Parent Not At Work..

[NeedaVaca]

I will update you, but I am sure my feelings will remain the same. I worked outside of the home the first year my son was born. I couldn't pick him up fast enough at the end of the day!

My neighbor's are famous for dumping their child on anyone they can. The dad takes off his birthday every year, and his daughter spends the day here, with me. I can't think of anything sadder than NOT being with my children on my birthday. Everyone is different...but I don't understand it. Their child is my most attention-craving dck. It isn't hard to figure out why that is the case.

That song makes me cry, every single time.

I didn't mean for you to update, I meant the OP since they haven't started doing daycare yet

[crazydaycarelady]

As long as the check does not bounce and they stay within my operating hours I really don't care what they are doing either.

However........when they are NOT working you will find they usually pick up late!

My town once called off school and most businesses closed because the roads were so icy and dangerous. I had parents who got called off work because of the dangerous roads still venture out to bring their kid to my house!!!!

[bunnyslippers]

I didn't mean for you to update, I meant the OP since they haven't started doing daycare yet

LOL. Monday morning confusion on my part...it is going to be a long week.

[lovemykidstoo]

As long as the check does not bounce and they stay within my operating hours I really don't care what they are doing either.

However........when they are NOT working you will find they usually pick up late!

My town once called off school and most businesses closed because the roads were so icy and dangerous. I had parents who got called off work because of the dangerous roads still venture out to bring their kid to my house!!!!

I've had this too. Not this past winter, but winter before we got over 18 inches of snow. LIterally the whole town was closed down. I live in a sub and I had a family bring their 2 kids and they got stuck down the road. I had to go and walk through all of that snow to carry the kids back to my house. Are you ready for what these people do for a living? They OWN their own business. Ready for the rest of it? It's a motorcycle repair shop!!!! Ok, I think that they could have missed a day of work. Think that people weren't in a real hurry to get their motorcycles with 18 "'s of snow.

[Mom&Provider]

Yup! Not surprised by anything I've read! It seems to be the norm that parents send vs keeping home, and often. I like that some have added in their contract that they only care for kids who's parents are at work, but does that not just open the door to parents lying if they do have a day off??

I have a teacher family, kids are sent over the summer (2 or 3 days per week) and DCM even sent DCG 3 days per week while she was off on mat leave...that's a year where I live!! Granted she wanted to just send 2 days, and I said no, so she agreed to 3, but still! I can totally see sending DCG on occasion if she had an appointment or something, but really...that many days per week, every week seemed a bit much! In my contract she isn't responsible to pay over the summer, just leave a holding deposit, so she didn't have to send her daughter here at all or could have opted for the occasional day if she really needed someone.

What's worse is March Break came around this year and I seriously thought she'd keep the kids home with her, she had gone back to work in February, NOPE...every day all day here with me from open till close!! It's sad really, since I would have loved a day with limited kids when my own son was also on break...but no... :confused:

I get that everyone needs a break, but I think the issue is more when we do want some time off (or need it for an emergency) we are given a hard time about it or made to feel guilty. At least for me and it makes me feel terribly under appreciated for all my work.

[Babybear911]

I am still in the process of becoming registered as a day care provider and have been reading posts on this site for weeks now. I noticed a few different providers venting that the parents are either not at work, or left early and didn't pick up their kid right away. I'm sorry... maybe its because I'm new to this, but so what? My contract is going to list my hours of operation. If a parent drops off in the morning and picks up by closing time, how is it any of my business if they went to work, home to nap, the store, a casino, etc.. I'm being paid to watch the kid for up to 11 hours per day. As long as the parents pick up and drop off within this time frame, and the check doesn't bounce.. I'm good.

Trust me...you will be annoyed when people keep dropping off early and picking up late!

[melilley]

I'm kind of in the middle as to what to think of parents who bring their kids while they have a day off. I generally don't care what the parents do while their children are at my house, but I have contracted hours and they have to leave by the time their hours are up. I am open 12 hours, but I contract out hours so that children aren't left at my house for the whole 12 hours, unless of course they have a job that requires a shift that long (some nurses in my area work 3-12 hour shifts), but I haven't run into that yet.
I do think sometimes it is ok. For instance, I have one child who is here today and his dad is at home, but this child is 18 mo, old and is VERY active! Well the dad is packing to go to Japan so they brought him so that he could pack. He is going to be picked up early though and this family never brings him on their days off. Or I have a mom who needs to study so she will leave her son here for a little while after work. In those instances, it doesn't really bother me.
I do however think that it's sad when people habitually leave their children when they are at home and could spend that time with their children. Parents do need time every once in a while, but I don't think it should be every time they have a day off.
Another point is that families who receive state pay can't bring their children unless they are working, at school, or are doing something to get a job. Just thought I would throw that out there.
I hope this makes sense, the kids are waking up!

[julie]

I would love an update after you have started your job maybe 6 months out, just because I would like to know if you change your opinion. That would be interesting! I personally don't care too much but there are times that it bothers me, depends on the situation. I can tell the difference in the behavior of my kids that spend a lot of time with mom/dad vs the ones that don't.

What especially bothers me was that thread with the DCG crying for dad next door and he wouldn't even wave or look at her, that is very sad. A PP mentioned the DCM taking the day off for Christmas tree decorating, I find that sad too I love doing holiday decorations with my kids, those memories will last forever!

That song Cat's in the Cradle? Those lyrics always make me tear up and unfortunately it will be the story of some of these DCF's They won't realize what they are missing until it's too late...

I totally agree with this. I love posts with definite opinions before the person is actually doing the job. Kind of reminds me of my sister who has all sorts of ideas about parenting and has yet to parent yet.

OP, it's possible that you will start and feel the same way six months down the road, but it's also possible that you will change your mind once you see the effect on the kids. I started out open 10.5 hours and I had one family that used all of it, whether they were off or not. It definitely had an effect on their little one. He was so miserable. Way MORE miserable on the days the parents dropped off in sweats. He could tell they weren't going to work. Even at 14 months he could tell. Had a few others that were like that too.

Eventually switched my hours to contracted and only within 9.5h span of time. Most are here 8-8.5hours now. The kids in my care are much happier, have far more face time with their parents and I enjoy my job more. Before, I just felt bad for the kids here from the break of dawn to the very last minute of close (and often late) and I knew they didn't need to be. I also naively thought that no one would leave their kid in daycare all the time just because they could when I started. I wanted to be with my kids all the time, so I assumed that the working was just something they had to do and they would pick up as soon as they were done. Not the case. And I don't begrudge some "me" time as we all need a recharge now and again, but there has to be a limit sometime, don't you think? I can't place that limit, so I place the limit on my hours and hope the parents do the right thing for their kids.

[DaisyMamma]

I would love an update after you have started your job maybe 6 months out, just because I would like to know if you change your opinion. That would be interesting! I personally don't care too much but there are times that it bothers me, depends on the situation. I can tell the difference in the behavior of my kids that spend a lot of time with mom/dad vs the ones that don't.

What especially bothers me was that thread with the DCG crying for dad next door and he wouldn't even wave or look at her, that is very sad. A PP mentioned the DCM taking the day off for Christmas tree decorating, I find that sad too I love doing holiday decorations with my kids, those memories will last forever!

That song Cat's in the Cradle? Those lyrics always make me tear up and unfortunately it will be the story of some of these DCF's They won't realize what they are missing until it's too late...

I would love to see an update too. I also remember thinking the same thing two years ago. I also planned on being open 11 hours per day.
Now I'm open 9 hours per day.

[Mister Sir Husband]

I do appreciate everyone's thoughts on this matter, and now do have a better understanding of what I can expect when I do open. I'm not thinking it's going to help much, but I am planning on writing in my contract that if a parent gives me enough notice that they won't be bringing their kid on a certain day (a week sounds about right) I won't charge them for it and they will only be responsible for 4 days that week. I'm thinking it might sway their decision to bring the child on their day off if they can keep junior home and not have to pay me for it anyways. I of course will also have a clause right after this for parents that think they are going to misuse this and only pay 4 days every week.

[NeedaVaca]

I like how you are trying to get your contract ready to go and figure out a monetary reason for parents to keep their kids home with them occasionally. IMO-mom will use the day off to save some $ and the DCK will end up at grandma's. I also hope the clause you add is really specific or they will try to do it as often as possible to save $. Good Luck with everything, I hope your start up goes well I remember how hard it was to get started and make my policies the 1st time! So many ways to go...

[bunnyslippers]

I do appreciate everyone's thoughts on this matter, and now do have a better understanding of what I can expect when I do open. I'm not thinking it's going to help much, but I am planning on writing in my contract that if a parent gives me enough notice that they won't be bringing their kid on a certain day (a week sounds about right) I won't charge them for it and they will only be responsible for 4 days that week. I'm thinking it might sway their decision to bring the child on their day off if they can keep junior home and not have to pay me for it anyways. I of course will also have a clause right after this for parents that think they are going to misuse this and only pay 4 days every week.

Before you make a clause like that in your contract, make sure you run the numbers on how that will impact your bottom line. If you have a family per week decide to use this clause, even if it is different families, you may notice a significant hit to your income. It is thoughtful, but may be pretty costly.

[Heidi]

I do appreciate everyone's thoughts on this matter, and now do have a better understanding of what I can expect when I do open. I'm not thinking it's going to help much, but I am planning on writing in my contract that if a parent gives me enough notice that they won't be bringing their kid on a certain day (a week sounds about right) I won't charge them for it and they will only be responsible for 4 days that week. I'm thinking it might sway their decision to bring the child on their day off if they can keep junior home and not have to pay me for it anyways. I of course will also have a clause right after this for parents that think they are going to misuse this and only pay 4 days every week.

I'd suggest a compromise if you're determined to do this:

Give a PARTIAL reduction for the 5th day, not a whole reduction. So, if you're weekly rate is $125, and they keep kiddo home one day, they only pay $110 or something.

Also, limit it to a certain amount of days per year. 5 maybe.

Are you going to contract for paid time off of your own? Sick days, personal days, holidays, vacation time? How are you going to handle their vacations, etc?

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

The worst I've seen is a parent is home/off work and it's child's birthday and child is here for the entire 9 hours (I only do 9 hr days).

The next is that parent leaves work early to go home and make a cake for child's party at school that night and child is here.....in my mind that is something that the child should be doing WITH the parent. That is a huge bonding thing. The child was a 7.5 year old girl and would have LOVED that special time with mom.... So sad. and I only live a 2 minutes drive from their home. How great would it have been if parent had come here and surprised girl by getting her off the bus and taken her home to do that???? That's what I would have done, but apparently that's just me

I had a child attend today on their birthday and the Mom did not work. When the child picked up their birthday gift from me in their cubby to take home, the Mom said, "What is that for???" to which I replied, "DCC's birthday..." and she raised her eyebrows really wide and said, "OH! YES! HER BIRTHDAY!!! Yay!!!" :confused:

You CAN typically tell which children are in daycare more hours than not each week. Their behavior is far different from those who have parents trying to spend as much time as they can with them.

[MarinaVanessa]

I do appreciate everyone's thoughts on this matter, and now do have a better understanding of what I can expect when I do open. I'm not thinking it's going to help much, but I am planning on writing in my contract that if a parent gives me enough notice that they won't be bringing their kid on a certain day (a week sounds about right) I won't charge them for it and they will only be responsible for 4 days that week. I'm thinking it might sway their decision to bring the child on their day off if they can keep junior home and not have to pay me for it anyways. I of course will also have a clause right after this for parents that think they are going to misuse this and only pay 4 days every week.

I used to do it this way but instead of keeping sick kids out, parent's took advantage and would tell me that their child is sick but would just keep them home because they found a family member or friend to watch their kid for cheap or free.

What I found works better for illness is still charging a flat weekly rate, requiring that their child stay home and if they voluntarily keep the child home they keep their child home for 24 hours after the symptoms go away, if their child "suddenly gets sick" at daycare and is sent home then the 24 hours turns into 48 hours. This immediately took care of any dope-and-drops (giving kids fever/pain reducers to mask the symptoms).