Tweet
None of my daycare families have ever asked me to watch their children longer than 10 hours max per day, and usually its just 9 they need, but I just got a mom saying she wants care from 7am to 6pm, m-f. Doesn't that seem excessive to you?? What is the average number of hours your daycare kids stay with you each day? I have a flat fee per day, but I never thought to put a time limit on it...Do you have a set number of hours you will allow per day or in your set daily rate? I'm interviewing her tomorrow and I'm not sure if I should charge over time...
-
-
I had a 10 hour family that wanted 11. I changed my policy to contracted hours, max of 9. $5 for a 10th hour if there was no possible way for someone else to pick up. 10th hour was written into their contract and $ was due like normal tuition. One family paid for 10 hours. The one that wanted 11, left and I was fine with that. -
Mine are here 3 hrs, 5 hrs, and 10 hrs. (3 of them are 10 hrs.)
I'm open 10 1/2 hours, but my longest is here 10.Comment
-
That's crazy! The kid might as well spend the night with you too, by the time they get home and settled it will be bedtime already. You will get burnt out with those hours, no way I would let someone leave their child in my daycare that long. My longest is 10.5 which is only occasional.Comment
-
I used to take care of dacyare children for 11-11 1/2 hrs. daily. Then I moved into a larger city, I changed my hrs. to 10 hr. days. Families abused this, and were late all the time. Once I received all teachers children I went to a 9 hr. day. If you have your hrs. written in your contract, there will be many that will abuse those hrs. to no end. I have written work and commute times only now.Comment
-
It's not that uncommon for parents to request that around here- we live in a somewhat rural area about 30-45 drive to any big cities. So when you factor in an hour commute to work (rush hour), a one hour lunch, eight hour work day, and an hour commute home; that equals 11 hours.
However--- most of the time families can avoid this b/c the two parents usually don't have the same schedule. So, the parent who goes to work later can drop off; the parent who gets off work earlier can pick up. This is why I have a 10 hour max per day. The families have contracted hours according to their work schedules; and if they really need more than 10 hours per day; I charge an extra $5 per hour/partial hour after 10. So, if they needed an 11 hour day; they would be paying $25 more per week full time. Usually after I explain this; they figure out some way to cut their hours back to 10!!!Comment
-
Usually about 8.5 to 9 hours. 11 is a LONG time.Comment
-
Half of my kids are here 9.5 to 10 hours and the other half are here 8.5 to 9. One of my long day kids, Mom is a nurse, the other family, Mom works 30 minutes away. The nurse Mom has told me that she likes to get to work early to set things up and get things ready for the day, so if I pushed it, she could probably be an 8.5 to 9 hour day as well.
I would want to know why she needs care for that long and if it is legit and you enjoy the children I would accomadate if it wasn't going beyond my normal operating hours. I can't really imagine any job situation that would require that long of a day though!Comment
-
I used to have to work a 9 hour day (in mgmt), take a 1 hr. lunch, and drive 1/2 hour each way to work.
Doesn't seem excessive to me. However, I thought that as certified care we were limited to 12 hours a day, but that might only be on the daycare subsidy program. I'm not totally familiar with it all yet. I'm sure someone else will help!Comment
-
Hours
My wife's daycare put's a 9.5 hrs /day limit on it. We used to do anytime (or all the time) and it just didn't work out. It killed us after about a month. I think 10hrs a day is about average for max per day. She charges late fees for anyone staying longer than that per day. She's found that most people can find a way to work it out, even if they have long work schedules. They either get their spouse or relative or friend to help with pickups. People don't realize that 10+ hrs is too long for a child to be in daycare all day. It is like "work" for the kids too when it's that long.Comment
-
Here it isn't uncommon for families to want more then 10+ hrs. But for me, I set a limit which is 10 hrs. I have a teacher who works 45min out of town and she needs 10 hrs each day m-f. I know she isn't using this time to do personal things she is using it for meetings and travel. So I am happy to work with her. However, if there is a day that will be more then 10 hrs then I charge $5 after that 10 hrs per hr. There have been time I will ashually keep the kids over night as she wld not be here to pick up til 7:30pm bc of in service days or teacher meetings. I get paid an extra $25 per child for this service so I am making $100 for just that one day.
I am ashually happy to do it bc she is really a good client and the kids are awesome.
U just need to do what you can handle and stick with it.
Comment
-
It's usually 10 hours around here. Most parents travel from a 1/2 hour to 45 minutes to & from work. That's all I allow for, which totals the 10 hours. Anything over that is 'occasional' and falls under paid overtime (if I feel like it & my schedule allows, but my parents rarely if ever need it).
Anything over that and these kids start calling me "Mommy".
Comment
-
Until recently, I had one that was here 12.5 hours a day. But, it was 3 days one week, 2 the next. They paid extra for it, but it was hard. There were 2 reasons it was so hard--one is that the baby was a screamer-except when eating or sleeping, she screamed and cried. She had never been in dc or around other kids and she was just completely freaked out. I gritted my teeth and held on because I needed the money. After about 4 months, she leveled out and while she's still a bit sensitive, she's pretty easy to keep.
The second reason is that I do odd hours care and another child comes late but stays until 8:30. So on some days, I was working from 5:40 am to 8:30 pm. It nearly killed me. (8:30 mom didn't have those hours when I took on 12.5 hour mom or I wouldn't have done it.)
Things are better at the moment. 12.5 hour mom had a temporary schedule change and is only a 4 hour mom now. When she goes back to the other schedule, it will only be 2 days a week. I can do anything for 2 days a week, especially with 2 happy babies.
Mom#2 has been put on late shift, working until 12:30 am. I told her that I'd do it for 2 weeks to help her out until she can get her schedule changed, but I will not work 19 hours a day. I feel sorry for her, but I have a sort of mini-backbone these days--and a husband that hates going to bed alone! ;-) I don't care how big a mess this girl has made of her life, mine comes first.Comment
-
Maybe you should find out why they need that many hours. Is it that she know she will always need to start at 7:00 am and will usually be able to pick up at 5:00pm but because of her work she often has to work late and will on a somewhat consistant bases not pick up the child untill 6:00pm. Does she work 45 min away.Comment
-
There are many parents out there(although very sad) will always drop off at your open time and pick up at your closing time!!! I used to have one Mom always late, she would have to work out everyday before coming to pick up her children! I had one family that actually found another daycare that was open for 12 hrs. and the family was going to use all 12 hrs. each day for their newborn child!! HOW SAD!!!!Comment
Comment