If you direct a daycare, you already know the feeling. It's Sunday night. You're mentally counting heads for Monday. Someone texted you at 9pm that they need the day off. You're scrolling through contacts trying to find coverage, doing math in your head about ratios, wondering if you'll have to step into a classroom yourself.
This playbook won't make your staff stop getting sick. But it will give you a system that turns time-off from a daily crisis into a solved problem. Every rule here comes from running a real licensed childcare center. No theory. No HR jargon. Just what works.
Write a time-off policy. One page. Max.
Most daycare policies on time off are either non-existent or buried in a 40-page employee handbook nobody has read since orientation. Neither works.
You need a single page that answers these five questions:
- How much notice do I need to give? (We recommend 2 weeks for planned time off, as-soon-as-possible for sick days.)
- How do I make a request? (One channel. Not texts to you personally, not sticky notes, not hallway conversations. One place.)
- Who approves it? (Name a person. If it's you, say so. If you have a lead teacher who handles it, say so.)
- What might get my request denied? (Be honest: "If approving your request would put us below ratio, we can't approve it." Staff respect honesty far more than vague "we'll see.")
- How many days do I get? (By category. Vacation, sick, personal. Clear numbers.)
Print it. Post it in the break room. Hand it out at your next staff meeting. When someone asks "how do I request a day off?" the answer should be "look at the sheet on the wall."
Sample policy language you can steal:
"All time-off requests must be submitted at least 14 days before the requested date. Requests are approved on a first-come, first-served basis. We must maintain [state-required ratio] at all times. If your requested day already has [X] staff approved off, your request will be declined. Sick days: notify your director by 6:00 AM the day of absence."
Know your number. Every single day.
Your number is the minimum staff you need to legally operate every classroom. In most states, it's a ratio — 1:3 for infants, 1:15 for school-age, and everything in between. You already know yours. The question is whether you know — right now, today — if tomorrow is covered.
If you can't answer that in under 10 seconds, you have a visibility problem.
Here's the minimum you need:
- A daily headcount — who's scheduled, who's approved off, who's pending.
- A per-day capacity limit — the maximum number of staff who can be off on any given day without breaking ratio. This is your "hard no" number. If 2 people off means you're at ratio, then 3 off is a licensing risk. Period.
- Visibility for your team — when staff can see that a day is already "full" with approved time off, they self-select different dates. This prevents 90% of awkward denial conversations.
Quick math for your center:
Total staff on a typical day: ____
Minimum staff to maintain ratio across all rooms: ____
Your daily capacity = Total − Minimum = ____ people can be off
Write this number on a card and tape it to your desk. Every approval decision starts here.
One calendar. One source of truth. Non-negotiable.
If approved time off lives in three places — your head, a wall calendar, and a spreadsheet that was last updated in March — you don't have a system. You have a series of guesses.
Pick one place where all approved time off goes. It could be:
- A shared Google Calendar (free, but manual)
- A whiteboard in the office (visible, but easily missed)
- A shared spreadsheet (trackable, but tedious)
- A purpose-built tool (does the updating for you)
The tool matters less than the rule: if it's not on the calendar, it's not approved. Say that out loud to your team. Say it in the staff meeting. Say it until it becomes culture.
This one change — a single visible calendar that everyone checks before requesting time off — eliminates the "I didn't know she was off that day too" problem that causes most staffing emergencies.
First come, first served. No exceptions.
Fairness eliminates drama. When requests are approved in the order they're received, nobody can claim favoritism. It also rewards planning — staff who request early get the dates they want.
This is especially important during high-demand periods: spring break, the week between Christmas and New Year's, summer Fridays. Without a clear rule, you end up mediating conflicts between staff members and making judgment calls that feel political no matter what you decide.
The conversation changes from:
"Why did she get that week off and I didn't?"
To:
"She requested it on September 3rd. You requested on November 10th. The spots were full by then."
That's not you making a decision. That's a policy working. And it means you don't have to be the bad guy.
Holiday blackout tip:
For the two or three weeks a year when everyone wants off, set an explicit quota in advance: "Maximum 3 vacation days allowed per person between December 20 – January 5." Announce it in October. Put it in writing. When the rules are known before requests come in, staff plan around them instead of fighting them.
Track accruals or stop promising them.
If your employee handbook says "10 vacation days per year, accruing monthly," then every staff member is silently doing math in their head about how many days they have left. And their math doesn't match yours. It never does.
You have two choices:
- Track it accurately — every hire date, every accrual rate, every day used, updated after every approval. This is tedious in a spreadsheet but it's the honest approach.
- Simplify the policy — "All full-time staff receive 10 vacation days per calendar year, available January 1." No accrual math. Just a bank of days.
Both work. What doesn't work is promising accruals and then not tracking them. That leads to the ugliest conversation in childcare: "You said I had 3 days left. My count says 5." Nobody wins that argument.
If you track accruals, track these:
- Hire date (accrual start)
- Accrual rate per period (e.g., 0.83 days/month = 10 days/year)
- Days used this period
- Current balance
- Days pending approval (not yet used, but committed)
Respond fast. Even when the answer is no.
When a staff member requests a day off and hears nothing for three days, two things happen: they assume it's approved, and they resent you for not responding. Then when you finally say no, it's a fight.
The best directors we've talked to share one habit: they respond the same day. Usually within an hour. Not because they're available 24/7, but because their system makes the answer obvious.
If you know your number (Rule 2) and you have your calendar (Rule 3), the answer to most requests is immediate:
- Is the day under capacity? Approved.
- Is the day at capacity? Denied, with explanation.
- Is it a gray area? "Let me check coverage and get back to you by end of day."
Fast responses build trust. Staff don't need to always hear "yes." They need to not be left hanging.
And when the answer is no, say why: "We already have 2 people off that day and we'd be below ratio with a third. Can you pick a different day?" Staff who understand the reason accept the answer. Staff who get a bare "no" start job searching.
Keep a paper trail. Licensing will ask.
Every licensing visit includes a staffing review. Inspectors want to know: were you at ratio? How do you handle absences? Do you have documentation?
If your answer is "I keep it in my head" or "we use a spreadsheet somewhere," you're one surprise inspection away from a finding. Not because you were actually short-staffed, but because you can't prove you weren't.
What inspectors want to see:
- A record of who requested time off and when
- A record of who approved it and when
- Evidence that coverage was maintained
This doesn't have to be complex. A folder of printed request forms, a log book, or a system that timestamps everything automatically. The point is that when someone asks "how do you ensure adequate staffing?" you can show them, not just tell them.
Bonus: this record also protects you in employee disputes. If a staff member claims they were denied time off unfairly, you have the history: when they requested, what the coverage looked like, and why the decision was made. Documentation turns "he said/she said" into "here's what happened."
Putting it all together
None of these rules are complicated. The hard part isn't knowing what to do — it's doing it consistently when you're already managing 15 other things before 9am.
Start with the rules that address your biggest pain:
- Drowning in random text requests? Start with Rule 1 (write the policy) and Rule 3 (one calendar).
- Caught off guard by coverage gaps? Start with Rule 2 (know your number) and Rule 4 (first come, first served).
- Spreadsheet is a mess? Start with Rule 5 (track accruals or simplify).
- Staff frustrated or distrustful? Start with Rule 6 (respond fast).
- Nervous about licensing? Start with Rule 7 (paper trail).
You don't have to do all seven at once. Pick two. Implement them this week. See what changes. Then add the next one.
Want to automate all 7 rules?
Time Off Schedule was built by a daycare to solve exactly these problems. SMS approvals, automatic coverage enforcement, accrual tracking, and a timestamped audit trail — so you can focus on the kids, not the calendar.
Try it free for 30 days$99/month for your whole team. Cancel anytime.