Daycare closures - how many?

MrsJRD23

If you use daycare, how many days are they typically closed for holidays/inservices/etc?  Do you get a discount at all because of the closures?

The daycare we chose (will start going in March) is closed for 27 DAYS.  I think that seems like so many, especially since there is no discount.  That is seriously 5 1/2 weeks of time we need alternate child care (though some of them are on holidays but that is only like 7 days.)  Does this seem excessive? Im not second guessing our choice.

karleegirl

That seems huge to me. Mine is closed for 9 days, all of them being holidays or the day before or after.

Is this a religious affililliated daycare? I know sometimes they are closed more. There are some here closed for training inservice days but I think the total days is about 10 to 14 days.

AsOctoberFalls

That seems absolutely insane to me.  Our daycare is closed for something like 6 days a year, and no, we don't get a discount for those days.

cedenton

Closed for federal holidays and between Christmas and New Years. It's religious affiliated.

ETA: We don't pay for the week of Christmas. 

katie_cj

That seems like a lot.

Our daycare is closed about 15 days or so. They are closed major holidays and during the Christmas holidays. The total amount of days depends on what day of the week Christmas falls. 

I work at a bank, so I don't work holidays, so it doesn't tend to be too much of an issue. Only during the holidays, since I can't get time off. 

ASmallWonder

There's no way I'd be choosing a daycare that was closed that many days.  I don't have the schedule in front of me right now but I know that they're closed for major holidays plus the day after Thanksgiving and a half day on Christmas Eve.  So maybe 10-12 days?

QueSrah

Our in-home daycare would close for about two weeks (one summer, one at Christmas), and then Federal holidays.  I don't think that ever reached anything like 27 days - there are only 10 or 12 Federal holidays, including Memorial Day and others that everybody gets off.  No discounts for the closures - it's the DCP's two weeks of paid vacation.

The preschool we're in now follows the school calendar, so I think we have about 6 full weeks off during the year (spring/summer/winter breaks, teacher in-service days, etc.). 

kacelle

mbenit4:

All the centers I have ever used were closed just the regular holidays. They pretty much were consistent with the state holidays. That seems like too much for me. This could be a deal breaker in my book.

This, except they're open some "holidays" like Columbus Day when banks are closed.  I'm off work all of the days her daycare is closed, so it's not a big deal.  I'm not 100% sure what their holiday schedule is, but all staff at my office have December 24-January 2 off as paid leave, so I don't anticipate it being an issue.

526SadieSadie

Our DCC is closed for most observed Monday holidays but DD is with my MIL on Mondays and Tuesdays so it doesn't effect us.  There is a big Jewish population in my city so the schools are closed for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur but the DCC doesn't close those days.  We wouldn't get a discount for the Monday closures if she was there on Monday, and we won't be getting the discount for the upcoming Thursday closure for Thanksgiving. 

jf198400

HilarityEnsued:

Honestly this is my biggest gripe with DS' daycare.  I just counted and they are closed for 24 days in the year.  It's a major PITA.  Honestly most of the days off are extended long weekends around holidays (Easter, Memorial Day, July 4th, etc).  We do not get a discount for these times.

That said, I spoke with the director about the reasoning behind their schedule and she actually made some interesting points.

In order to attract people with a 4-year degree (and additional education in many instances) who are looking for teaching jobs (and thus a teaching-type schedule) they have to offer a calendar with more days off than a typical daycare facility.  All of the teachers are DS' daycare have 4-year degrees.  They get paid fairly well for daycare providers and are afforded health benefits and a good vacation schedule.  Because the daycare facility is able to offer this, the caliber of the people that are teaching there is very high.

To me it makes sense and is worth paying for.

That logic only works if you live in an area where teachers are in demand.  Where I live (Philly suburbs) there are TONS of teachers who can't find jobs.  It is not hard to get people with degrees to work in daycares.  Most daycares around here average 10-15 days off per year.  There is no discount for those days (including if they are closed an entire week at Christmas).  27 days off per year is a total dealbreaker.  Don't forget that your child will also get sick fairly often and you will need backup care for those days as well. 

semdkm

Yes, that does sound excessive --kind of like the public school schedule.  We have maybe 3 weeks of days where the school is closed total (broken up into various days, but these often are days my company is closed too--like for Thanksgiving and Christmas).  The only full week I can think of where they are closed the entire week is between Christmas and New Years.  Daycare is supposed to accommodate working families--who at work gets 5.5 weeks of vacation?!

wychets

Whoa 27 days is a lot imo. Our DC is closed only for major holidays I think there are nine

Thanksgiving and day after

Christmas eve and day

New Years day

July 4th

Memorial Day

Labor Day

And Im missing one

We don't get a discount because the employees are still paid for that day.

aeh72

Our daycare (in home) closes for all the federal holidays plus she takes two weeks of vacation a year.  We pay for all those days.  I've never questioned that because it seems to the norm in our area, at least for in-homes.

Breezy8407

That seems like a lot, but is it close to a standard school district calendar? We will deal with that when our kids start preschool affiliated with the school district.

Our center is only closed on the typical major holidays.

jlaOK

Ours is closed for around 15 days a year. Good Friday, Memorial, 4th of July, Labor, 3 days for Thanksgiving, and a week for Christmas. We pay monthly so we pay the same rate no matter how many holidays there are in a month. The only one that's an issue is Christmas but between DH, family, and I we make it work.

LillyGrrl

That's absolutely nuts.

Our is closed 6 days (new years day, memorial day, july 4th, labor day, thanksgiving and christmas). In years past I worked pretty much all but the above Fed holidays (so did DH) but our work changed our holidays schedule so I have off a lot more days now.

 I would never go to a day care that required 5.5 weeks off a year- I don't get that much vacation time to spare those days.

Leap08

Our daycare is only closed for major holidays and sometimes the day before or after a holiday. I think it's about 9 days total, and they are all days I have off anyway.

MrsWindyCity

Our old DCP was just closed on the federal holidays. Our new DCP is closed for those plus 2 extra days  before/after holidays. They have parent-teacher conferences, which they just started, so I'm assuming they will be 2x a year, so 2 more days there. They apparently used to close the week of July 4th and the week of Christmas, so I'm glad they no longer do that. 29 days seems crazy.

ETA: we pay for all the days they're closed. 

Netty_3

Hmm...one week for the holidays, I think 4 days totale for fall and spring break, and one two in-service days. They may have a few of the other holidays too, but they typically coincide with days we also have off already.That does seem like quite a bit.  No discount.  I guess they figure companies still pay their emplyees for vacation days, so they should be able to as well.

thespianlawyer

Ours is closed on major holidays and 1 week around 4th of July.  I think they are closed the week between Christmas and New Year's also, but I get that as paid time off anyway, so it's not a big deal to me.  I think the only time I will have to arrange alternate care will be the 4th of July week . . . unless we decide to go on vacation that week also.

1026pumpkin

Ours is closed for major holidays (about 9) and they have about 3-4 in-service/training days per year.  I was told when we enrolled that they just averaged the tuition out over the year, so we pay the same every month whether or not they are closed for a day.

Since DH and I are off for the holidays anyway, we have no issues on those days.  For the in-service days, we either take a personal day or we'll both try to work from home and tag team looking after DS while working- not ideal, but at once per quarter, it's not a big deal.

One of my friends has a son in a DC that has a schedule similar to yours, and even though she and her husband both have flexible work schedules, it's really hard on them to find alternate arrangements so often.  She has seriously considered pulling her kid from that center over this. 

Anne Mommy

Our daycare is closed for the major holidays (Thanksgiving, day after, Christmas eve, Christmas, New Years Day, Labor Day, Memorial Day and July 4th). We do not get a discount for those days. She is also closed for a vacation week each year. We do not pay for that week.

KathrynMD

our daycare is closed for Federal holidays and maybe 5 extra in-service/training days.

They are open week between Christmas and New Years which was important to me b/c my work is open and I'm not able to take off that week.

DaisyJanie

Ours is closed for a week at Christmas, most normal holidays, and a week of "summer break" at the beginning of June. So probably 15-18 days. That week of summer break is a little annoying, because my DH would never be able to take that week off, so we can't take our summer vacation then. We usually take a week of vacation in May or July. But it has worked out fine, my FIL came down to help this past June and he loved that. 

I think they do it because they're a relatively small school (3 classrooms) and they don't have a lot of extra employees to cover vacations, so most of them take their trips in June. We love it there, so I don't mind.

We pay a yearly tuition divided by 12 months, so no, it's not any less money when those breaks happen.  

alstumb@gmail.com

I work at a daycare...my son attends there, too. We are closed New Year's Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and the day after, Christmas and the day after. So 8 days all year. There is no discount, you still have to pay, because the employees get paid for those days, but there aren't many of them.

jteneback

That is a lot.  Our closes for 2 days in August (right before Labor Day) for inservice and are closed the week between Christmas and New Year's plus a few major holidays like Memorial Day and whatever.

TMWarren85

DD goes to a Montessori, and they follow the public school calendar- closed all holidays, two weeks at Christmas, Parent/Teacher conferences in Fall and Spring, and three days at Thanksgiving. They also close during spring break if your child only goes part time. They are only open 7-6, and don't provide lunch...

But the school is fantastic, she started off at a typical daycare when she was born, and has only been at this school for a year (she's 3). Whenever you lean towards 'private' schools they have more regulated hours/holidays, and we pay a flat tuition amount- same every month regardless of whether they are closed for two weeks (December) or not. 

LoCarb

Definitely excessive...is it an in home or private/public facility?  When I researched DC options, I found many in homes followed a local public school schedule allowing several weeks of closures.  I could not do it; we do not have good back up care.  Our center has the standard holidays and maybe 2 1/2 days before the major holidays.

MrsJRD23

It is a center, not affiliated with a school or religious organization.  Most of the holidays we can make work since DH is off from them but there is no way we can take 1.5 weeks off at christmas. I'm lucky I get christmas day off! (I do have to work it every few years - perk of working in a hospital)

In 2013, they have 8 days designated at teacher inservice/planning days....I mean really? 8 days for 0-3 year old care? that is more than the schools get!

We have no family in the area and all our friends work so we'd have to pay someone to watch on the days we could not cover which of course adds to the fact that is already more expensive that our #2 daycare option.  But now I think we are going to revisit number 2.  They are only closed 14 days total and most of them we can cover (7 of them are holidays DH is already off)  Downside to that one is they don't allow cloth diapers and we really hoped to do cloth and not have the expense of disposables.  but now it seems pointless since he'll be in sposies for 9-10 hours/day during the week.  

DaisyJanie

That's too bad, that time around Christmas would probably be tough to find backup care too, with so many people out of town and busy.

With the other place, do you think you can bring them an easy cloth diaper and a wet bag as an example? I know a lot of people have told me that their daycare said they had a no cloth policy, but then they showed them what they were talking about (no pins!) and it was fine.  

Sonadora

Ours closes whenever the federal government is closed.  That usually works out to 13 days a year, though if weather shuts down the federal government in DC it is also closed and is closed on other days the fed in DC shuts down -- so innaguration day, if a former president passes and the funeral will be here, etc.

Plus, they just announced a closure for the day after Thanksgiving due to low attendance (I'm pissed, I have to work that day) and are taking an inservice day on a random day in May.