DCP Driving Me A Little Nuts

[Crazy Baby]

I've got these parents who bring their kid either late or early constantly. They bring the kid in with open food after we've already had breakfast and want him to sit and eat. I don't like this, because the baby will bother him the whole time and it just doesn't work.

I will try and wait for him to get here before feeding my child since he is the first one that comes. But then I end up sitting around waiting to feed my kid breakfast because they are late.

Today the parent brings the kid in 45 minutes late. I asked nicely if they could please inform me if they are going to come at a different time then agreed upon. The parent looked at me all surprised.

You'd think people would be more considerate. I don't think that they even realize how rude these actions are. It's just frustrating!

[Rockgirl]

Do you address these issues in your contract? I know from our point of view, it seems like they'd just know not to send food in front of other kids, and that you need to know when to expect them, but many times they just don't think it's a big deal. I think some parents just think "They're there anyway....what difference does it make?" They won't know unless you tell them.

[Unregistered]

I had a similar situation so I ended up changing my parent hand book to include a drop off time, must call by certain time or child will be marked absent for the day. I also changed from serving breakfast to serving an am snack later in the morning and informing dcp that child must be here by a certain time to participate in snack. Now my dcp call even if they think they will be late and I no longer have problems serving the morning snack.

[Rockgirl]

I had a similar situation so I ended up changing my parent hand book to include a drop off time, must call by certain time or child will be marked absent for the day. I also changed from serving breakfast to serving an am snack later in the morning and informing dcp that child must be here by a certain time to participate in snack. Now my dcp call even if they think they will be late and I no longer have problems serving the morning snack.

A cutoff time is a good way to handle it. I recently added this, mainly for one family who would try dragging in whenever. I recently terminated them for this and numerous other issues. It really bugged me!

[daycare]

A cutoff time is a good way to handle it. I recently added this, mainly for one family who would try dragging in whenever. I recently terminated them for this and numerous other issues. It really bugged me!

ditto on this. I have set rules that no one gets to mess with

breakfast cut off is 815 am if you are not here by then, you must eat at home and arrive no later than 900am. No drop off will occur after 9am.

how many kids do you have?

[Crazy Baby]

I've got 5 kids total, but only 4 at one time. Since it is a small operation, I think that the parents expect me to bend to their every want and need. I do try and do this as much as is reasonable because I feel that is one of the perks of a small family home daycare.

I have only been in the business 1.5 years so I have much to learn. Like don't do business with your friends! This has been the hardest for me because the specific parents that I am talking about are my friends and neighbors. They do a lot of nice things for us like give my kid hand me down clothes and have us over for dinner, etc. I feel bad when I have to enforce things upon them but I am getting sick of them not having their crap together!

I serve breakfast at 9 am but I will wait a little bit for their kid to show up because I know they will want him to eat with us. After waiting a bit I will go ahead and serve breakfast and if he's not here by before we are finished then he is out of luck. I just know that they think I am some mean witch for having this policy.

Why do people not understand the value of timeliness!?

[Blackcat31]

I've got 5 kids total, but only 4 at one time. Since it is a small operation, I think that the parents expect me to bend to their every want and need. I do try and do this as much as is reasonable because I feel that is one of the perks of a small family home daycare.

I have only been in the business 1.5 years so I have much to learn. Like don't do business with your friends! This has been the hardest for me because the specific parents that I am talking about are my friends and neighbors. They do a lot of nice things for us like give my kid hand me down clothes and have us over for dinner, etc. I feel bad when I have to enforce things upon them but I am getting sick of them not having their crap together!

I serve breakfast at 9 am but I will wait a little bit for their kid to show up because I know they will want him to eat with us. After waiting a bit I will go ahead and serve breakfast and if he's not here by before we are finished then he is out of luck. I just know that they think I am some mean witch for having this policy.

Why do people not understand the value of timeliness!?

They do....but only when it's THEIR time.

Otherwise, it doesn't effect them so therefore, it's not their problem



Friends or neighbors they still need to respect that you run a business (if they don't; then they are crappy neighbors/friends ). What I would do is write newsletter or memo to EVERYONE stating how important it is for a group to function at their best that times need to be observed.

Arrival times should be consistent and communicated.

I would make a point of mentioning how much time/effort you put into planned meals and activities according to WHO and HOW MANY children will be present and when someone is late or doesn't show up, it messes up ALL the kids' as well as you and the rest of the day.

Sometimes when you put things in context like that they do realize how their actions DO affect others. Sometimes. ::

[midaycare]

I have this issue. I make it clear that if child is not here by 7:30, they don't eat breakfast. I have dcf's who show up at 7:30-7:40 all the time.

If there isn't enough time, dck gets a banana. If there is, I will feed dck.

This doesn't bother me too much - I enjoy being flexible (to an extent). I remember how panicked I used to get when I was 5 minutes late to pickup my DS at daycare. My daycare lady would give me the stink eye and be rude. I would seriously have anxiety attacks if I were late. The parents I have are sincerely appreciative that I give them leeway (within reason).

But 45 minutes is too long without notice.

[Crazy Baby]

Thanks for the advice you all!

They were actually on time today! I think it is because I said something about it yesterday. I wasn't trying, but I may have put off a little bit of animosity in my vibe.

[Snowmom]

I have this issue. I make it clear that if child is not here by 7:30, they don't eat breakfast. I have dcf's who show up at 7:30-7:40 all the time.

If there isn't enough time, dck gets a banana. If there is, I will feed dck.

This doesn't bother me too much - I enjoy being flexible (to an extent). I remember how panicked I used to get when I was 5 minutes late to pickup my DS at daycare. My daycare lady would give me the stink eye and be rude. I would seriously have anxiety attacks if I were late. The parents I have are sincerely appreciative that I give them leeway (within reason).

But 45 minutes is too long without notice.

My husband and I were just having a chat about this last night. He thinks I should approach lateness similar to you. But, to me; you give an inch, they take a mile.
I don't mind 5 minutes when it's few and far between or bad weather. But being 5 minutes late multiple times a week or month... then an adjustment needs to be made on the parent's part. Parents contract a designated time frame with me and I don't work for free. 5 minutes late 3x a week is 13 hours a year I'm not getting paid. Even 5 minutes for an hourly wage earner is paid overtime.

He even tried arguing the "Well if you walked into a store 5 minutes before they closed, they wouldn't kick you out because you'd check out 5 minutes after closing time".
My argument: Yes, but they make extra money from the items you purchased. And those employees who had to check you out; would probably be making overtime wages too. It's not like the owner would say "nope, sorry Joe Cashier, you need to clock out now because your schedule said 9pm, but come back after you do that and ring these customers up because they couldn't make it here in time".
Just my take

[childcaremom]

My husband and I were just having a chat about this last night. He thinks I should approach lateness similar to you. But, to me; you give an inch, they take a mile.
I don't mind 5 minutes when it's few and far between or bad weather. But being 5 minutes late multiple times a week or month... then an adjustment needs to be made on the parent's part. Parents contract a designated time frame with me and I don't work for free. 5 minutes late 3x a week is 13 hours a year I'm not getting paid. Even 5 minutes for an hourly wage earner is paid overtime.

He even tried arguing the "Well if you walked into a store 5 minutes before they closed, they wouldn't kick you out because you'd check out 5 minutes after closing time".
My argument: Yes, but they make extra money from the items you purchased. And those employees who had to check you out; would probably be making overtime wages too. It's not like the owner would say "nope, sorry Joe Cashier, you need to clock out now because your schedule said 9pm, but come back after you do that and ring these customers up because they couldn't make it here in time".
Just my take

This is how I feel, too. I used to be more flexible with my time back in the day. Now, not so much. Pick up time is not something that I ever budge on anymore.

[Crazy Baby]

This is how I feel, too. I used to be more flexible with my time back in the day. Now, not so much. Pick up time is not something that I ever budge on anymore.

I give a 10 minute grace period for pick up time but do charge $10 per half hour late fee. As I said, I am newish at this so that policy might change.

Pick up time should really not be flexible at all but I think that drop off can be a little bit. They are still paying me the same even if they are late. Parents probably see it as a bonus for me when they drop off late. I'm still getting paid even though I am not watching their kid. The flip side of that is that it does interfere with our daily schedule.

Parents always tend to run late when you have somewhere to be in the evenings! Amiright?!

[Snowmom]

I give a 10 minute grace period for pick up time but do charge $10 per half hour late fee. As I said, I am newish at this so that policy might change.

Pick up time should really not be flexible at all but I think that drop off can be a little bit. They are still paying me the same even if they are late. Parents probably see it as a bonus for me when they drop off late. I'm still getting paid even though I am not watching their kid. The flip side of that is that it does interfere with our daily schedule.

Parents always tend to run late when you have somewhere to be in the evenings! Amiright?!

Most definitely!

I'm flexible with drop off times because of the way I structure my hours/fees. I allow all families 9 hours of care between my open and closed times (7:30-5:30). They can come anytime within those open-close times, but are only allowed a maximum of 9 hours per day or an extra $5 is charged (per day...and late fees still apply if they come past closing). Absolutely everyone is here by 8:30 because they want to get their full 9 hours in.