More ????'s About Contracts and Policies

[Blackcat31]

I'm re-doing my contract/policies for 2011 and am taking some advice learned from this forum but I have a few questions:

PARENT INITIALS: For those of you who have parents initial each page of the contract/policies/handbook (or whatever you call it), do you have them initial every page of two hand-books...one you keep and one they keep?
If they only initial one handbook and you keep it, how do they know what your rule regarding specific things are if they can't reference it?

CAR SEATS; Does anyone have a problem with car seats? I am having a problem with too many parents leaving them in my entry way and they are becoming a hazard to children and parents trying to get dressed to arrive/depart or if they leave them on my steps, it becomes a safety issue. If they leave them outside, we live in a climate of frequent snow/rain etc....I do not have a garage they can use and I don't really want to be responsible for them so I am looking for suggestions.

NORMAL DAY: I am switching to contracted hours and am wondering what most providers who have contracted hours consider a normal day of care? 8, 9 or 10 hours. I need a starting point to base my rates of off.....

PT/FT; I'm also wondering what different providers consider full-time and what is part-time?

Thanks ladies!

[JeepGirl6]

I consider anything over 4 hours a day is full time. I charge $40.00 for 4+ hours. Anything under the 4 hours is $7.00 an hour

[nannyde]

I'm re-doing my contract/policies for 2011 and am taking some advice learned from this forum but I have a few questions:

PARENT INITIALS: For those of you who have parents initial each page of the contract/policies/handbook (or whatever you call it), do you have them initial every page of two hand-books...one you keep and one they keep?
If they only initial one handbook and you keep it, how do they know what your rule regarding specific things are if they can't reference it?

CAR SEATS; Does anyone have a problem with car seats? I am having a problem with too many parents leaving them in my entry way and they are becoming a hazard to children and parents trying to get dressed to arrive/depart or if they leave them on my steps, it becomes a safety issue. If they leave them outside, we live in a climate of frequent snow/rain etc....I do not have a garage they can use and I don't really want to be responsible for them so I am looking for suggestions.

NORMAL DAY: I am switching to contracted hours and am wondering what most providers who have contracted hours consider a normal day of care? 8, 9 or 10 hours. I need a starting point to base my rates of off.....

PT/FT; I'm also wondering what different providers consider full-time and what is part-time?

Thanks ladies!

Car Seats: We do not allow car seats in the house for either arrival or departure. We do not keep car seats on the property or in the house while you are at work. The parents load and unload their kid from the driveway. I never see their car seats

Part time: minimum of three days per week

normal day: max of nine hours

I don't have parents sign policies so no initials. I just have them sign a contract after they have been here for a while. It's a little over a page long.

[Little People]

I have contracted hours:

Full Time - 20-45 hours
Part Time - less than 20 hours

[MyAngels]

I'm re-doing my contract/policies for 2011 and am taking some advice learned from this forum but I have a few questions:

PARENT INITIALS: For those of you who have parents initial each page of the contract/policies/handbook (or whatever you call it), do you have them initial every page of two hand-books...one you keep and one they keep?
If they only initial one handbook and you keep it, how do they know what your rule regarding specific things are if they can't reference it?

CAR SEATS; Does anyone have a problem with car seats? I am having a problem with too many parents leaving them in my entry way and they are becoming a hazard to children and parents trying to get dressed to arrive/depart or if they leave them on my steps, it becomes a safety issue. If they leave them outside, we live in a climate of frequent snow/rain etc....I do not have a garage they can use and I don't really want to be responsible for them so I am looking for suggestions.

NORMAL DAY: I am switching to contracted hours and am wondering what most providers who have contracted hours consider a normal day of care? 8, 9 or 10 hours. I need a starting point to base my rates of off.....

PT/FT; I'm also wondering what different providers consider full-time and what is part-time?

Thanks ladies!

I give two copies of my policies/contract and expect one returned, signed. They keep one for reference.

I would not allow carseats to be left for the day. Carseats are cheap enough (sometimes even free if you qualify) that they can get two, one for each car.

I allow no more than 30 minutes before and after their work day begins/ends for their contracted hours. Most of my families are here 8-9 hours maximum.

I consider anything under 25 hours part-time, 25 and up is full-time. I only allow one part-time child at any given time, everyone else is full-time regardless of their hours.

[nannyde]

I would not allow carseats to be left for the day. Carseats are cheap enough (sometimes even free if you qualify) that they can get two, one for each car.

My parents have two sets of car seats. My interview process takes a couple of weeks so they have time to get to searching for a second one.

I do not allow car seats in the house. They have to load and unload OUTSIDE. I don't let them bring them in and then take them out of the seat or bring the seat in and put the kid back in at the end of the day.

The car seat only comes into my house during the interview. As soon as they start they have to do all loading and unloading at the car.

Believe me they get VERY quick at it. It sounds hard but they can load their kid at the end of the day in SECONDS when it's just them and the driveway.

It really cut down on the amount of time I was doing with arrivals and departures. It saved seven minutes per day per child TOTAL (I did a time study on it over a period of a year.) This is in ADDITION to the time an infant who is not in a car seat takes on arrival and departure. Multiply that out and you will see how much time (money) that one policy can bring to your business. It comes out to be about 3.5 days per year per child. If you have three babies you will be giving away two weeks of free day care time per year JUST for the arrival and departure. It really adds up.

I would NEVER load a child into a car seat for a parent. If you do that you could be liable should the car seat fail in an accident. I explain to parents that for insurance purposes, I can't be a part of the car seat in any way. If I'm unloading or loading the kids in the seat I am REQUIRED to verify that the car seat is in working order, it has not expired, the straps are properly placed, all the clasps work properly etc. I do not want that responsibility. Out of sight... out of liability.

If they load and unload in the driveway I don't see it and am not a part of it in any way.

The main reason is that it takes too long for them to do arrival and departures. The reason that works with them is the insurance reason.

[countrymom]

are the carseats for the other parent to use, because all parents should have their own carseats in their own vehicles, you cannot secure them properly if they keep moving from one vehicle to another (I'm not preaching but it makes sense right) if its you who needs them, then I would suggest you buy your own, I have my own and its way easier.
hours: part time-anything under 4 hours and full time-anything over 4 hours up to my closing time (my hours are 7-5pm) make sure you have your hours down.

[laundrymom]

I have full time and daily. I only offer one daily slot and am currently splitting that between 3 kids. I get premium price for that slot.

[Francine]

are the carseats for the other parent to use, because all parents should have their own carseats in their own vehicles, you cannot secure them properly if they keep moving from one vehicle to another (I'm not preaching but it makes sense right) if its you who needs them, then I would suggest you buy your own, I have my own and its way easier.
hours: part time-anything under 4 hours and full time-anything over 4 hours up to my closing time (my hours are 7-5pm) make sure you have your hours down.

I think she is referring to parents bringing their infants into the house in carseats and leaving the carseats until pick up. I have two families that do that, it doesn't bother me but then again I have the space to set them.

[Blackcat31]

I think she is referring to parents bringing their infants into the house in carseats and leaving the carseats until pick up. I have two families that do that, it doesn't bother me but then again I have the space to set them.

That is EXACTLY what I mean.....I have 1 infant seat and two toddler full size seats and one booster seat that are always left here and kids and parents are always having to step over them or move them around to find all their child's belongings...plus when the parents bring the seats in (with children still strapped in them) they bang and bump into the walls and doors and I am getting really annoyed at having to repair chipped paint and torn screen doors. So I was looking for a little reassurance that I wasn't being harsh by telling parents to keep them in the car and not bring them in...... I don't transport any children by vehicle so I don't need the seats...they are left because....well, I don't know why they leave them because only one (sometimes 2) of them actually has someone else pick up their kid....:confused:

[Francine]

If they need to leave full size car seats my parents leave them in the garage, I know you said that you don't have a garage so I would have to say that they need to get another car seat so that both parents have one. That's what we did for our daughter. like somebody else said, you can buy car seats pretty cheap these days they don't need to be the cadillac of car seats. I am only allowed two infants so it doesn't bother me to have just those two seats sitting here.

[MarinaVanessa]

PARENT INITIALS: For those of you who have parents initial each page of the contract/policies/handbook (or whatever you call it), do you have them initial every page of two hand-books...one you keep and one they keep?
If they only initial one handbook and you keep it, how do they know what your rule regarding specific things are if they can't reference it?

I have a section in my contract that says that they have to follow the contract and the policies in my handbook so that I just have them sign the contract, I make a copy of the original and then give them that copy. I then just give them a handbook for them to keep. The section reads like this:

By signing this contract I, the parent/guardian, indicate that I have read, understand and agree to follow the provider’s contract and policies as stipulated in this contract and [Daycare Name] Policy Handbook and I understand that this is a legal and binding contract between me and [Provider Name] of [Daycare Name].....

CAR SEATS; Does anyone have a problem with car seats?

I provide my own carseats so I house them in my garage ... if I didn't have enough storage to keep them in then I wouldn't let families keep them at my home. Like you said, it becomes a safety hazard. If one parent leaves the carseat in the AM for the other parent to pick up in the PM I would just request that each parent have their own carseat in their cars.

NORMAL DAY: I am switching to contracted hours and am wondering what most providers who have contracted hours consider a normal day of care? 8, 9 or 10 hours. I need a starting point to base my rates of off.....

A normal day of care for me is 10 hours. Most parents work an 8 hour shift plus an hour for lunch and that leaves them 1 hour of commute time (30 minutes each way).

PT/FT; I'm also wondering what different providers consider full-time and what is part-time?

My hours are based on CA subsidy definitions. Full time is 30 hours or more, Part time is 29 hours or less a week.