AM Routine, Please Help

[MommyMuffin]

What do you guys do in the morning when children arrive? I let my daughter watch sesame street until breakfast is ready. I'm afraid parents will think we just watch tv all day if I have it on at drop off all the time.
Since I am starting I want to make a good impression to make a good name for my daycare.
What do you do with the children when they first come till breakfast time?

[PAMommy1228]

I put on Sesame Street. I let my parents know that during arrival time and the last 1/2 our of the day I put on an educational show as we wait. My playroom is in the back of the house and a lot of the time I cannot hear a knock, or we are putting kids on the bus, so it's too hard to be in the back of the house. Once everyone has arrived we shut it off and go into the playroom for the day.

[DBug]

I just have free play in the mornings. We tend to have a breakfast buffet from 6:30 til 7:45, but it would work just as well with a set breakfast time. As the kids arrive, I bring them to the table, they eat, and then go and play. At 8, we head upstairs for potty time and then start getting ready for the bus at 8:15 (we had a nice break from that, but we may have to start doing it again on Monday!). I'm not worried about noise, so just letting them play while everyone eats works for me ...

[Crystal]

The children play or look at books beginning when they arrive. They almost always migrate straight to the playroom, which is set up with table activities(drawing, puzzles, etc.) I set out something on the tables in each playspace that is different than the day before so they are instantly drawn to it. Of course, they have access to all of the other materials as well, but they usually go for the stuff I set out for them.

I don't have a young child of my own though. Mine are pretty much grown up now. SO, if you want to allow your daughter to watch Sesame Street, I see nothing wrong with that. I'd let parents know at the time of interviews, "We do use TV in the morning as children are arriving. It is used as a transition tool to help settle them into the day ahead of them. Please know that we only select appropriate programming for the children and TV is only used at specific times"

MOST parents will be fine with that, especially if you are honest upfront about it and don't try to "sneak" it in.

[tenderhearts]

We have tv time (since 2 of them get here at 6:30) until breakfast which is about 7:20ish on school days. Then after they can play. I'm trying to get into a routine of feeding 2 babies, one is just 9 mo and the other is 6 1/2 mo, it's been difficult, one cries while I'm feeding the other. The 9 mo old has been pretty "needy" and "clingy" laely.

[laundryduchess@yahoo.com]

we do free play with our general toys, or I get out 2 center buckets (legos, dollys, vehicles, blocks, etc) Or puzzles,... We do have the tv on sunrise earth from 7 - 8. But we watch no childrens programming here.