How many days does your daycare close per year?

[noodleoo]

Our daycare sent a letter home that they are closing for Xmas Eve and NYE due to low enrollment, plus opening late on 12/26. They already close for a full week in August in addition to all the federal holidays. Those days (12/24 and 12/31) are new additions this year, but brings the total up to 17 days closed. That seems like a lot! I get little vacation time and H works in healthcare, so we usually work through the holidays since it is quiet and we don’t travel to family. It doesn’t affect us this year since I’m on maternity leave, but it will next.  I’m debating saying something to the director. This daycare is cheaper than most around us, but if I factor in all the days off plus not providing lunch, I’m not sure it is really that much cheaper anymore. So is 17 reasonable or a lot?

[krystee]

Ours is a home daycare that specializes in teachers' kids (we are not teachers), so a LOT. A week of Christmas break, the spring break week, one week in summer, the day before Thanksgiving and all Fridays in summer. This works because I have six weeks of vacation and my mom watches them on Fridays. Otherwise we would have to go elsewhere.

[VillainV]

They are closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and the big federal holidays (closed on July 4, open on Presidents’ Day). I’d say they’re probably closed 6 days a year? But we are a military town, so low enrollment on days surrounding the holiday aren’t usually an issue.

[scm1011]

They are telling you 5 days in advance that they’re closed Christmas Eve? I’d be livid. If that’s your policy, fine, but you can’t spring that last minute.

[vamoose]

Around here, there are a few flavors of daycare:

Standard - closed very few days - major holidays only really plus maybe a couple extra per year for training or maintenance (though not all even do that).

Home - closed federal holidays plus an extra week or so

Preschool focused daycares - closed many holiday breaks and 1-2 weeks over summer. Sometimes they offer extra care during these closed periods for extra fees.

[vmars]

My daycare is closed from 12/24 until 1/2 this year, which to me is a lot. Me and my husband saved our days off so we only need child care for two of those days and my ILs are able to watch DS. If we didn’t have nearby family or other child care this would never work. I think they do close a lot for a daycare but since we are able to work out coverage and we like the place we suck it up.

[ssmjlm]

When we were in daycare they were closed for the following:

Friday before Easter for teacher workday
Memorial Day
4th of July
Friday before Labor day for teacher workday
Thanksgiving and Black Friday
12/25-1/1 (they usually closed early on 12/24 around 2pm)

So 13 days. That said, these were regular closures and they communicated the annual calendar each year. It was nice that they were open most of the federal holidays since those are not guaranteed days off for many local employers.

[kershnic]

Current daycare closes a lot. Closed for a week in August and from 12/24-1/2. plus a bunch of random half fridays. And all the major and not so major big holidays (MLK, Pres, Easter Monday...)

Our former daycare was closed between Christmas and New Years but not so much on the other random days.

The closure doesn’t seem strange but the lack of notice would piss me off pretty severely.

[Deleted]

Ours is only closed six days: New Year’s, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas. This year they’re closing at 3pm on Christmas Eve, but they gave us plenty of advanced notice.

[dcn]

It’s on a military base so just federal holidays or any other days declared a holiday. Plus a random day in December for training.

They are closed Xmas eve as of yesterday bc the President gave federal employees the day off.

[estrellita]

Now with the new owners..
New Year's Day
MLK Day
President's Day
Memorial Day
4th of July
Labor Day
Thanksgiving
Day after Thanksgiving
Christmas

They also close early Christmas Eve and NYE. Luckily I'm off bank holidays, H is off day after Thanksgiving. We both (usually) work Christmas Eve but H can work from home and my work is pretty flexible with hours. They have it in the handbook that they may close other days around holidays if attendance is low enough but was told that it would be pretty unlikely for it to happen.

[minionkevin]

Not daycare but Kid1’s preschool is in an elementary school. They are closed all school holidays - full week at Christmas, full week at Easter, and summer. We looked at several DC that closed the entire week of Christmas and/or Easter/Spring Break, plus federal holidays like MLK, Presidents Day, etc.

[starburst]

Very few, just the major holidays. It's a large daycare chain.

[brooke77]

12 holidays. All the major ones plus the day after Thanksgiving and Patriots day. Christmas Eve they are closing early, but we were told at the beginning of the month.

I would be very upset about the lack of advanced notice.

[minniemouse]

We are done with daycare now
The one we used closed 6 days a year- New Years, Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, thanksgiving day and Xmas. They closed a little early on Xmas eve and New Year’s eve

[zarapipe]

New daycare is a ton but so far it’s worth it to is.
Closed this Friday through 1/4. It’s 11 school days
MLK
Week at spring break
Memorial Day
July 4
Week in August
Labor Day
Two days for prentice teacher conferences
Two for staff development
I’m sure I’m missing one

So 25? It’s a ton. I’m off for 7 days at Christmas and now that dd1 is in school I take her spring break off and the daycare spring break lines up. I have most of the other holidays off too. Mil covered the staff development days and the other days of Christmas I am not off.

[linz]

Major holidays...Christmas, new years, 4th of July, memorial day, labor day.

She takes 3 weeks vacation including week of Christmas. But we know her vacation days beginning of year. She has never taken a sick day. We also get 1 week vacation so 5 days where I dont pay. I use them for sick days usually.

It's an inhome and super cheap. I dont mind and luckily my FIL is retired to take the kids.

[Susie]

I just counted, and ours was 13 last year.  Basically I think it's all federal holidays (because it is in a federal building) + 2 staff days/year.

Usually I think it's pretty reasonable, but Calvin works for the state so he is off on most of the same holidays.  There are plenty that I still work and the two of them are off.  I'm sure it's harder in families where both parents have a schedule more like mine.  We feel it occasionally when there are federal-specific days off that neither of us has.  Our daycare was unexpectedly closed recently when Trump declared a federal holiday for GHWB's funeral.  They were calling parents on Monday afternoon to tell us they'd be closed Wed.  I realize they can't do much about it because they're federal building tenants and the building was closed, but... fucking super.  Neither of us is a fed, so Calvin had to juggle his schedule and burn a vacay day for that one.

[sunflower17]

We started in May so I’m not 100% sure about spring/Easter. They’re are closed the week of Christmas, so December 24-28 and then New Years Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, July 4th. They also close for snow days if public schools do.
Thank god H is in education and gets most of the same time off or I’d really be screwed because I work some holidays.

[grover]

Christmas Day
New Years Day
Memorial Day
July 4
Labor Day
Thanksgiving

It's a home daycare. She also gets 2 weeks off per year paid.  She takes them in the summer, so doesn't affect me. But she works with me- I teach and she doesn't charge me for summer or a summer hold fee. I can do part time as I need over summer as well.
This year she took off 5 extra days unpaid- moving college daughter in x2, she was sick, Traveling to visit her daughter for family weekend, and just last week because her daughter was having surgery last Friday.

[vtdiamond]

Ours isnt closed that often - NYD, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Columbus Day for staff development, thanksgiving and the day after, and Xmas day.

They’re closing early on Xmas eve and NYE but gave us a months notice about that.

[raangoli]

I don’t actually know which holidays outside of Memorial Day, Labor Day, 4th of July, thanksgiving, etc.

I do know they’re also closed a week in August for vacation and then between Christmas and New Years which is annoying. That’s like 10+ days right there. MH’s company also closes the week between Christmas and New Years but I no longer get that time off so it’s on him to parent since I also have less vacation time.

[sillygoosegirl]

9 holidays plus spring break (1 week), summer break (1 week), winter break (this is 3 of the holidays plus the 4 days between Christmas and New Years).

It is a lot, but it's an in-home daycare with a tiny staff, so pretty much it's the only time they get off. My parents are local and retired, so they cover some of it for us, and we try to plan our family vacations to coincide with closures, since we pay every day they are open whether DD is there or not. We alternate who stays home with DD other than that.

I'd be more bummed about it, but I see every day the higher quality of care we get for having great teachers who are always there. We had all sorts of trouble when DD was in a center with many the teachers who were only sometimes there sometimes and didn't know the kids very well, which is kind of what it takes to have a center that is open 12 hours per day, every weekday except 6 holidays per year.

[ebeth]

Our daycare was closed all federal holidays, Friday after thanksgiving, emancipation day ( DC holiday), and Good Friday.

Half days on the day before thanksgiving and Friday before Christmas (Christmas was on a weekend when we were there)

Plus 1-2 additional closures throughout the year.

They were open between Christmas and New Year’s Day and do not do the week long closure at the end of August that seems to be all the rage so I was grateful for that.

And the non major federal holidays (e.g. veteran’s, Columbus) were PD days

[UMaineTeach]

The one I worked at was only federal holidays and one company wide meeting day. No snow days for child care, but other divisions of the company would close.

We did send out a letter asking about the likelihood of attendance around Christmas to estimate staffing levels and give time off.

[vanillacourage]

Dec 19, 2018 19:45:25 GMT -5 @angryharpy said:

Ours is only closed six days: New Year’s, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas. This year they’re closing at 3pm on Christmas Eve, but they gave us plenty of advanced notice.

Ours was similar - close at 3pm I think on 12/24 and 12/31 and closed the other days listed. I don’t understand closing for “low enrollment” - people should be paying by the week and only be out if they’re using a vacation week (at our daycare we got one week/year and it had to be used all at once). And agree with others that it’s way too late to decide to be closed. 

[noodleoo]

Dec 19, 2018 19:20:18 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

They are telling you 5 days in advance that they’re closed Christmas Eve? I’d be livid. If that’s your policy, fine, but you can’t spring that last minute.

It’s actually been posted for a while, but they sent a reminder letter home and that prompted me to count all the days since it seemed like a lot. I realized this wasn’t an issue in the past because Xmas and NY were over the weekend, so I actually have no idea what they will do next year. I guess I will ask. Yeah it sucks because H doesn’t get many of the minor holidays off (Presidents Day, Columbus Day, etc) and we have no family or anything for backup care. This is actually why I made my part time schedule T,W,Th since most holidays are on Mondays. But if I go back to work full time (which I’m considering in the next year), it will suck for us. It seems like a lot since we pay for the entire year regardless. 

[puppylove64]

They are only closed big holidays, July 4, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years. Often I have to work on school holiday and they are open. I would have to go elsewhere for all those days off you mentioned.

[jnibean]

DS goes to an in home daycare with mainly other teachers' kids, so she has school breaks off, including summer. I am a teacher, so it works for me. She has also taken off two other days for various reasons (her mom had surgery and then she took the day after she went to the Bon Jovi concert off) but she gave ample warning-the concert was in April and she texted me in January before DS was even born!

[nessness]

9 days - 8 federal holidays plus the day after Thanksgiving. 17 seems like lot.