Reservation

Whether it’s a client meeting, doctor’s appointment, or you just need some time alone, Buddings is your flexible, occasional childcare option. No need to call all the baby-sitters in the neighbourhood, or worry about getting out of the house on time. Just log in, reserve the time, and get going. Your time at Buddings can be as spontaneous or as regular as you want, and you can book up to 40 hours a month, as much as three months in advance.

Flexible occasional childcare is a pretty new idea. We should know, we invented it! So, to give you a chance to see how it works, we’ll give you the first visit free. 

When you activate your Buddings Account, you’ll find 3 hours waiting in your bank, ready to be booked whenever you want. Make your reservation with our online Booking Calendar and give the whole system a whirl. If you like the idea of having a licensed Early Childhood Education facility at your beck and call, you can qualify for an additional 7 FREE hours by making your first purchase within 30 days of activation. How easy is that?

3 hours to try us out, and 7 more for signing up!

Our teachers can watch for signs of sleepiness, and arrange quieter games, but as a rule of thumb, preschoolers should not be booked in for more than 6 hours, if possible, and certainly not more than 8 hours at a time. For toddlers, our recommended maximum is 4 hours.

Families are busy! Schedules may be set for a few months, but then they change. At Buddings, you can book for as little as one month at a time, or as many as you like. It’s that “flexible” part of our flexible occasional daycare! Once you’re enrolled, you can choose the package that suits your needs and reserve for as many months as you like. And once you’ve made your payment, you can even book your time, months in advance! We have 4 package options to choose from:

10 hours/month = $200

20 hours/month = $350

30 hours/month = $510

40 hours/month = $660

If you’ve underestimated your needs, you can add to your package during the month, but never more than 40 hours per month. Don’t forget, purchasing multiple smaller packages is more expensive than one large one, but the option is there.

Buddings offers a discount for families with 2 children in the program. This slides from $50 for families purchasing two 10 hour packages ($350 instead of $400), $100 for two 20 hour packages ($600), $150 for two 30 hour packages ($870), to $200 for families purchasing two 40 hour packages in a month ($1,120, instead of $1,320).

They can be made simply and conveniently by credit card through the Buddings account, when you select your package option, or by cheque when you come into the centre. Buddings does not accept payments in cash. No matter how you pay, the receipt will be sent via email for your records.

Whether you’ve purchased one month’s package, or three, or more, the corresponding Booking Calendars open as soon as you’ve paid. If you have specific, repeating appointments, a couple months might be a good plan, to ensure that your time will be covered.

This receipt will be for the hours purchased within the calendar year, and not necessarily the full amount paid. For example, if January’s hours were paid prior to the end of the year, they would be included on a tax receipt issued the following December.

We do not anticipate changing our rates before Sept. 2012, at the earliest.

The Buddings model only works if families can book the hours they want. To make sure your needs are met, we hold back more than 20% of our available spots each season to increase flexibility.

At the start of the season, 80% of the spots for each day are released for booking, and if you’re super organized, and make your payments beforehand, you can book your time up to three months in advance. But not everyone has their lives planned out that far, and emergencies happen.

The final 20% of spots for each day are released at 10am, one week before. So if you really need that Thursday afternoon spot next week, and it’s already full, check in this Thursday to book one of the extra spots.

Plans change, and so does Buddings. As long as the hour hasn’t begun yet, you can cancel it. Of course, if you were holding the 16th spot for that hour, other families may have had to change plans, so please be considerate and try to only book the hours you need.

When something really does pop up, you can count on Buddings to be as flexible as you are. As long as we have spots available, families are welcome to book them, with as little one hour’s notice.

If you and your child arrive at Buddings before your scheduled time, check in with reception. If we have space, it’s no problem to drop off your child up to 10 minutes early, free of charge. For more than 10 minutes, depending on staff availability, we may ask you to wait.

It is important to remember that the spaces at Buddings are shared between all the families registered each term. Due to our licensing restrictions, when you are late to pick up your child, you may be preventing another child from being dropped off. If you are running late (it happens, we know), you can log in to the Buddings Account, check the availability for the next hour, and avoid inconveniencing other families.

If the next hour is already fully booked, your tardy pick-up will prevent another family’s drop-off. The Inconvenience Late Fee is $50 for each half hour that you are late.

If the next hour has a space available for your child, you can either book the hour or, if you are running low on time for the month, it may make more sense to just hurry back. If you are more than 10 minutes late, you will be billed the Simple Late Fee of $15 for every half hour.

If you aren’t back in time to pick up your child, we will be expecting to hear from you, and checking our email and phone messages frequently. We will worry if we don’t know what’s going on.