Before School Care?

[childcaremom]

Does anyone do just this (without after school)?

I am thinking of doing this as my dcks don't arrive until after everyone would leave for school BUT if the bus is late/cancelled/school is closed after everyone is here.... I would not be able to have all the kids here and they would all need to leave before dcks arrive. I would have an hour to clear house.

So.... is that too risky? Or can I do it?

[Play Care]

I don't see it working. IME, parents (especially parents of school aged kids)use care for convienence.

As a parent I would look for care that could take my child on those days school was cancelled as well as before/after if that's what I needed.

I think even if you explained and had it in writing that it was only before school and never all day care, even if they swore on the bible that they understood, you'd still have parents get upset the first time you called for pick up if school was closed last minute.

[Michael]

Some threads here: https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.p...=before+school

[Crazy8]

I do it and it has never been a problem. I explain up front that I do not provide care if there is no school, etc. that the only time I am avail is that one hour up until the bus comes.

I've never really worried about if the bus was a few minutes late, its never been more than 5 minutes late. Our schools ALWAYS call off with plenty of notice (I think they actually have to make a decision by 5:30am or something like that - long before kids arrive here).

I am less expensive than the school's before/after program and I don't charge for snow days, holidays, etc. so people just understand that on those days they need another plan - I am just the one who puts their kids on the bus for them on regular school days. No one has ever questioned it.

[e.j.]

I did before school care for awhile and most of the time, it was okay. The parents knew upfront that I couldn't take the kids if school was cancelled for any reason so they had back up plans in place. Like Crazy 8 said, the schools cancel early enough that we knew that the schools would be closed before the kids were due to come to my house so it was a non-issue.

Worse than the bus being late was the bus being early. Missing the bus wasn't an option because I had no way to get the kids to school if they missed it and my regular dc kids would have started to show up before the parents could come to get their kids so I would have been over my allowed number of kids. We just made sure we got out earlier than we needed to to make sure the kids caught the bus.

I don't know where you are but the one thing that caused me to end before-school care was the winter weather we've had for the last two years. The year before last, it was very snowy and often bitterly cold. I had a child who had to wait out for the bus one morning in sub zero weather and blowing snow and, of course, the bus was late that day. By the time he got to school, he had the start of frostbite on his fingers - even though he was wearing good quality winter gloves. He had to wait out at the end of the driveway because the bus would have just driven right past if he hadn't been out there. He couldn't come inside to warm up because we didn't know when the bus would finally show up. Based on that experience, I decided it wasn't worth the risk to either the kids or me. This past winter was even worse than that year before so I was so glad I had made the decision to stop before school care! Just something to think about if you're in an area that gets cold winters.

[Crazy8]

I forgot to mention the bus stop is also right on the corner of my house. If I actually had to walk the kids any distance I wouldn't do it.

I did tell parents they were responsible for pick up if child missed the bus (its always a fear of mine) but I can see the bus coming up the back of my development and I always had them ready by the door at least 5 min. early so it was never an issue.