Late Drop Off..

[nanglgrl]

I'm not talking about a parent dropping off 5 minutes late, I'm talking about 10 minutes or more late.

Does it bother you?
If so, why?
What does your contract say about it?
If they call ahead of the regular drop off time to arrange a late drop off do you allow it? Is there a certain time they HAVE to arrive by or you will turn them away? What if they did this often?
What if they don't call at all do you call them? Do you allow them to still drop the child off?

Hopefully someone can help me out here. Dropping a child off late does bother me. I find it disruptive to our routine.
If they call me ahead of time I don't have a problem with it as long as it is not a regular thing and also as long as the reason for the late drop off wasn't that the child was sleeping in because then the child is not ready for a nap so they keep the other children up and they NEED their sleep. If they often arrive late I would insist they either show up on time or change their scheduled drop off time. I insist that children arrive no later than 9 a.m. if they are not able to be there until after 9 then they are not allowed to come until 3:00 p.m. the same applies if they don't call. If they don't call I call them but I then warn them that if they forget to call ahead of time on a regular basis they will have to change their drop off time.

[lovemykidstoo]

I have kids that come anywhere from 7:30 to 8:30. If all of my kids aren't here by 9:00 I'm on the phone. Since my kids start at different times I treat 9:00 as my starting time for any activities. So, if the 7:30 kid is 15 minutes late no big deal. Anything can happen to cause someone to be 5 minutes late. I don't really think they're "late" unless it's like 1/2 hr.

[DBug]

It doesn't bother me at all. I work with open to close hours, and parents are free to use whatever amount of time they wish. If I get an extra 10 minutes here or there without a given child, that's paid non-work time, imo!

I ask parents to call by 9am if their child won't be here at all, and most parents will tell me the night before if their child will be late because of an appointment or whatever.

That said, I don't let it govern our schedule. If we're going out for a walk/to the park or arena, I'll leave a note for the parents saying where they can find us.

[Meeko]

It doesn't bother me at all. I work with open to close hours, and parents are free to use whatever amount of time they wish. If I get an extra 10 minutes here or there without a given child, that's paid non-work time, imo!

I ask parents to call by 9am if their child won't be here at all, and most parents will tell me the night before if their child will be late because of an appointment or whatever.

That said, I don't let it govern our schedule. If we're going out for a walk/to the park or arena, I'll leave a note for the parents saying where they can find us.

Ditto!

[canadiancare]

I open at 6 30 and offer breakfast until 7 30 and we go for a walk at 8. If children arrive after 7 30 but before 8 I expect they have been fed. If I am ready to go at 8 and there is a child missing I phone (I only have 5 kids to begin with). If they are on their way I will wait. If they are still at home I tell the parent my destination and expect them to meet me there. If they have doctor's appointments I agree to be home from our walk by a certain time.

I used to have a family that "let the child sleep in". That I find disruptive to our day as they likely won't be ready to rest when the 6 30ers are.

[cheerfuldom]

I dont mind working with my families as long as they are communicating with me. But you cant come and go as you please at any time! I strongly prefer all kids to be dropped off by 9am because that is when we go for a walk. I also insist that everyone is able to nap at 12 so you cant drop your kid off at 11 because they slept in and expect me to keep them entertained during nap time. As long as parents respect nap time and communicate their plans, I can work with almost anything. But a big thing that stops parents from doing whatever they want is the fact that the door is locked and we go downstairs and i cant hear them at the door they HAVE to communicate their plans in order to make sure someone is here at the house or able to get to the door. otherwise they may be standing on my porch for awhile

[littlemissmuffet]

I cannot stand people who are late, not just dropping off their children at daycare, but with life in general.

I find it VERY disrespectful to me and my time/schedule when people drop their kids off late!

Here's what I do to curb the issue:

A parent MUST call within 10 minutes of usual drop off time if they are going to be late or absent. A minute longer and they are charged a $10 "inconvenience" fee, due upon drop-off.

If a parent "forgets" to call to inform of a late or absent 3 or more times over any period of time I will consider termination (I find the parents who can't follow basic common-sense rules like this have issues following most rules and I am ready to term by this point anyways).

If a child is not dropped off by 8am sharp, their child will not recieve breakfast.

If a child is not dropped off by 9am sharp (with the exception of doc appts, some other pre-discussed circumstance) the door gets locked and they are not accepted into care for the day (no reimbursements).

I don't allow drop offs after 10:30am under ANY circumstances. Period.

I don't call parents to check and see where a child is. If we leave at 9am, I put a note on the door saying "Sorry you missed us. See you tomorrow!" And I ask for the $10 inconvenience fee the next day at drop-off.

[slpender]

Littlemissmuffet I really like your policy I am having drop off issues with a family right now and it is driving me crazy.

[daycare]

I cannot stand people who are late, not just dropping off their children at daycare, but with life in general.

I find it VERY disrespectful to me and my time/schedule when people drop their kids off late!

Here's what I do to curb the issue:

A parent MUST call within 10 minutes of usual drop off time if they are going to be late or absent. A minute longer and they are charged a $10 "inconvenience" fee, due upon drop-off.

If a parent "forgets" to call to inform of a late or absent 3 or more times over any period of time I will consider termination (I find the parents who can't follow basic common-sense rules like this have issues following most rules and I am ready to term by this point anyways).

If a child is not dropped off by 8am sharp, their child will not recieve breakfast.

If a child is not dropped off by 9am sharp (with the exception of doc appts, some other pre-discussed circumstance) the door gets locked and they are not accepted into care for the day (no reimbursements).

I don't allow drop offs after 10:30am under ANY circumstances. Period.

I don't call parents to check and see where a child is. If we leave at 9am, I put a note on the door saying "Sorry you missed us. See you tomorrow!" And I ask for the $10 inconvenience fee the next day at drop-off.

I would be rich if I had this policy, but I could never have one like this due to the fact that I don't allow ages younger than 20 months and a lot of the parents have to drop off their other kids at a different daycare. So I try to be as flexible with them as possible.

I do have the policy that if you are not here by 9am, that you are not able to come for the day...

[Happy Hearts]

I think late drop offs are a bonus!!! Free money.

Late pick ups on the other hand are quite annoying and must be dealt with immediately.

[HappyHearts]

late drop offs don't bother me much. My rates are for the hours I'm open, regardless to how many hours or not they are here, same pay every week. However, I do have it that I don't allow drop offs or pick-ups between lunch and nap time, and prefer all children to be dropped off no later then 9am, and if they are not here by 8am they must eat breakfast at home. Breakfast is served at 8am promptly, so I normally have all my kids here before then.

I normally don't need to call if a parent is late, because they normally call me ahead of time and inform me, but if they didn't, I would call to check on them.

[slpender]

I cannot stand people who are late, not just dropping off their children at daycare, but with life in general.

I find it VERY disrespectful to me and my time/schedule when people drop their kids off late!

Here's what I do to curb the issue:

A parent MUST call within 10 minutes of usual drop off time if they are going to be late or absent. A minute longer and they are charged a $10 "inconvenience" fee, due upon drop-off.

If a parent "forgets" to call to inform of a late or absent 3 or more times over any period of time I will consider termination (I find the parents who can't follow basic common-sense rules like this have issues following most rules and I am ready to term by this point anyways).

If a child is not dropped off by 8am sharp, their child will not recieve breakfast.

If a child is not dropped off by 9am sharp (with the exception of doc appts, some other pre-discussed circumstance) the door gets locked and they are not accepted into care for the day (no reimbursements).

I don't allow drop offs after 10:30am under ANY circumstances. Period.

I don't call parents to check and see where a child is. If we leave at 9am, I put a note on the door saying "Sorry you missed us. See you tomorrow!" And I ask for the $10 inconvenience fee the next day at drop-off.

I really like this policy how do you have it worded in your contract. I would like to add something simular but I am not sure how to word it and where to put it into my current contract. I would like to start enforcing the 9am drop off rule asap. Thanks

[littlemissmuffet]

I PMed you, splender!

[slpender]

I PMed you, splender!

Thank you
this is very helpful.

[JennyBear]

I'm very lucky. All of my families are like clockwork and are here on time every morning (give or take maybe 5 minutes).

My policy is that I only serve breakfast until about 7:45am so any child arriving after that time needs to be fed breakfast at home. Again, this has not been an issue at all.

However, if I ever did have a family that came later for whatever reason I need to know about it just so I can prepare (if they are aware they will be late). We usually head outside around 10/10:30 until lunch time so parents have to hunt us down if we're not home.

I hope I really never have to deal with this, because I think I would be a little annoyed if I'm planning on a child coming around a certain time and parents just decide to show up whenever they want.