Friends Over?

[JJPlaycare]

My daughter is going to start kindergarten and I am sure we will soon start the "having friends over" thing, currently her best friend lives next door to us, but I am sure once school starts her friends will broaden and she will want other children over to come play! I guess my question is how do you allow your kids to have friends come over during a daycare day? Do you have to have an opening and count them as one of your daycare kids? Do you have to have all of their medical forms on file just in case the licensor pops in? Do you allow your child and their friend to do as they please or do they do what daycare does? Just curious how everyone handles this!! : ) Thanks

[jen]

We have to stay within our numbers so friends count here! I don't have medical information or anything like that for them though.

[Janet]

Friends

I just make sure that if Olivia has friends over, that they have the ability to go home at a moment's notice if need be. This isn't the case so much now because my daughter is going into 8th grade, and she and her friends are usually not around much. When she was younger, she would have to arrange play dates in advance and I would have to have contact info for the child coming over. Also, the friend could come over once I was down in numbers enough for it not to affect my capacity.

[My4SunshineGirlsNY]

My kids will have a friend over from time to time but I have to make sure there is an opening because friends or daycare kids, I have to stay within ratio. If my daycare is full, they can't have friends over. I don't keep any records for friends because I know their phone numbers and how to get ahold of their parents if need be.

[momofboys]

I hadn't thought much about that. I guess it would depend on the age of the child IMO. In my state I was told that any kids over the age of 5 (so 6 & up) did not count in my numbers. But then in my state you don't have to be licensed. However, would I do it? Likely no, b/c having to keep an eye on another child, even if he or she was 7 or 8 would be too much for me.

[gbcc]

My kids will have a friend over from time to time but I have to make sure there is an opening because friends or daycare kids, I have to stay within ratio. If my daycare is full, they can't have friends over. I don't keep any records for friends because I know their phone numbers and how to get ahold of their parents if need be.

Just so you know, we have to keep info on friends that come over. If the state pops by they will need to see blue cards and the indirect supervision release. If they are under school age they need immunizations as well.

[Daycare Mommy]

This varies from state to state, and I'm not in MN, but we can have other kids over as long as they can leave at any time. So either they need to be within walking distance and able to walk themselves or they need to be chaperoned by someone who take them. We don't have to have any papers on visiting children here. Call licensing and see what your regs say about this situation.