Doorbell Rings...

[Hunni Bee]

Several years ago we had an emergency at this center I was working at and we had to evacuate the building. We never went back in, and everything was a mess.

I was the opener and we opened at 6:30. I went in at 6 to clean up. Usually I didn't go in til 6:25 because all I needed to do was turn on the lights. There were these two moms who dropped off the minute the lights came on and they would get there anytime after 6 and just let their kids run loose in the parking lot while they chatted. Sometimes in pitch darkness.

So they get there at 6:10 and proceed to ring the doorbell because they saw lights on upstairs. No lights were on downstairs. They rung that doorbell every minute until 6:28, when I turned the downstairs lights on and unlocked the door, all . And not just once and walk away, I mean dingdongdingdongdingdong etc etc etc...

People will act like that in a heartbeat.

[Brooksie]

Heck I've seen yard sales that say "opens at 8". Course everyone gets there early and they'll have yellow tape across their driveway so the crowd is all standing around waiting for the clock to strike 8. If yard sales can do it, then personal business certainly can.

Now with that said I used to get upset if people were too early or late when my kids were all home and my dh was here. Now it's just me. My 2 pups can't tell time and frankly, as soon as I close the door at the end of the day, it's too quiet. So I'm very lenient. Nobody really takes advantage and lets me know if they might be early/late. I only have 1 dcf who has a hard time getting here by 5:15 most days and I close at 5:00. I have a list of days I do need to close by 4:45 this fall, for workshops, so that they know ahead of time to be here.

As someone said, that's the beauty of having your own business. You can run it the way you want and only you are the one to own the consequences. I realize what everyone is saying but the way I look at it too, is when you get referred by your dcps for new clients, one of the selling factors might just be your flexibility.

I see your point, but I'm extremely flexible with pretty much everything else. My families know it and I get positive referrals all the time. I have no control over late pick ups, but I do have control over my mornings. It starts with 4 minutes early and then its earlier and earlier. Thursday and Friday I had pick ups between 4 minutes and 18 minutes late. I have a life and family to care for. I don't live to serve these people at my inconvenience. I do my job and expect to be respected.

[Lavender]

I work in a center and am the opener 4 days a week. It causes me problems when people show up before their drop off time. We have it scheduled so I arrive 15 mins prior to the first kid. I turn on lights, crock pots, unlock doors, push our buggy outside under the awning, check messages, get the schedule and breaks situated for all the other workers to see when they clock in, and do bleach bottles if needed. The second person is scheduled to arrive right when the first kid is supposed to be here. I am still working because I am getting breakfast trays prepared for each room and delivered. When I have a kid dropped off early I am unable to get those things done and everything gets pushed back. I need to have it all done before we need 2 teachers due to number of kids, or ages of kids necessitating separation, however. I don't personally say anything, but the owners sure do. Maybe I will suggest to them charging a fee for early drop offs. We've had several parents drop off very early before more teachers arrived and screw up our ratios. It's a big deal because that is a violation. I've had to tell early drop off parents that they have to stay with their child until the next teacher arrives. If they arrange it before then we can just adjust schedules to accommodate.

There is a lot more that goes into being early at a daycare than there is at a business, and yet a few parents still expect to be served at the daycare when they don't at the business. Thankfully, most parents seem to understand!

[Kabob]

I'm extremely flexible...for a fee. My contract says it's $1 per minute if parents are 15 minutes or more early or late. I explain that often this is due to scheduling my day for the kids and because if they are early or llate that means that their child has been with me for more than 10 hours a day and that isn't fair to the child. I haven't had a parent arrive unexpectedly that early or late, so far. If they contact me or schedule an early or late arrival/pick up, then I waive the fee.

I also avoid the doorbell issue (so far) by telling parents that if the door is unlocked, then I'm open and they can just let themselves in. Most have toddlers that are more than willing to oblige.

[caregiver]

I hear what you ladies are all saying and how everyone runs their daycare business or what centers do is how you want it to be.
Like I said before I try and be flexible for my parents and it doesn't happen a lot that anyone arrives early, but when they do it is only a few minutes.
My parents will Thank me for being flexible when they need it and I truly think it means a lot to them that I am trying to work with them when they need it. I also can't control it sometimes at pick up time, I live in a big city and with traffic these days,you can get stuck in it for a long time and so I totally understand when they are late because of it, they usually will give me a call and say that they are stuck in traffic so I know what is going on.
In the winter here we have snow and that can delay things if it is slippery out etc and I will tell my parents that I want them to take their time getting here for pick up if it is slippery,I would rather have them be safe driving then try and drive fast to get here on time.
I guess I run my home daycare a little bit more relaxed for the kids and parents and they seem to really appreciate my willingness to be a little flexible with arrivals and pickups when needed.

[LK5kids]

My hours are 7:30am also, but I don't mind if they are 5 minutes early,in fact I tell parents that my hours are 7:30am but please don't drop off before 7:25am. It doesn't bother me if they are 5 minutes early,I am up,dressed and ready to go by then and will have had my coffee by then.
To me, 5 minutes is no big deal, now if it was 15 or 20 minutes early, then I would have a problem.

This is exactly me to a T!

Also, I worked for a family agency for the past 14 yrs. and there were MANY times over the years someone came in at the last minute and I had to stay 5-10 min. longer, so it does happen in out of home work places, and no I didn't get paid for that extra time.

[daycarediva]

Here is why 5 minutes early bothers me:


My first contracted drop off is at 7:15am. All of my kids, my dh and I are eating breakfast and my oldest kid's bus arrives between 7:15-7:20. If they come in at 7:10, (once they tried dropping off at 6:55, and every other time in between then and 7:15) they are interrupting family time, and we won't all be together for another 12 hours.

Those minutes, heck, even those seconds, are precious to me. I MAY feel differently when all of my kids have moved out, but I doubt it. When they arrive early, I quite literally have to leave my family time and go to work early.

[Brooksie]

Here is why 5 minutes early bothers me:


My first contracted drop off is at 7:15am. All of my kids, my dh and I are eating breakfast and my oldest kid's bus arrives between 7:15-7:20. If they come in at 7:10, (once they tried dropping off at 6:55, and every other time in between then and 7:15) they are interrupting family time, and we won't all be together for another 12 hours.

Those minutes, heck, even those seconds, are precious to me. I MAY feel differently when all of my kids have moved out, but I doubt it. When they arrive early, I quite literally have to leave my family time and go to work early.

This is where I am in this. When the doorbell rang that 4 minutes early I was just about to pour my coffee and sit down to eat breakfast with dd. Our morning mommy daughter time is very important to me. The early drop offs are the only thing I can control, as opposed to late pick ups, which I had 2 of later that week: one was 4 minutes and on Friday it was 18 minutes. So if you're factoring in all that's almost a half hour of time I didn't/wouldn't get to spend with DD alone. As for the late pick ups, dd has an appropriate bedtime for her age (8:00) and if I don't have someone walking in to pick up their kid until 5:48 and doesn't walk out the door until 5:56 then I'm rushing around to run errands, make dinner, enjoy bath time and bed time with her and still get everything done. I savor the time we have and when things are rushed or taken away from us, I have a problem. I'm in this business to spend more time with my family, not be a doormat.

[luv2bfrugal]

Maybe traffic was lighter? Maybe their watch was a few minutes off? Maybe they just might have their act together a tiny bit earlier today? If it was just a one time thing, and not a constant thing, I would not leave a parent and child on the doorstep for the sake of 4 minutes. I prefer to be a little bit flexible to help make things a tad bit smoother for parents in the morning. Getting kids out to daycare is a stressful enough situation without me adding to it for I what I see as a miniscule amount of time. Why stress a parent out more? I am not a restaurant or a typical type business. I prefer to work with parents, again within reason, and not on a constant basis. That's just me.

I did not go into the daycare business to "make it easier for the parents"
Why make it easy on someone who takes advantage and harder for me? Its also not my problem if getting the kids out the door is stressful!