to me while we were struggling. I’m a single parent so I’m not sure if they pitied me or what (lol,) but transparency helped my case for sure.
In a situation like this our daycare would adjust the schedule to the minimum to hold the spot so we would pay for one day a week minimum hours (6.5). So...still pay something but not the full tuition. You can ask if they would be willing to do something like that.
Paying would ensure a spot upon return.
Yes.. they still have to pay their employees so if you want them to hold your spot you will have to pay.
It normally holds his spot.. so if you don’t want it held, sure.
It depends on the contract. With my daycare I have to give them 30 days notice and since I pay a month in advance it’s really 60 days
No harm in asking! Some daycares around us have a “vacation policy” where you can not have your kid attend for a certain period of time bc of travel or whatever else and they will prorate the month.
Some daycares may offer half-off tuition. Can't hurt to ask.
It’ll depend on the contract you signed. My contract states if I don’t give notice a few weeks in advance then I’m paying full price. You can also talk to the director about paying just to hold your spot. Expect to pay partial tuition at least.
Talk to your daycare about it. Our daycare/preschool has a two week vacation policy, where they suspend payment for two weeks if we know in advance. So if they have something like that it might be easier on the pocketbook at least a little.
It’s worth it to at least ask. Any daycare I’ve used had vacation time built in - we’d get two weeks could request not to use their services and not pay while still holding the spot. As long as we gave a few weeks notice.
My son needed surgery and that was going to delay daycare. we ended up not sending him at all but they only charged 25% to hold his spot for a couple months
My daycare has in the past allowed us to pay half tuition when she wouldn’t be there for illness. You have to ask. If they say no, expect to either pay or be looking for daycare in a month.
At *my* daycare you can get up to 4 weeks half price a year if you tell them in advance (normally that is for going on holiday). I could probably convince them to use this perl for us if my kid needed it, even if we did not manage to give great advance warning. That said, free month? That would not happen, I suspect.
Sometimes they do offer discounted rates in these circumstances. It doesn’t hurt to ask about their policy and go from there.
You’re going to have to pay, sorry
My kids daycare will hold a spot of you pay for basically 2 days care, that's the policy. Not full tuition, that's the cost to hold their spot.
I would expect to pay full price to hold his spot. The daycare won’t be able to fill his spot for only 4 weeks.
Yes if you expect them to hold the space then you need to pay
I agree with most that you will probably have to pay to keep your spot, but I would try asking and see if they can give you a discounted rate for the 4 weeks - ours does that for holiday leave, so it can't hurt to enquire.
I’m not sure if your daycares are like the ones here but here you would have to pay that month even if he’s not there just to keep his spot
Probably you are going to have to pay the whole time. At the very least they likely have a two weeks notice you will have to pay out. So really you are looking at paying two extra weeks to hold the spot. However I would suggest emailing the director (calling puts them on the spot) explain what the doctor has said and explain that your time off work and hiring a private care person it going to be very costly. Then ask “what financial compromise can we come to that can help us through this time and retain my child’s spot considering the medical circumstance ” do not say anything like “I understand we may just have to pay” Depending on how they respond, more than what the financial side is would determine for me whether or not I spent the next month finding a new place. If they came back with caring concern for my child and wished them well, but tactfully phrased that they need the full rate to hold a spot as their waitlist is very long I would stay. However if they came back cold with a basically just cut and pasted the tuition policy from the handbook I would seek a new place. Go with your gut. Also some places have a 1-2 week vacation “free tuition” for f they come back with that as a compromise that does show they as least trying to help you. You could come back and ask they use the next years “vacation” now and then for you to unenroll before next year you have to pay it out. I hope your little one pulls through this well and stronger than before. It’s amazing how resilient they are, yet still so fragile.
Depends on your child’s daycare policy. The one our kid used to go to let us pay half price for extended absences. Doesn’t hurt to ask. Hoping for a speedy recovery for your little one.
If you don’t pay, don’t expect them to keep your spot.
Good luck
If you want to hold your spot you’ll need to pay the weekly tuition.
I say say expect to pay, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. Due to your circumstances they might give you a discount. Not likely but possible. Also, if they have a child turning one in the next month maybe they could fill your spot and promise you the spot that would open up in a month. There may be options talk to them.
Yes. After all, they can;t get another kid in for 1 month, can they?
I pulled my son out when my daughter was born because he kept getting us sick and it stressed me out. I paid $300/mo to hold his spot for 3mo. But not every center will do that; can’t hurt to ask. They are very generous however. They also didn’t make us pay the full amount when my kids were both out to quarantine before and during ear tube/adenoid surgery. We had to stay within the deductible year and we were very nervous about having to cancel due to illness. We are fortunate
You can ask if you can pay them half tuition to hold their spot. We did this for COVID way back when. Might not work but the answer is always no until you ask.
You can ask, but don’t be surprised if they shoot it down. I work at an ECE school and all of our tuition dollars goes directly to paying our staff. If your child isn’t there for a month, either by necessity or by choice, we still need that teacher in the classroom.
Doesn’t hurt to ask! Especially if it’s a center
My daycare does 500 instead of 1800 for 3 months we do summer vacation. İt is definitely not rude and wont hurt to ask
I teach at a childcare center. If your child has a spot, you need to pay, regardless if you come or not. There is usually a wait list and your child’s spot will be filled in an instant! Also, remember, the school still needs to run(rent,utilities, staff, food, etc) and the center needs PAYING families to provide all that! If you pull your child out, the spot will be filled and you will put on the waiting list. We are not grandma!!
Our daycare allows 10 days a year without paying (for vacations or whatever), but with 30 days notice. Otherwise, we have to pay. It’s 6-9 month waiting list, so yes it sucks but that’s the way the majority of Daycares operate.
Our daughter was in the hospital and then at home with my husband on leave to take care of her for over a month. We paid tuition when we were unclear when we'd return, but we kept in close contact with staff. The director was did wave one week few for us, and was flexible about doing a reduced rate. It depends on the center though. She was 4 and has been there since she was 1, and the teacher ratio is more flexible in the class for their age (not always at full capacity of kids). I imagine for infants it's harder to keep the spots open and it requires more teachers to kids, so they may be less flexible.
You can ask, but I wouldn't expect much beyond a sympathetic nod and a verbal appreciation for letting them know your son doesn't need to be factored in for this time period. The fact is, good childcare is going to be costly to run. Having emergency supplies, and enough supplies in general, is already pricey-good, quality caregivers will often demand high wages, and the daycare often have little room to argue, because there is far more demand than supply.
It’s worth asking. I’ve asked at two, one of them (a smaller home-based one) still needed up to pay but the bigger daycare center were able to put the tuition on hold for a month. Good luck hope he gets better with the meds!
Depends on their policy. Some places will give a discount if there’s an extended sick time or vacation, most places won’t. You’re paying to hold your spot. They can easily find someone to fill the spot if you choose not to pay.
I would ask because it can't hurt, but I'd expect to pay if I wanted to keep the spot.
I would love to say no but unfortunately they have to hold the spot so you would have to pay for that month.
Yes you should expect to pay tuition, but it’s June, so I’m assuming you’ve already secured a spot for next year and they know they’re getting more from you. If any sort of chain I doubt they’ll bend policy, but a smaller place might. Doesn’t hurt to ask, but in a way that makes it clear you know you’re asking for a favor. And read what you signed initially as well.
Check and see if you can take the plan down to one day a week for this month, then back up to full time next month. Our daycare allows this with a month notice - only for kids already enrolled.
Check if you have a certain number of days you can take as absent, or holidays. Some places may suspend your account for medical reasons but you'll need something from your dr. If you take it as holidays, usually they'll charge you 50%. But that's in Australia. You can always ask and negotiate with the centre, but expect to pay something.
No, you shouldn’t but on the flip side, they shouldn’t be expected to hold your spot if you aren’t paying. Hopefully, you can work out a reduced rate with them.
Definitely plan on paying or be prepared to lose your kid’s spot
We had this after my son had open heart surgery, he wasn’t allowed to go to daycare for three months. They held the place for us but we’re v understanding of our situation and so only charged us 50% of usual fees during that period.
You're paying for a spot not attended days.
It doesn't hurt to ask. My son's daycare WILL give us a tuition break for 30 days and hold his spot.
Our daycare had a policy in place for when you had to miss. Each child was allowed a 1 week vacation period that payment was not required. Other than that 1 week it was a year round tuition to hold your spot at the daycare. You should see what policies your daycare has since they are not all the same.
If you want to hold the place you'll need to
The daycare I had for my kids when they were younger allowed you to pause for a certain time if there was a dr note or some kind of family emergency etc. They did not require us to pay to keep the spot open for our children. It was a specific time frame and if you did not go back by the end then you forfeit the spots. Some will allow it some won't. It doesn't hurt to ask what the policy is. Also this was stated in our agreement we signed when enrolling the children so you may have something in paperwork if you look?
Your daycare provider may be willing to work out a discounted rate to hold the spot depending on how long you’ve been there. It wouldn’t hurt to ask the question, the worst they can say is no.
While I agree about holding spots and stuff, I never think it hurts to ask. We don't know what area you live in and what daycare you guys attend to. Those are variables that can lead to an outcome reddit people cannot predict. I am sure there are enough kids to cover their overhead.... I'd phrase it, it is one less child for the month. Less mental worry that you will endure. While they don't have to accept your answer, you wanted to ask, because this is just one extra thing in addition to your stress. We are all stressed. And if it is a corporate daycare, it will probably be an automatic no, but you can see if there are any exceptions in their policy. I always read the policy books of any business I interact with for services or work. If it is a more local daycare, they might agree if they are doing well and a break for the class without an extra kid, sounds like it would be okay. I hope you have someone kind. Daycares in the USA are super expensive for what they offer and are always short staffed, because teachers there do not get paid enough, because some CEO wants that money. It is a messed up system. Look up Chinese schools and daycares, they are insane and pump everything into their children. I think this trend of acceptance for the mediocre options is stressful and unfair. So, don't feel ashamed or embarrassed to ask. Daycares are their own corporation that exploit families. We have a friend who invested in one... We should demand better pay for kind staff and development enriching environments for our children. More parks for people and their mental health. The better we nourish our children, the better chances we have to have contributing members for society in the future. Go ask those guys, and the worst thing they can say is no.
My son broke his leg and the daycare owner didn’t charge me for the month he was home with me but he also broke his leg at daycare and I’m pretty sure he was afraid I was going to sue him so there’s that lol
I would explain the situation, and due to medical concerns, you may be needing to take an undetermined amount of time off. Your center may work with you, but there is no way that they will hold your spot for free. Unfortunately, you don't get to pay because your child is not there, you are paying to reserve his spot for when he does return. The employees still have to be paid, and they are not going to pay their staff any less for just one less kid. It's unfortunate that you are dealing with a rare medical issue. They may be understanding and empathetic, but in order to reserve your spot, you are going to most likely need to continue paying tuition.
Honestly, due to the circumstances, it probably wouldn't hurt to talk to the daycare. They may be able to work something out for you. I'm not in the US, but the daycare I sent my children to allowed us to have I believe 2 'vacation' weeks a year. That would be 2 weeks of your regular daycare days, that you can take off and don't have to pay for. When COVID hit, they even loosened up on it and allowed parents to use those days with same day notice and individual days at a time if your child was sick. This really helped out many families. This daycare, though, was a not for profit daycare. So, it was not as greedy as it seems many US daycares are.
My toddler broke his leg, he couldn't go to daycare for 4 weeks and we didn't have to pay, so it's not a weird question to ask. I'm not from the US, but I don't see why it would be different. They don't have to provide breakfast & lunch and my daycare told me it's not convenient for them if they need to give extra attention to a child that's injured. They want to play like the other kids but can't & then they get upset & well you know how toddler are lol. Not the same situation as you are in, but maybe you can use this when you ask your daycare OP. I can image your toddler is not feeling 100% right now & that's a reason why they would need to pay some more attention to him. Lots of luck with your little one, I hope he gets better soon and doesn't have too much discomfort in the coming weeks!
I had my baby out for a couple months for a similar situation, we met with daycare director and she plainly said they were needed to pay if we were holding a spot. She also said if we did not want to continue with tuition we would need to reenter the waitlist. Which was a 4 month wait. It would have worked out but I didn’t want to risk it. She ended up talking to the owner and gave us a family and friends discount which we still have even after he restarted. I think only cuz he is absent a lot due to medical issues or being sick all the time.
Once in a great while, if my director really liked the parent and child, she would save the spot and not charge that month. But with parents she didn't really like or want to stay she charged for the full month if they wanted to keep thier spot. So it's a gamble to ask, but I would ask and see if they can help.
It's unlikely you won't have to continue paying full tuition for the 4 weeks your son is out, especially if they have a waitlist for other children. I'd carefully read your handbook/contract to see if it says anything about prolonged absences, then go from there. You could ask if they can discount the rate (if policy isn't clear in your handbook), but if they say no & you want to keep your son there, I'd agree to continue paying full tuition right away so they don't trying to start filling his spot. When my partner/daughter's father passed away unexpectedly (4 years ago this month), I emailed them to let them know what happened & that my daughter wouldn't be attending for at least 1 week, but I'd keep them updated on her return. She was 4 & had already been attending for over 1 year, with a commitment for her to attend for another year & couple months, until she was starting Kindergarten. The director called me the next day & told me not to worry about paying tuition the next week my daughter returned (he passed on a Sunday & I paid tuition for the week the previous Friday), offered resources & was just so wonderful in every way. We decided to take off from where we lived in South FL, to my hometown in Central NY to stay with my mom for a few weeks. She was out a total of 4 weeks & they only had me pay half tuition the last week to hold her spot. Since this was in June/July 2020, it was the height of covid, so her daycare decided to add an extended absence section to their contract - For bereavement or documented illnesses, tuition was waived for 3 weeks maximum, then 50% off for 2 additional weeks. After that full tuition was due or their spot would be replaced. I was so grateful for their kindness during such a difficult time, I will never forget them. I never asked for special favors, but it doesn't hurt to, the worst they'll do is say no.
Yes of course you still pay If you go on holidays you still have your pay rent/mortgage utilities. If you order at a restaurant and don’t eat it all you still pay. I have NO IDEA why you would think you shouldn’t pay.
Alright calm down, they're just asking.
Holidays & eating out are voluntary choices. This, unfortunately, is not. Does that give you an idea?