Most Common Arrival Times

[Rachel]

I don't live in the states, but I open at 7. The first comes around 7:10, and usually I have 1 more before 7:30. I checked 7:30 to 8:00 because that is the time usually they are all here. By 8:15 for sure I have a full house.

[Patches]

I'm open from 6:30 to 6:00 but right now, my earliest drop off is 7. It's usually like this:

7:00 - 4:30
7:00 - 4:30
7:15 - 3:00
8:00 - 4:30
8:00 - 5:30/6
8:00 - 5:30/6

[Starburst]

I used to open at 6am but rarely had people ask for that early so I changed it to 7am. For me although most of my inquiries are for child care starting at 8am or later I do get some interest for 7am-7:30am care.

I plan on starting with a schedule where my business hours are 6am-6pm just to see what the average need is for those times and if after a while I notice that their isn't much inquiry begining at 6am or ending around 6pm I plan to change it. It depends on the demand market.

[melilley]

I am open 6-6. My contracted drop offs are all at 7:30 (thank goodness) and all but one child arrive between 7:30 and 8 and one comes anywhere between 8 and 9. They leave at different times, but are usually gone by 5:30 with the exception of one child who sometimes stays until 6.
I am full right now, but if I lose children I think I am going to change my opening time to 7:00. 6-6 would be a loooooong day!

[MrsSteinel'sHouse]

I am "open" 6:30 to 6:30 but I do not have kids that everyday. I like the 6:30 am nurses! This morning I didn't have kids until 9:30 and in that hour I got my 4 for the day. It is summer!

[MarinaVanessa]

I plan on starting with a schedule where my business hours are 6am-6pm just to see what the average need is for those times and if after a while I notice that their isn't much inquiry begining at 6am or ending around 6pm I plan to change it. It depends on the demand market.

That's a good plan. I initially though that opening at 6am and closing at 6pm was a good idea because we didn't have any FCC homes that started that early but I quickly found out that 6am opening time attrcated some (not a lot, but a few) inquiries asking to do earlier than that (like 4am, 5am etc) and I wasn't getting many calls for start times between 6am and 7am so I later changed my opening hours to later (since I wasn't getting interest between 6am-7am).

Trying something out to see if it'll work is a great idea, maybe in your area you will have a demand for it. If not, no harm no foul.

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

I open to my clients at 8:00 AM. I occasionally have a family needing to drop off at 7:15-7:30 and I will accommodate them at no extra charge.

[Cat Herder]

I did 6a-6p for years and the kids were here, everyday, from 6a-6p.

Then I noticed some folks from here had arrival/departure times written in their contracts instead of open/close hours I did a slight variation as that is out of the norm, here.

I now work 8-6. happyface

* I do have to toss out there that 4 out of 6 contracts initially said 4:30 pick-up, but because 2 families are here later, the whole group stays until 6, now. I'd love to do contracted hours, only, and be able to stay full.

If my competition did not stay open until 8pm, I'd risk the earlier closing hours as well. It seems "easier" to open later that to close earlier...

[AmyKidsCo]

I'm open 7-5 but my current families generally drop off between 7:30/8:00 and pick up by 4:00 and by 4:45/5:00.

This fall I have 3 new families starting and they're all contracted for 7-5. It's gonna be rough transition since I'm spoiled with short days right now!