Those Who do 2nd Shift Daycare

[nannyde]

I've been doing 2nd shift care for 6 years now and did 24/7 before that. For the parents that work past 11:30pm they pick up the next morning after 7a so I'm not up in the night. I charge a flat rate that is the same day or night cause I don't like book keeping enough to keep different rates. ALL parents pay a weekly rate based on a 45 hour work week and the only exception is a couple parents that go over the hours by leaving the kids all night two or three nights. I had problems with alcohol being an issue cause most that need this shift tend to be waitresses. I quit the midnite shift cause I thought it would be popular as I'm in the automation alley but was wrong. Or could be because of the demise of the auto industry. Who knows.

As far as family stuff - the kids become part of the family and what we do they do. Just like family.

I never could get the pick up at seven a.m. thing to work. I had way too many situations where seven a.m. would come and go and I'd be stuck with an overnight kid up and ready for action as my day kids were getting to my house. I just didn't get clients who would actually go home and go to bed and then come back in the early morning. They would get off of work and go out because they had a free babysitter from midnight to seven a.m.

I learned to have them come and pick them up right after work or I would have them until nine, ten, noon, whatever the next day. Too many unanswered phone calls at seven thirty when they didn't show up. Boy I heard EVERY excuse in the book but the truth was they went out after work or stayed up and wanted to sleep in before they got the kids.

I did have one lady that worked at the post office who actually did it. She lived nearby and had a school aged kid. There wasn't any way for her to leave her kid here because I didn't transport kids. She was really good about it but the parents of the younger kids were not.

[nannyde]

yeah, I only did it 2 years with all shifts, my ex got a job (fctory) so we were able to go to strictly second shift 130 p to 1130 p for about 4 years (until I found out that he was sneaking around after work with on of my day moms. ) @@. Then I opened a 5 am to 2 am center while I was going through my divorce, and now for the last 13 years Ive had the schedule I LOVE, 4a to 5ish p. No weekends or holidays.

I still never let them have tv. We read, or played games or just played in the afternoons. Basicly the same thing I did while I did daytime care just in the evenings. And now I have a routine that fits us. We are finished with all formal learning things by 9 am, and ready to learn thru play. by 4 everyone is gone or going home shortly and we just play either in or out. and wait until their parents get here.

If I just did the evening shift it would have been a different deal. I would have had a completely different program on the evening shift. I'm talking about providers who work day and evening shift. If they do both shifts I highly reccommend having a very laid back routine at night for the day care kids. Sort of like what most kids have with their parents after six p.m. at night.. TV, meals, bedtime.

I always felt it was really important to my son to have family time with just us. He's ten now and has never eaten a meal with a day care kid. I decided before he was born that we would have a LIFE of our own here. I never have tried to incorporate his life into the day care or the day care into his. It works for us... but I can see providers choosing to integrate the kids into their family time. It just wouldn't work for me. The schedule that worked for me for all those years was play until supper, supper at five thirty, movie at six and then bedtime after movie. That gave me from six p.m. till they left of no day care kids up playing. That's what I charged for .. that's how my rates were set up... that's what worked for us.

[originalkat]

MAN! I applaud all of you who are able to make 24 hr care or second shift care work for you. I dont think I have it in me. But especially when you have a financial goal you are trying to accomplish...LOTS of things can suddenly appear doable. LOL!

I speak from NO experience with this...but, I think my evening care would look like this...

6:00 Dinner
6:30 Movie
7:40 Story, brush teeth, Pajamas
8:00 Bedtime

A few things I thought of were:
1) I would do Pajamas because I think it would help the kids transition to sleep mode. Plus the little ones dont get to sleep in their own beds...they should at least get their pajamas. Also, if the kid gets there at 4 pm that would mean they would have to be in their jammies playing for 2 hours before dinner?!? Or they would have to sleep in their clothes.:confused: I would just have a take-home canvas bag to go back and forth each day for each child. The day clothes go into it and the pajams come out. That way there arent clothes everywhere and everyone (kids, parents, and I) all know the routine.

2) I would DEFINETLY do the movie. Most kids relax with a movie in the evenings and they should be able to just chill and relax. I would not be supervising learning centers at 7:00 at night!

3) 7:00 seems to be a very early bedtime for preschool/schoolagers. I would do an 8:00 bedtime and it would be the same everyday regardless of if it was the weekend or Friday.

Like I said, I have never done these shifts but wanted to give my 2 cents anyway.::

[Childminder]

I never could get the pick up at seven a.m. thing to work. I had way too many situations where seven a.m. would come and go and I'd be stuck with an overnight kid up and ready for action as my day kids were getting to my house. I just didn't get clients who would actually go home and go to bed and then come back in the early morning. They would get off of work and go out because they had a free babysitter from midnight to seven a.m.

Surprisingly I have not had the problem that you mention but thought that I might. Most of the parents, moms really, are so thankful to get shift care that they don't want to F*@& it up I guess. Some of the children are here during the day any how and they'll just stay after day clients arrive. I have two moms that are in nursing school days and work a couple evenings at a restaurant, no dads or extended family to speak of.

[MarinaVanessa]

I have my regular hours (6am-6pm 10 hours max a day per child) but I also offer additional care evenings and weekends and overnights as a seperate charge from the weekly rates. Parents can also use this care on a drop-in basis (especially usefull during the holidays for shopping or a even for a date night).

My hunny was a little hesitant also when first thought of doing this because of family time so even though I offer this Sunday at 5 and later is off limits for family time, no exceptions. I don't always have kids evenings or weekens and when I do it may only be 1 or 2 DC kids so we just include them in our games and activities. Sometimes when we go to the movies or something I just let the parents know and they know that they can choose to bring their kiddos or not and that they have to pay for their child's ticket and anything else they may want to buy on top of the fee. We discuss this in advance so they all know.

Other than that (for us at least) there isn't really a difference. My hunny has odd jobs to do around the house and I have dinner to prepare and tidying so it's not like we're spending time together anyway and once that's done we all sit together (DC kids and all) for dinner. After 6pm I do what I would normally do if the littles weren't here and they just have free play or watch a video until I'm done. My daughter goes to bed at 8pm Sunday through Thursday and 9pm Friday and Saturday and any DC little that stays during these times or spends the night has to follow the same curfew. 9pm and on is time for only my hunny and I and it all seems to work out well.

[nannyde]

MAN! I applaud all of you who are able to make 24 hr care or second shift care work for you. I dont think I have it in me. But especially when you have a financial goal you are trying to accomplish...LOTS of things can suddenly appear doable. LOL!

I speak from NO experience with this...but, I think my evening care would look like this...

6:00 Dinner
6:30 Movie
7:40 Story, brush teeth, Pajamas
8:00 Bedtime

A few things I thought of were:
1) I would do Pajamas because I think it would help the kids transition to sleep mode. Plus the little ones dont get to sleep in their own beds...they should at least get their pajamas. Also, if the kid gets there at 4 pm that would mean they would have to be in their jammies playing for 2 hours before dinner?!? Or they would have to sleep in their clothes.:confused: I would just have a take-home canvas bag to go back and forth each day for each child. The day clothes go into it and the pajams come out. That way there arent clothes everywhere and everyone (kids, parents, and I) all know the routine.

2) I would DEFINETLY do the movie. Most kids relax with a movie in the evenings and they should be able to just chill and relax. I would not be supervising learning centers at 7:00 at night!

3) 7:00 seems to be a very early bedtime for preschool/schoolagers. I would do an 8:00 bedtime and it would be the same everyday regardless of if it was the weekend or Friday.

Like I said, I have never done these shifts but wanted to give my 2 cents anyway.::

The bag thing back and forth is a hassle. Changing kids before bed is too. I just had them come in easy on clothes. In the winter they came in sweats and the summer they came in t-shirts and leggings. A lot of kids don't even wear pajamas anymore anyway.

Seven o'clock bedtime wasn't a problem as long as the kids have been up for a good while. Usually the movies are an hour and fifteen to an hour and a half so they usually went to bed at around 7:15 ish.

The other thing too is that many evening shift parents keep their kids up once they get home. A lot of them would have their kids stay up with them so they would sleep in in the morning. I had that a lot and it really worked well. I had one family who had their family time from eleven p.m till about three in the morning. They slept in until eleven or so in the morning and then brought the kid to me at two. By seven p.m. she was ready for a good long nap. It's the same 24 hour day that everyone else has. It's not any different than having a long afternoon nap.

[actaktmdt]

Don't you have kids that are there really early though? Like before 6 am? That would be too much to do IMO. You will get burnt out.

one arrives at six, this dcc leaves at 2:45 every day..the rest come later......though occasionally the mom of 3 will need to drop off kiddos at 6 but otherwise its 7:30 for them. the fifth one comes at 12:30 and is gone by 3:30, 3:45, the rest are gone bewteen 4:30 and 5.......im waiting for the mom to call me back to scheudle a time for her interview tomarrow.