Parents are welcome to come into my house as they drop off and pick up. The only thing that bothers me is when they leave their wet/snowy shoes on and track the mess in with them.
Do Your Daycare Parents...
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When I did child care the first time around I added an addition to the back of my home and the back entry led right into the first daycare room. If I had a separate entry I would still have expected parents to come in.
I feel parents naturally have an interest about the environment their kids are in all day. I seem to be in the minority here on this. I would think it's odd a parent didn't come in. I like parents coming in.
Now, I did not let parents come through my front door and walk through my living room. That was not child care space. They came to the back door.
Now I am back into child care and I have bought a home just for child care.
There is not a separate entry area unless they stood on the front porch and stayed there!
Again, I am in the minority....but that is what is great about running our own business, we can fine tune it for our own needs.- Flag
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I feel really awkward being observed and wouldn't like it if parents came in and just started hanging out.
Thankfully most of my parents have been really good at taking no more than a couple of minutes at pick up and drop off times. They rarely come in further than the entryway unless I am back changing a diaper or the dogs don't happen to alert me to their arrival.
I had one dad when I first started who liked to kick off his shoes, come through the entry way, up the stairs, into my living room and plop down on my couch to watch an entire episode of Dora with his almost 4 year old daughter (when I'm not a fan of having the tv on anyway, much less that) before he left every morning. Was a HUUUUUUGE yikes and I did have to put my big girl undies on to deal with it. Either he stunk at picking up on my not so subtle hints that what he was doing was uber creepy or he just flat out didn't care.- Flag
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I don't even know what to say, to be honest. I don't want them to feel like they can't come in here because I have something to hide or it's dirty (because it's clearly not and you can see that from the entryway), but on the other hand they really have NO reason to be back here.- Flag
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See, I would hate this. Hate it. I love it when they're quickly in and quickly out. I don't want to be their friends. I want to be their child care provider and build a relationship with their children, not them. My entryway isn't a water cooler. I don't want to stand around and gab so I've made myself pretty much unavailable when pick up time comes around, too. I sit down and read to the kids and IF you have something important to talk to me about then you can wait until the book is done and discuss it with me OR text me/call me/email me and let me know that you need to have a talk. I have no problem with having a meeting or setting aside time to talk. I just hate informal chit-chat about nothing.- Flag
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I feel really awkward being observed and wouldn't like it if parents came in and just started hanging out.
Thankfully most of my parents have been really good at taking no more than a couple of minutes at pick up and drop off times. They rarely come in further than the entryway unless I am back changing a diaper or the dogs don't happen to alert me to their arrival.
I had one dad when I first started who liked to kick off his shoes, come through the entry way, up the stairs, into my living room and plop down on my couch to watch an entire episode of Dora with his almost 4 year old daughter (when I'm not a fan of having the tv on anyway, much less that) before he left every morning. Was a HUUUUUUGE yikes and I did have to put my big girl undies on to deal with it. Either he stunk at picking up on my not so subtle hints that what he was doing was uber creepy or he just flat out didn't care.- Flag
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I feel really awkward being observed and wouldn't like it if parents came in and just started hanging out.
Thankfully most of my parents have been really good at taking no more than a couple of minutes at pick up and drop off times. They rarely come in further than the entryway unless I am back changing a diaper or the dogs don't happen to alert me to their arrival.
I had one dad when I first started who liked to kick off his shoes, come through the entry way, up the stairs, into my living room and plop down on my couch to watch an entire episode of Dora with his almost 4 year old daughter (when I'm not a fan of having the tv on anyway, much less that) before he left every morning. Was a HUUUUUUGE yikes and I did have to put my big girl undies on to deal with it. Either he stunk at picking up on my not so subtle hints that what he was doing was uber creepy or he just flat out didn't care.- Flag
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See, I would hate this. Hate it. I love it when they're quickly in and quickly out. I don't want to be their friends. I want to be their child care provider and build a relationship with their children, not them. My entryway isn't a water cooler. I don't want to stand around and gab so I've made myself pretty much unavailable when pick up time comes around, too. I sit down and read to the kids and IF you have something important to talk to me about then you can wait until the book is done and discuss it with me OR text me/call me/email me and let me know that you need to have a talk. I have no problem with having a meeting or setting aside time to talk. I just hate informal chit-chat about nothing.- Flag
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None of my parents do. I set the standard early and cover drop-offs/pick-ups in my handbook. If parents want to chat with me they email, text, phone, or make an appointment to come in. Of course if a parent had a concern and, say, wanted to quickly check out my sleep room then they could. But I make it clear that all my families drop and pick up within about 15 minutes of each other so I am busy.- Flag
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I feel really awkward being observed and wouldn't like it if parents came in and just started hanging out.
Thankfully most of my parents have been really good at taking no more than a couple of minutes at pick up and drop off times. They rarely come in further than the entryway unless I am back changing a diaper or the dogs don't happen to alert me to their arrival.
I had one dad when I first started who liked to kick off his shoes, come through the entry way, up the stairs, into my living room and plop down on my couch to watch an entire episode of Dora with his almost 4 year old daughter (when I'm not a fan of having the tv on anyway, much less that) before he left every morning. Was a HUUUUUUGE yikes and I did have to put my big girl undies on to deal with it. Either he stunk at picking up on my not so subtle hints that what he was doing was uber creepy or he just flat out didn't care.- Flag
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For two it was the very first time his daughter had ever been in anyone elses care and I'm fairly certain it was just a matter of him being was incredibly nervous about how she was going to do.
It was weird, and did creep me out, but in the end he was 100% harmless and I went on to watch his child another year and a half before I moved.
They were my second family ever and I didn't have the experience or confidence I do now to have addressed it that very first day, the very moments it was happening. In his defense, after a brief period of time I addressed it, he understood my reasoning, and then he respected my wishes to have shorter drop offs that stayed at the front door.
Regardless I would never meddle in someone elses marriage over something so silly. Just because he wanted to sit with his child didn't mean that had anything to do with him having intentions to do anything that would harm his marriage. I would never make such presumptions about someone like that. I can make assumptions and blab to other people about how it made me feel at the time but there's no way I'd take that to someone else's spouse with ZERO proof they had any intention of doing anything wrong.
The guy clearly lacked social skills on some level but that didn't mean he was h*ll bent on trying to get in my pants.- Flag
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Woah, woah, woooooooah........for one, he was divorced and had primary custody.
For two it was the very first time his daughter had ever been in anyone elses care and I'm fairly certain it was just a matter of him being was incredibly nervous about how she was going to do.
It was weird, and did creep me out, but in the end he was 100% harmless and I went on to watch his child another year and a half before I moved.
They were my second family ever and I didn't have the experience or confidence I do now to have addressed it that very first day, the very moments it was happening. In his defense, after a brief period of time I addressed it, he understood my reasoning, and then he respected my wishes to have shorter drop offs that stayed at the front door.
Regardless I would never meddle in someone elses marriage over something so silly. Just because he wanted to sit with his child didn't mean that had anything to do with him having intentions to do anything that would harm his marriage. I would never make such presumptions about someone like that. I can make assumptions and blab to other people about how it made me feel at the time but there's no way I'd take that to someone else's spouse with ZERO proof they had any intention of doing anything wrong.
The guy clearly lacked social skills on some level but that didn't mean he was h*ll bent on trying to get in my pants.- Flag
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My setting is very informal. Front hallway/entrance way and about 5 feet away is the opening to the main room/playroom. No gates, doors etc. The room has a huge window that faces the porch/front door so they can look in/out that way. I don't have a problem if they walk in a few feet. I wouldn't want them to hang out, though mainly because I am excited for the day to end.
A few years ago we had a situation here with children who were being abused by a caregiver. The parents were never allowed in the house and dropped off at the mudroom area. It turns out the kids were stuck in pack and plays in the basement furnace room all day.- Flag
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When I did child care the first time around I added an addition to the back of my home and the back entry led right into the first daycare room. If I had a separate entry I would still have expected parents to come in.
I feel parents naturally have an interest about the environment their kids are in all day. I seem to be in the minority here on this. I would think it's odd a parent didn't come in. I like parents coming in.
Now, I did not let parents come through my front door and walk through my living room. That was not child care space. They came to the back door.
Now I am back into child care and I have bought a home just for child care.
There is not a separate entry area unless they stood on the front porch and stayed there!
Again, I am in the minority....but that is what is great about running our own business, we can fine tune it for our own needs.
No, I'm with you and the 2 PP's. I like my parents to come in. Not every day, and the shoes need to come off, but I want them to feel welcome. I think it builds a sense of loyalty. No guarantees, of course.
I think everyone needs to do what works for them.- Flag
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