How Many Hours Are You Open?

[TGT09]

I saw in another thread that someone was losing a parent because the parent was needing care for 10-10.5 hours a day. I'm open for 10 and it got me thinking, how do you stay open for less than that?!

That's the 8 hours parents are at work and then an hour drive each way....granted most of parents don't need the full hour to get here but some do. Not to mention, most people get an hour for lunch so there's 9 without driving time. I don't know, I guess I'm just curious now.



ETA: I'm open from 7:30 (sometimes 7:15)-5:30. I don't have "open" hours anymore since mine are contracted times but I guess I mean how many hours a day do you have kids?

[SunflowerMama]

I'm open 7a - 5p officially but all my families are usually gone by 5:15p. So I guess I'm closer to 7a- 5:30p. I only watch any given child a max of 10 hours though.

[MyAngels]

I am officially open 7 to 5. Right now the kids arrive about 7:30-7:45, and are all gone by 4:30. There have been times that I've had everyone regularly picked up by 4:00, though. It just depends on the parents' schedules at work. It would be difficult to stay full if you are trying to be open less than 10 hours per day, but I suppose it could be done.

[momofboys]

My hours vary but in general I do not provide care for any family for more than 10 hrs a day.

Family one needs care from 7/7:30 am - @ 4:30 M-F but 2 of these days I know in advance they will not be here until 9:00 to drop-off (the moms's schedule varies, some days she works, some days in school).

Family 2 needs care from 8:40 am - 5:20 pm but I only provide care for them 2-3x a week.

So on the days both families are here I *may* be open a little over 10 hrs but on some days I may only be providing care for about 8 hrs (I like those days!)

[momofsix]

I'm open as the parents schedules dictate, and now that's 6:45am-6:30pm most days.

[Unregistered]

My official hours are 8:30-4:00 Monday thru Thursday. I sometimes open at 8:00 and once in a great while, I agree to watch someone on a Friday if I don't have plans of my own. I chose these hours when my kids were young based on their school hours and the need for me to have one day free to be able to attend IEP meetings or dr. appointments with my kids. I wanted time in the morning to get them on the bus without worrying about day care kids and I wanted my kids to have our house to themselves once they arrived home from school. I'll stick to this schedule until my youngest graduates from high school next year and then I may choose to work more day care hours at that point. I've been doing this for 14 years now and mostly, I take families that need part-time hours. Usually I have at least one family that enrolls a child "full-time" but usually, I have kids here two or three days a week at varying time schedules. I've been very lucky to have found families that have needed schedules that worked with the openings I had at the time I interviewed with them. I also take drop-ins and I charge by the hour vs. by the day or week so I kind of fill a need for parents who don't need full-time and don't want to pay for hours they don't need.

[momma2girls]

My hrs. are from 7:15-4:30- I only contract, what parents need for work and commute times only.

[missnikki]

6:30a-6:00p

[tenderhearts]

I'm open 6:30am - 5 but I have one client I made an exception for 5:15, within these hours they are "contracted" hours, they put when they will be here between these hours. Anything over 10 hours I charge an additional fee. No one is here over 10 though.

[MommyMuffin]

I can start at 6:30 but my first parents are at 715, most of them p/u at 5:30 and one girl stays until 7 sometimes

[juliebug]

7am-5:45pm

[SilverSabre25]

Right now, 6:30 (sometimes 6) until about 4:30 (sometimes 5). In the past ten months I've also had 7:45 to 7:15 and 7:30 to 5:30. It all depends on the schedules of the families that I have. I don't have official hours that are set in stone because I need the money from whatever families I can get!

[laundryduchess@yahoo.com]

I am licensed for care from 430 to 6 but my clients schedules vary from each other and I usually have any given kid here from 11-12 hours per day

[MarinaVanessa]

I am open from 6am to 6pm and up until just a few weeks ago my schedule was from about 9-10ish to 6pm. Now it's 6am to 6pm since my first DCG arrives at 6am and my lasy DCB leaves at 6pm. It's not so bad really. I'm an early riser anyway and even on weekends I get up at 6:30 the latest. my DH hates it because I'm already up and around on Saturday & Sunday mornings vacuuming, cleaning and making noise ::.

[Live and Learn]

7am-4:00
I work mostly for teachers and my home is very close to four schools.