Help w/ 3 Issues

[Martha Stewart]

Sorry you thought my response was snarky. It wasn't intended to be snarky, and I was just answering directly.

[spedmommy4]

I have to agree with the PP on the mom driving drunk. It IS criminal behavior. Where I live, you can call 911 to report a drunk driver. I don't know about other states but, I am sure it's fine to call the non emergency line to report an intoxicated driver transporting her minor child. I wouldn't tell the mom but, I would take down her plates, the direction she was heading, and give the local police a call.

In respect to parents not keeping tabs on their kids whereabouts, my daughter's old aftercare program had a pretty good protocol. Their standard rule was my child is my responsibility. I had to give them my schedule for the year. (eg: daily, 3 days a week, etc.) If my daughter showed up on an unscheduled day I got a call to pick her up. (And so did every person on my call list) It was pretty inconvenient but the lady was really nice and said, "We need notice of schedule changes." I put the number in my phone after that. As soon as you make anything the parents problem, things tend to shape up quickly.

Regarding the kids, I might try a class meeting to resolve issues. I worked in a school age program a long time ago. Discipline gets harder as kids get older, but I have found that older kids are far more likely to follow the rules when they helped create them. At our class meeting, I set the meeting ground rules for the meeting. (Respect one another and ideas, etc.) We discussed one problem at a time to come up with solutions. Hang in there!!

[Thriftylady]

Most of the advice I have for you is pretty worthless, considering that you are not really "in charge". I wouldn't want to do child care in a situation where I am not in charge, simply because of the issues you are having and not being really to do much. Any chance you could become a director of a program and have a way to make things better?

I had advice for you such as doing contracted hours, but you can't unless your program changes. Also I would say that parents need to give you in writing when the kids won't be there, but again you can't enforce that. You are in a different situation than I am.

[Unregistered]

As long as there are daycares without contracted hours, there will be parents coming at closing time. (My dcps would all just "contract" for closing time.) And the day that your late child leaves early, your early child will stay late. Old Chinese Proverb.

I used to work at a center for at-risk families. At least once a month, we would have chili suppers, used book exchanges, game night, storytelling, arts and crafts, seasonal parties, etc. to encourage and model family time. In the classroom, we had an Indy 500 boxcar race (parents would make the car with their child), student-of-the-month (parent would come for lunch or read child's favorite book to the class), a birthday bag (cake mix, icing, candles sent home), etc. We had very low expectations about these events, but we always ended up being shocked at the turn-out and participation. (Some parents you'll never get.) I bet you do a lot of extras, anyway, but the only thing you can really do is to keep encouraging it.

[MsLisa]

Most of the advice I have for you is pretty worthless, considering that you are not really "in charge". I wouldn't want to do child care in a situation where I am not in charge, simply because of the issues you are having and not being really to do much. Any chance you could become a director of a program and have a way to make things better?

I had advice for you such as doing contracted hours, but you can't unless your program changes. Also I would say that parents need to give you in writing when the kids won't be there, but again you can't enforce that. You are in a different situation than I am.

Actually, I AM in charge technically. I am the Aftercare Program Coordinator and that whole program is mine. My boss, he runs finance parts and takes my kids to the gym. That's it. The rest is mine.
(In another year and a half, i'll be taking over his position as Childcare Director.)

UPDATE: The druggy mom picked her kids up today at 6:15pm....that's $1/minute after 6...2 kids.....so $30 added to her bill. Her face was completely swollen and she could barely muffle out a sorry before running out the door. :confused: CPS is going to be called at this point. I've had enough.

spinnymarie: Your totally right. Its now the kids responsibility. I'm done chasing. Oh ___ is late now? Too bad so sad...name/number/email was right there. Thanks for the insight!

And thank you to everyone else. I feel less crazy now.

[daycare]

when my kids went to after school care we were required to sign up with a schedule. My kids went to after care 3 days a week both morning and afternoon. If for any reason my kids were not going on a day they were scheduled, we were required to call the center. If we failed to call the center and inform them that my kid would not be taking the bus there and attending that day, we paid a steep fee of $45.00 each child.

The center would go back and look for your kid if they were expected and didn't come off the bus, so that covered that inconvenience fee. this was way before cell phones..

If my kids ever showed up on a day they were not to be there, we had 20 min to pick them up and a $45.00 inconvenience fee.

maybe this is something that you could do.

[Thriftylady]

Actually, I AM in charge technically. I am the Aftercare Program Coordinator and that whole program is mine. My boss, he runs finance parts and takes my kids to the gym. That's it. The rest is mine.
(In another year and a half, i'll be taking over his position as Childcare Director.)

Well if that is the case, perhaps you can put in some fees and such that will help the issue. And maybe you can make all the parents bring in things like deo, baby wipes, etc so you have a supply without spending out of your pocket, or at the very least you should be reimbursed for them.