My [27nb] new tutoring client [?F] seems to have completely unreasonable expectations for her daughter [9F] and for me

I [27nb] have a new tutoring client [??F] (messaged for the first time two days ago), who initially wanted tuition in one subject, upgraded to two hours/two subjects a week for her daughter [9F]. This was fine as I am an expert in both subjects, and have degrees from quite prestigious universities in them, so am very confident. After agreeing on this, she is now trying to get me to teach her 9 year old a completely new subject at GCSE level (the level aimed at 16y/os in the UK). I am not an expert in this subject, and also feel this is a lot of extra work for a 9 year old child who is already receiving a lot of outside school tuition. I've taught very overloaded children before and it isn't fun for anyone and I feel quite immoral being involved. I also didn't realise when I first agreed that the child was receiving other tuition in other subjects.

(Before 2019, all my clients were in person, and generally hired me because their child was struggling in my specific subject and it was great work that I enjoyed, & the kids generally wanted to be there, or at least were committed to improving because they had a personal goal. In 2020 I had a majority of very rich clients whose children were overloaded with tutors who they mostly didn't need - and if they did, the kids had no interest in putting in any effort, likely because they had so many other subjects they were receiving tuition in.)

After I turned off my work notifications yesterday at 8pm, this new client added me to a whatsapp group for her daughter's tutors (which I had agreed to be added to) and when I woke up this morning this group had 140 messages from her, no tutor responses, and 40 messages from her. [ETA: clarification, I meant 140 messages to the group, 40 direct messages to me privately] She has sent book lists of around 30 cumulative books that she owns that she wants her daughter to learn from, but that I don't have the funds to buy all of, and has changed her mind on what book she wants me to start on since I ordered one of them.

I am obviously working other jobs than just her, I have several jobs going at the moment, so the implicit need for me to be alert at all times to her is already stressing me out. I have a chronic illness that is triggered by stress, and only recently came back to doing some work after a flare up (which is not fully over, just a bit better).

The website that connects me to clients asks the client to pay for the introduction, so she has in fact paid to get my number / email, so to drop her now feels rude and unfair because she has got nothing from me and she has paid something.

I haven't agreed or refused to teach this third subject yet. I don't know if I should agree or disagree, I don't know if I should try the first week of teaching (would start next week) or plan to drop her as a client completely.

She could also probably tank my reviews on the website I work through which are currently only a small number of reviews but all glowing.

TL;DR: new tutoring client expects her 9y/o to do many hours of tuition a week, some way above her educational level, and constantly messages me. It's stressing me hugely - what do I do?

Submitted November 04, 2021 at 03:36AM by WelshTaylor https://ift.tt/2ZLFtI5