Just Came On In!

[JoseyJo]

So- I have read posts before where dcm will drop off kids before hours and when the provider wasn't there but I NEVER thought it would happen to me..

Well it did today!

I haven taken my son to football practice every weekday this summer. I drop him off at 6:45 and am back before 7 when we open. Every day like clockwork. One day in June I was late back (2 min) and my 7 am d/o dcm was waiting by the front door for me. I was embarrassed and have never been late again.

Today I had to stop and get gas on the way back as hubby didn't fill up for me last night like I thought he did. I get back at 6:58 and DCM of my 7:15 d/o was walking back to her car, didn't look at me when I drove up. I thought she had went up and I wasn't there yet so she was walking back to wait in car w/ dcb. I park and walk up to porch and she gets in and drives away! I am dumbfounded on why she would leave w/o dropping off dcb, I wasn't late, not for my opening and she isn't supposed to be here until 7:15 anyway!

I walk in and see DCB 5yo in the still darkened playroom looking lost and confused. Turns out dcm got here who knows when, the door wasn't locked (my 14yo came out after me and he is gonna hear about that!!) so she came in, saw no one was there and instead of walking back out and waiting she left DCB in and went out and rang doorbell, woke up my hubby who came down in shorts and teeshirt, barefoot. My hubby was dumbfounded and said nothing to her about it. She acted like nothing was different, told hubby DCB would be tired as she let him stay up way late (again!), asked if we will cut short his nap because she MIGHT p/u early, and LEFT!

[MsLaura529]

I am just shocked ... don't really know what to say.

[mrsnj]

Don't you just want to know what some of them are thinking???

At least your husband was home!

[CedarCreek]

Wow.

I would give her a written warning and term her if it happens again. Its not your husbands job to take the child.

[Familycare71]

Hind site is 20/20 but it would have been great to call her and tell her to come p/u dcb until her allowed drop off- maybe with a 15 min penalty for what she did!

[Scout]

who does that??:confused:

[Meeko]

A stern talking to is in order! I could understand more if she was on time, needed to get to work and you weren't there.

But to walk into a dark home univited!

Ring the doorbell, knowing you weren't open yet and that she was 15 minutes early??!

Some people!

[MotherNature]

what the ? I'd be having some words, possibly terming if she causes other problems. Technically she just dropped a kid off unsupervised to an empty house. That's abandonment. Maybe she was just out of her head, not thinking, but seriously, that's messed up..

oh..your husband was home. That still doesn't excuse her behaviour though. Especially since it woke him up for her to be early.

[JoseyJo]

My hubby is my daycare partner so he does work in the daycare too- we only have about 1/2 our kids who arrived before 8:30 so he starts then and takes the evening after 4:30 shift and I get that off after about 1/2 the kids have left.

This DCB has been here for over a year so it's not that they dont know the how we do things! I do wonder what she would have done if he hadn't have gotten up- I am thinking probably just stayed inside my house alone playing w/ dcb until I got back. She HAD to know I wasn't there- our SUV was gone! Next week is DCB's last week as he is going to K this year. DCM is very thoughtless of others- has her boy stay up until wee hours on a regular basis sitting in the baseball stands so she can play on 3 softball teams and not pay a babysitter, telling him/me that she is coming early and he needs to be waiting then doesnt come till hours later, etc etc. Not gonna make a difference to talk to her so I will just keep my door locked until 7 am from now on (and I talked to ds!) so it cant happen again. Here in KS our doors have to be unlocked at all times during daycare hours or I would keep mine locked all the time.

[Meeko]

My hubby is my daycare partner so he does work in the daycare too- we only have about 1/2 our kids who arrived before 8:30 so he starts then and takes the evening after 4:30 shift and I get that off after about 1/2 the kids have left.

This DCB has been here for over a year so it's not that they dont know the how we do things! I do wonder what she would have done if he hadn't have gotten up- I am thinking probably just stayed inside my house alone playing w/ dcb until I got back. She HAD to know I wasn't there- our SUV was gone! Next week is DCB's last week as he is going to K this year. DCM is very thoughtless of others- has her boy stay up until wee hours on a regular basis sitting in the baseball stands so she can play on 3 softball teams and not pay a babysitter, telling him/me that she is coming early and he needs to be waiting then doesnt come till hours later, etc etc. Not gonna make a difference to talk to her so I will just keep my door locked until 7 am from now on (and I talked to ds!) so it cant happen again. Here in KS our doors have to be unlocked at all times during daycare hours or I would keep mine locked all the time.

Are you sure that your regs say doors must be unlocked at all times? Ours says that parents must have access at any time, but that doesn't mean we have to have unlocked doors..just that we let parents in promptly.

[Unregistered]

Your regulation says the door has to be unlocked during business hours?!?!? That's something I wouldn't comply too. We live in a safe neighborhood but things happen! If a "bad guy" knew that in home daycares have to keep their doors unlocked during the day they could become easy targets. I always keep my doors locked. I also have too locks that the children can't reach so they don't run outside. Mostly for my 18 month old who can open up the slider door.

[Meeko]

Your regulation says the door has to be unlocked during business hours?!?!? That's something I wouldn't comply too. We live in a safe neighborhood but things happen! If a "bad guy" knew that in home daycares have to keep their doors unlocked during the day they could become easy targets. I always keep my doors locked. I also have too locks that the children can't reach so they don't run outside. Mostly for my 18 month old who can open up the slider door.

Many years ago (it was after daycare hours) we heard our front door being rattled. It's always locked. My husband looked out the window to see if he could see anything and saw a man running down the driveway. He ran to the house opposite and ran straight inside. The police were there a few seconds later. They had tried to arrest this guy for something and he took off through the neighborhood. He had tried doors along the way looking for a place to hide. He didn't appear to have a gun, but held our neighbors "hostage" for a short while until he gave himself up to the police. I don't think they were in any real danger...the guy was just scared.....but they COULD have been. And it could have been US with a strange man in the living room

It was a totally random experience that I NEVER expected in our area.

I think any state that requires doors to be unlocked during the daycare day is very irresponsible. Many daycare providers work alone and are responsible for protecting the kids in their care. This makes them an easy target for thugs. Unlocked door. Victim who probably won't fight because of the children. Unlikely to have a gun easily accessed. Sitting duck, basically.

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

Many years ago (it was after daycare hours) we heard our front door being rattled. It's always locked. My husband looked out the window to see if he could see anything and saw a man running down the driveway. He ran to the house opposite and ran straight inside. The police were there a few seconds later. They had tried to arrest this guy for something and he took off through the neighborhood. He had tried doors along the way looking for a place to hide. He didn't appear to have a gun, but held our neighbors "hostage" for a short while until he gave himself up to the police. I don't think they were in any real danger...the guy was just scared.....but they COULD have been. And it could have been US with a strange man in the living room

It was a totally random experience that I NEVER expected in our area.

I think any state that requires doors to be unlocked during the daycare day is very irresponsible. Many daycare providers work alone and are responsible for protecting the kids in their care. This makes them an easy target for thugs. Unlocked door. Victim who probably won't fight because of the children. Unlikely to have a gun easily accessed. Sitting duck, basically.

I live in a very small community (it looks like Desperate Housewives community but is off of a country highway LOL) and we had a lot of workers that were building homes here a few months ago. They were seen trying to get into peoples homes! Several people heard them as they work in their homes, but their doors were locked. Things WERE stolen from the homes that the doors were not locked on. I can't IMAGINE how freaked out I would have been had my door been unlocked and strange men that I did not know were in here with me and 8+ children.
I am fiercely protective of the children in my care and that situation would not end well, I can imagine.

I would call licensing and clarify that one. That doesn't seem safe AT ALL! If it is, in fact, a requirement I would ask them if I could leave my backyard door unlocked instead of my front door. SURELY there is a way around having your front door unlocked during business hours!

As for this DCM, HOLY MOLY! "DCM, that was completely inappropriate to leave your child in a dark house when I, the person in charge of the daycare until 8:30 AM, was not present. Here is an early drop-off invoice as well since you arrived prior to your contracted time (hand over a $1.00 per minute invoice). If that happens again, your contract will be terminated immediately."
I get that the child is gone very soon, but she still needs to HEAR how completely inappropriate that was!!!

[JoseyJo]

I think any state that requires doors to be unlocked during the daycare day is very irresponsible. Many daycare providers work alone and are responsible for protecting the kids in their care. This makes them an easy target for thugs. Unlocked door. Victim who probably won't fight because of the children. Unlikely to have a gun easily accessed. Sitting duck, basically.

I totally agree and have said so to my regulator at each visit. They say it is for fire safety as the children need to get out if there is a fire and may not be able to do so w/ the door locked. I even tried see if a door that would open from the inside when locked would work but they said no. I DO still lock it when I go to the bathroom if my assistance is not in the room, and at nap time if I leave the room (we are allowed to be out of the room for 15 min spans while the children are sleeping). They can just ding me on that if they happen to come by then!

My yearly surprise inspection is usually in the fall so will be anytime- I heard we have a new inspector this year so I will make sure to mention it to him/her!!

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

I totally agree and have said so to my regulator at each visit. They say it is for fire safety as the children need to get out if there is a fire and may not be able to do so w/ the door locked. I even tried see if a door that would open from the inside when locked would work but they said no. I DO still lock it when I go to the bathroom if my assistance is not in the room, and at nap time if I leave the room (we are allowed to be out of the room for 15 min spans while the children are sleeping). They can just ding me on that if they happen to come by then!

My yearly surprise inspection is usually in the fall so will be anytime- I heard we have a new inspector this year so I will make sure to mention it to him/her!!

That is just insane. I am sorry!