Couldn’t you just find another day for her to work? If not, I think you should just pay her anyway. Consider it a bonus since you seemed to be satisfied with her work.
I agree with all those who said pay her anyway.
If you value her and her flexibility, you should pay her. She could have scheduled other jobs and good, trustworthy sitters could be hard to find.
When mine were little, if I cancelled, I paid. If the sitter cancelled, I did not pay. But, that was the deal we made. No, it wasn’t totally fair but if I just cancelled randomly, she would have wanted to fill that spot with a more regular customer. She needed to be able to plan to pay her bills. I needed a quality, reliable sitter.
Pay her for the full week. You basically agreed to a weekly rate. Most day cares that I know of will charge you for the days you’ve agreed to per week whether you show up or not. You have scheduled her time and owe her the money whether you use it or not.
[quote=“DivineComedienne, post:37, topic:626349”]
You’re welcome. It may also help to tell him that if she feels screwed over and quits, HE is responsible for making the replacement child care arrangements.
When it comes to the person who is caring for my kids I go overboard to be generous and thoughtful. I have the money but she has my kids and I know which I value more. I even pay my sitter 75% of the usual weekly pay for planned vacation that my family takes - like if we travel for a week during the summer - just to be generous. If the sitter takes planned days off though I don’t pay her.
You should pay her this time because of the goodwill and because it’ll make you feel like you did the right thing, which feels good for you too. If you think this will come up again this summer, you can work out a policy with her separately from this particular issue.
Or maybe the other mom will want to go halfsies on the sitter (obviously the fee will be higher with two or more kids) just so she can relax a bit, too. Just something to think about :).