Good morning everyone. I apologies for not posting last week but I endeavour to do 2 blogs this week to make up for it.
This week I have decided to tackle the view on fees for the children. Firstly I would love to know your opinion about the fees so please post comments. This is a really sensitive topic so I have really tried to tackle it from both points of view. If you think I have missed anything out I will be reading comments and replying.
As with all post that I am doing I have two heads, Mummy of 2 wonderful boys (yet expensive) and manager of a nursery. To start with I am going to tackle the Mummy point of view.
So fees are sooooooo expensive, what am I doing, I am paying someone else to raise my child whilst I pay my bills. Its a really tough one. My childcare cost amount to nearly 3/4 of my wages. Seriously why do we bust a gut to go back to work when we get pittance back. Personally myself I LOVE my job. I went back because I want to be adult for a time of the day. So fees to me aren't an issue as such. Its when I have not such a good day at work (happens but not often) or I feel really poorly and the thought of getting up at 6 in the morning to get 2 wiggly worms ready, makes me question why.
There has been a huge increase in the number of grandparents looking after children to help families out with the cost, I believe if your retired as much as you love them and want to be with the its your time. So I don't use grandparents to look after the children, they have then to do fun things and spend time not just look after.
Manager time:
Yes we are expensive when you look at the over all cost of what you pay, but think of it in relation to what you earn. The care industry as a whole is underpaid as much as we all want to pay the girls more we just can't. If we did it would have to be passed on.
So as a nursery, I have 20 wonderful hard working girls all being paid minimum wage, maybe when fees are increased in September think about them before you get upset as they will only go up as needed. The girls they do such a great job in caring for your children we all wish we could pay them more but as I said before fees would have to rocket.
Praise and and acknowledgement, its a really hard job the girls do down stairs and sometimes all they need is a pat on the back, a well done or even just a acknowledgement that we appreciate them. A lot of the time we come into this job because we love children, we don't come into it because it pays well.
Over heads, we have a large area which is wonderful, the children really enjoy the space and the garden as you can understand that all comes at a price.
Utility bills, resources, food and all the little extras needed to keep this place tip top for you.
So back to Mummy head, I never realised what went in to the cost of the nursery. Happy Bunnies is one of the more competitively priced nurseries in the area.
Mummy question??? I only get paid on the 15th of the month, can I pay then.?
This is a really difficult question to come up against as a manager because children first and we understand that families have different situations; however what we have to come up against is paying wages, bills and keeping the nursery up to date with its resources. As much as we have all this covered if it happens every month there will be a shortfall soon. The ones who miss out are the staff who work so hard to look after your children. Same goes for missed fees. They hit everyone hard, eventually someone will end up without. So if you respect what we do please pay fees on time.
Mummy Question??? Can I pay weekly?
We have in the past allowed parents to pay weekly and it works really well for some; however the problem with this is when your on holiday you may forget, or Christmas comes and you have fallen short maybe. Loads of reasons, once parents have fallen behind its very very difficult to catch up meaning that the debt just mounts up and become unmanageable. As above this has a real knock on effect on the running of the nursery.
We are in the business to give children the best start in life, but we are still a business. please respect this.
