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I do not transport daycare children in a vehicle at my daycare. I pick up the school aged children after school and we walk to my house, approximately 4 blocks away. All prospective clients are told this verbally at the interview, it is written in the handbook and I send out a reminder at the beginning of winter to all of the school age daycare parents.
I believe one of my school age dcm's has a problem with this. She has not plainly said it is a problem, but her continued questions regarding the walking home from school have led me to this conclusion.
I thought we were over it when I didn't budge on the no transportation when she brought it up 3 times in the last 6 weeks. I firmly told her that I do not transport, regardless of age, and that if she did not want her daughter to walk in the snow/cold that she needed to make other arrangements.
Some of her arguments are:
"What if it's too cold to walk?" My answer was if it is too cold to walk, most likely there would not be school. Here if it is too cold in the morning they will call off school because the children cannot safely wait at the bus stop. The likelihood of it being acceptably cold at 7am while being unacceptably cold at 3pm is slim.
"The school doesn't make the kids go out for recess if it is too cold." Yes, this is true. However, it is a 4 block walk and with proper gear the children will be fine for 10 minutes walking home. Her child is almost 9 so we are not talking infants/toddlers/preschoolers. My youngest school ager is almost 7 so they are perfectly capable of walking quickly to get home in poor weather.
"What if she forgets to take her snow gear to school?" Then she will be cold walking home. This answer was not what she wanted to hear and she followed it up with "Well if they forget their snow gear at school they have to stay on the cleared sidewalk. What will she do when you guys go outside?" She will have to stay on the cleared walkway or on the cleared deck. (Fact: While the children at school who do not have snow gear are encouraged to stay on the cleared sidewalk, it is not a requirement.)
Like I said, I thought we were over it. But no, we apparently weren't. On Friday dcg had snowpants happyface but no boots, gloves, or hat. :confused: She had on tennis shoes, showpants, and a winter coat. She asked if we were walking home today. I told her yes, of course, we walk every day. She was not happy. The entire way home she complained that her feet were cold. It was 25 degrees with the wind chill (7mph) and there was MAYBE 1/4 inch of snow on the sidewalk. I told her she needs to wear her boots next time and then I ignored it because I just wasn't going to get into it with her on 4 hours of sleep and patience wearing thin. We got home and the complaining continued. "My socks are wet, my feet are cold, blah blah blah." I repeated that she needs to wear her boots next time and told her if her socks are wet to take them off and then go wipe her feet off with a paper towel then sent her to go play. She gave it up after realizing she wasn't getting anywhere with the complaining.
Grandma arrived to pick her up at the end of the day. She asked dcg where her socks were. Dcg said they were wet so she took them off. Grandma asked why her socks were wet. Dcg said because we walked home. Grandma looks at me like
and said, "You make them WALK HOME in this weather?" *sigh* here we go again. 'Yes gma, we walk home every day. I do not transport daycare children.' Grandma replies 'oh. I will have to talk to dcm about that.' Then dcg says 'I can't put my shoes on because they are wet.' Grandma says, to dcg, 'are they wet because you had to walk in the snow or are they wet for some other reason?' dcg replies 'because I had to walk in the snow.' So grandma leaves dcg here while she(gma) WALKS to her house 2 blocks away and gets her car as well as a dry pair of shoes so dcg's feet won't be cold.
2 hrs later I get a phone call from dcm. At this point I'm getting a bit annoyed with the whole thing. Dcm asks if gma can pick dcg up from school and drop her off at my house every day during the winter. I told her I would think about it and get back to her. I'm on the fence about it. Is it a big deal? No, not really. Is it going to be a pain in the butt? Maybe. I can see it going either way. Part of me feels the whole thing is just ridiculous. Dcm wants special. I'm tempted to write up a memo that states children without proper gear when I pick up at the school will not be picked up. (proper gear meaning boots, snowpants, winter coat. Hands can be put in pockets and hoods can be put up) A parent or guardian will have to come get them from the school instead.
Am I being unreasonable here? WWYD in this situation? I think it's being blown out of proportion completely and honestly, it was 25 degrees out. It's going to get a whole lot colder then that in the coming months.
I believe one of my school age dcm's has a problem with this. She has not plainly said it is a problem, but her continued questions regarding the walking home from school have led me to this conclusion.
I thought we were over it when I didn't budge on the no transportation when she brought it up 3 times in the last 6 weeks. I firmly told her that I do not transport, regardless of age, and that if she did not want her daughter to walk in the snow/cold that she needed to make other arrangements.
Some of her arguments are:
"What if it's too cold to walk?" My answer was if it is too cold to walk, most likely there would not be school. Here if it is too cold in the morning they will call off school because the children cannot safely wait at the bus stop. The likelihood of it being acceptably cold at 7am while being unacceptably cold at 3pm is slim.
"The school doesn't make the kids go out for recess if it is too cold." Yes, this is true. However, it is a 4 block walk and with proper gear the children will be fine for 10 minutes walking home. Her child is almost 9 so we are not talking infants/toddlers/preschoolers. My youngest school ager is almost 7 so they are perfectly capable of walking quickly to get home in poor weather.
"What if she forgets to take her snow gear to school?" Then she will be cold walking home. This answer was not what she wanted to hear and she followed it up with "Well if they forget their snow gear at school they have to stay on the cleared sidewalk. What will she do when you guys go outside?" She will have to stay on the cleared walkway or on the cleared deck. (Fact: While the children at school who do not have snow gear are encouraged to stay on the cleared sidewalk, it is not a requirement.)
Like I said, I thought we were over it. But no, we apparently weren't. On Friday dcg had snowpants happyface but no boots, gloves, or hat. :confused: She had on tennis shoes, showpants, and a winter coat. She asked if we were walking home today. I told her yes, of course, we walk every day. She was not happy. The entire way home she complained that her feet were cold. It was 25 degrees with the wind chill (7mph) and there was MAYBE 1/4 inch of snow on the sidewalk. I told her she needs to wear her boots next time and then I ignored it because I just wasn't going to get into it with her on 4 hours of sleep and patience wearing thin. We got home and the complaining continued. "My socks are wet, my feet are cold, blah blah blah." I repeated that she needs to wear her boots next time and told her if her socks are wet to take them off and then go wipe her feet off with a paper towel then sent her to go play. She gave it up after realizing she wasn't getting anywhere with the complaining.
Grandma arrived to pick her up at the end of the day. She asked dcg where her socks were. Dcg said they were wet so she took them off. Grandma asked why her socks were wet. Dcg said because we walked home. Grandma looks at me like
and said, "You make them WALK HOME in this weather?" *sigh* here we go again. 'Yes gma, we walk home every day. I do not transport daycare children.' Grandma replies 'oh. I will have to talk to dcm about that.' Then dcg says 'I can't put my shoes on because they are wet.' Grandma says, to dcg, 'are they wet because you had to walk in the snow or are they wet for some other reason?' dcg replies 'because I had to walk in the snow.' So grandma leaves dcg here while she(gma) WALKS to her house 2 blocks away and gets her car as well as a dry pair of shoes so dcg's feet won't be cold.2 hrs later I get a phone call from dcm. At this point I'm getting a bit annoyed with the whole thing. Dcm asks if gma can pick dcg up from school and drop her off at my house every day during the winter. I told her I would think about it and get back to her. I'm on the fence about it. Is it a big deal? No, not really. Is it going to be a pain in the butt? Maybe. I can see it going either way. Part of me feels the whole thing is just ridiculous. Dcm wants special. I'm tempted to write up a memo that states children without proper gear when I pick up at the school will not be picked up. (proper gear meaning boots, snowpants, winter coat. Hands can be put in pockets and hoods can be put up) A parent or guardian will have to come get them from the school instead.
Am I being unreasonable here? WWYD in this situation? I think it's being blown out of proportion completely and honestly, it was 25 degrees out. It's going to get a whole lot colder then that in the coming months.
: Whether or not you allow gma to pick up and deliver dcg, I would implement your idea on snow gear being required for you to pick up any children at school. I'm sure you don't want them to be freezing or anything just because their parents forget their gear. So when the necessities are forgotten, tell the school secretary that she'll have to call the parents to come pick up their child. Not your fault they aren't prepared, it's theirs (the parents, not the kids).
Mom has been really good here so far and this is the only issue we've had. 
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