Changing Drop-Off Time For One Family...

[jenny31052]

On the contract it says that drop-off time is 6.30am, so every morning I'm downstairs and ready by that time, however child gets dropped off around 6.50 -7am...

It's getting annoying, and I would like to correct drop off times on the contract, and move it to 6.45 -6.50am

How should I do that? I was thinking about giving a notification letter, with a copy of the old sign-in/out sheets with the drop-offs times that have occured, to validate my decision...

WWYD?

[cheerfuldom]

Is 15 minutes that big of a deal? I am open at 7:30 but nobody gets here to 7:45 or later (even though the contract says 7:30). Its later so that is fine with me and I see no need to change their contract. I am not sitting around twiddling my thumbs or anything.....I just use the extra time to get a few small things done and it is no big deal here.

You asked what would we do....I would leave things as is because I dont see the few minutes later as being an issue. If it starts getting later and later or hits after 8, then yes, I would address it at that point but I am not going to nit pick over 15 minutes later in the morning. Now if it was an early drop off or a late pickup, I would certainly have something to say about that.

If you do decide to change the time, are you ready for possible fall out for the loss of the 15 minutes?

If so, write a short and simple notice to the families affected by the change.

Dear DC Families,

Effective June 1st, the daycare hours will change from ..... to ......
Please plan accordingly.

Thank you,
Daycare Provider

If anyone throws a fit, you can say that you have documentation showing they have not dropped off at 7:30 for the past how ever many weeks and that has shown to you that the earlier drop off time is no longer required.

[saved4always]

I personally like to have every moment of sleep I could possibly get. If I had a family who consistantly came at 6:50 instead of 6:30 and they were my first arrivals, I would ask them if that was going to be their usual time. I never did "open" and "closed" times; I was always contracted hours. My daycare families have always been very good about repecting my time so most would have been very receptive to my request and most likely would have been fine with the 6:50 time. I have been very fortunate in that most of the families I have had have been awesome.

The above is what I would do based on the families that I have had. Of my last set of families, I had one who would drop off at 6:40 (on the dot) if mom was dropping off or at 8:00-8:30 if dad was dropping off. DCM always let me know if dad was going to drop off so I would know not to get up early that morning (they were first drop off on mom's days). I had another mom who dropped off at 6:50 three days a week and then dropped off at 7:20 the other 2 days when she worked from home. She always let me know if she was going into the office and dropping off early on a day she usually worked from home so I would be able to plan my morning accordingly. As you can see, my dcf's have been very good about respecting my time so I would feel comfortable asking. Not all families are so accomodating, as I have seen on this board...so I guess it depends on your relationship with this family.

[DaisyMamma]

At 6:30am 15 minutes is a very big deal.
I'm not sure if I would ask, I would be worried that they would say no and start showing up at 6:30::

[daycare]

next year I will need to take my daughter to school because there is no bus and its 3 miles away.

I have a family that asked me to open 15 minutes earlier and then ends up always coming 30-45 min later. they may have dropped off a handful of times in 1 year at the time they requested, so I will be changing it.

Just as someone else said, I will be writing it in a letter and will mention it in the monthly news letter...

If my services no longer meet their needs, then I guess they will have to find someone else. I have been doing this long enough to know that there is always someone who will work within the hours that I am providing....

[Creek]

I don't open until 7:30am. I have two families whose arranged hours start at 7:30am yet don't get here until 7:50am at the earliest and 830am at the latest. I love the quiet time in the morning to myself. I check my email, get things ready, have a coffee. My DD is still sleeping, DH is upstairs getting ready for work - it's nice. But I may feel differently if it was 6:30am haha.
I did shorten my hours recently from a 5:30pm close to a 5:15pm close because parents weren't using it, works great. Who knows, I may change my opening hours if it's working like that - do what works for you.

[momma2girls]

I actually have friends that are open for a family for 11 hrs.
I just asked them, what they do? You know one or the other parent can pick up before the 11 hrs. are used. WOW!!!happyface Always ask the parents, what time they go into work and when they get off. One or the other can always drop off and the other one can pick up.

[DaisyMamma]

Always ask the parents, what time they go into work and when they get off. One or the other can always drop off and the other one can pick up.

When people call and ask what are my hours? I respond, what hours do you work? and go from there.

[momma2girls]

When people call and ask what are my hours? I respond, what hours do you work? and go from there.

I do the exact thing!! Then if they say they need 10 or 11 hrs. I ask them if your husband, boyfriend, could pick up, then you drop off, or vice versa. Otherwise maybe a grandparent, etc...

[DaisyMamma]

I do the exact thing!! Then if they say they need 10 or 11 hrs. I ask them if your husband, boyfriend, could pick up, then you drop off, or vice versa. Otherwise maybe a grandparent, etc...

That's a good idea. I just say that I don't usually do those hours, only 830-530, and then leave it up to them. The longest I have is one family (8-530/6) who is here 9.5, sometimes 10 hours. I really do not like it. Everyone else is 9 hours or less. Id rather just not have the family who needs the extra hours, they are more likely to always be late, as my long family tends to be.