late / no shows

[Second Home]

I have it in my policy handbook that you must call/text within 15 minutes of your arrival time if you are going to be late or not coming at all . But I have nothing about what will happen if you do not contact me and let me know .

I have 2 dck who should have been here at 8:30 ,it's now 9:15 and they are still not here and I have not received any messages as to if they are coming or not .

These are the only 2 I am supposed to have today and it is bugging me that I could be doing something fun with my kids today instead of waiting around for them . Sometimes I would like to just leave the house and not be here for whenever they decide to show up.

I guess I will text to see if they are coming but I really don't feel that I should be the one tracking them down .

[LysesKids]

I have it in my policy that if I haven't heard from you within 15 minutes of supposed arrival, I will text/call at 30 minutes to see what is going on; if no answer & no arrival I will assume you are not attending that day and it will be your responsibility to find other care for the day (I will turn people away @ door)

[Blackcat31]

I have it in my policy handbook that you must call/text within 15 minutes of your arrival time if you are going to be late or not coming at all . But I have nothing about what will happen if you do not contact me and let me know .

I have 2 dck who should have been here at 8:30 ,it's now 9:15 and they are still not here and I have not received any messages as to if they are coming or not .

These are the only 2 I am supposed to have today and it is bugging me that I could be doing something fun with my kids today instead of waiting around for them . Sometimes I would like to just leave the house and not be here for whenever they decide to show up.

I guess I will text to see if they are coming but I really don't feel that I should be the one tracking them down .

My policy says that parents must contact me if they are running late. If they do not contact me within 30 minutes of their expected arrival time, the child will be recorded as a "no-show/no-contact" and may "possibly" be denied care for the day (depending on the circumstances).

After 3 "no-show/no-contact"'s I will terminate services.


So even if they do show up an hour after they were suppose to come they are still given a "strike" so to speak and after 3 of those, they lose their space here.

It's worked great for me as it only takes a second to send a quick text and in today's age of technology there really isn't a good excuse for no contact. kwim?

[Blackcat31]

I used to state that services would not be available for the day or that I would turn them away at the door if they were more than x amount of minutes late but I quickly realized that policy didn't work very well when I still required payment as I don't feel right denying services AND still requiring payment unless the child meets the exclusion policies (illness etc for example...) or I am closed for business all together.

If a parent was denied services they paid for and took it to court or to licensing, I can see the parent coming out on top for sure.

So I just did the 3 strikes you are out rule instead.

[KidGrind]

I have it in my policy handbook that you must call/text within 15 minutes of your arrival time if you are going to be late or not coming at all . But I have nothing about what will happen if you do not contact me and let me know .

I have 2 dck who should have been here at 8:30 ,it's now 9:15 and they are still not here and I have not received any messages as to if they are coming or not .

These are the only 2 I am supposed to have today and it is bugging me that I could be doing something fun with my kids today instead of waiting around for them . Sometimes I would like to just leave the house and not be here for whenever they decide to show up.

I guess I will text to see if they are coming but I really don't feel that I should be the one tracking them down .

Doesn’t see a problem, they are no shows. Leave your house if you want to, you’ve fulfilled your end of it by being available during drop off time.

[Thriftylady]

I have in my handbook if I have not heard from you within an hour of drop off you are a no call/no show and may be denied services.

[Second Home]

They just showed up 5 minutes ago (an hour an a half late) . I sent a text to see if they were coming and received a reply saying they were on the way 10 minutes before they showed up .

I think I will try and add something about a 3 strike rule .

[littletots]

Smh. I had dcp like that in past. I would wait 30 mins, text saying I will be away giving time 20 mins from text. You bet they text back "sorry, on my way". I wasn't going anywhere. Lol I do a weekly blog and would add things like: thanking parents for timely payment, picking up on time, texting schedule changes.

[MarinaVanessa]

Did you remind them of the rule?

Late arrivals irritate me to no end especially when it's the first or only child scheduled for the day since I base the time I get up on the time that my first arrival is scheduled. I agree with BC that we are living in a time of technology where there's no excuse for not letting us know if you're running late. I also see it as a form of disrespect for someone else's time, I would never just assume that I could show up to any appointment whenever I wanted so this is what I have in my handbook ...

"Late Arrivals

In the event that you are running more than 15 minutes late in dropping your child off, you must notify me before your contracted drop-off time. Failure to do so may result in your child being marked absent. I may then fill their space with another child for the day or may leave my home. In the event that you are late with no notice and I have not yet filled your child's space with another child if I leave my home with the other daycare children it will then be your responsibility to come to my location to drop your child off or wait at my home for my return. In the event that I have no other children in care and I leave my home due to your tardiness and lack of communication I may not return until the next child's scheduled drop off time for the day or if no other children are scheduled for the day I may close for the day entirely.

Late arrivals do not allow for late pick-ups. If your child arrives later than their scheduled arrival time, they are still required to be picked up at their normally scheduled pick up time. There will be no refunds given for days or hours missed due to your being late with or without communication."

[daycare]

looking at it from a different angel, I always call if a child is not dropped within 20 min of their contracted drop times. BECAUSE what if they were in an accident or what if the parent forgot the kids in the car and so on.

I tell parents that for the safety of your child I will call if your child is not dropped off within that 20 min time frame if I do not hear from you after 15min of my call, I will begin to call your emergency contacts.

Last year i had a family going through a divorce and dcd took dck overnight and drove him cross country without the mother knowing. DCM had no clue what was going on until I called her to ask why dck was not at school. Luckily my call gave her an early alert and she was able to track down dck and court order dcd bring the child back. I always wonder, if I did not call dcm she would not have known that dck was not with me for 3 full days until it was her pick up day those 3 days later.

anyways, CALL. don't always be annoyed maybe something happened and that is why they are not there yet.

NOW I will say that if this is an every time thing, then you do need to put some rules in place that state no drop off after xyz time.

hope things turn out ok.

[Blackcat31]

looking at it from a different angel, I always call if a child is not dropped within 20 min of their contracted drop times. BECAUSE what if they were in an accident or what if the parent forgot the kids in the car and so on.

I tell parents that for the safety of your child I will call if your child is not dropped off within that 20 min time frame if I do not hear from you after 15min of my call, I will begin to call your emergency contacts.

Last year i had a family going through a divorce and dcd took dck overnight and drove him cross country without the mother knowing. DCM had no clue what was going on until I called her to ask why dck was not at school. Luckily my call gave her an early alert and she was able to track down dck and court order dcd bring the child back. I always wonder, if I did not call dcm she would not have known that dck was not with me for 3 full days until it was her pick up day those 3 days later.

anyways, CALL. don't always be annoyed maybe something happened and that is why they are not there yet.

NOW I will say that if this is an every time thing, then you do need to put some rules in place that state no drop off after xyz time.

hope things turn out ok.

It is NOT my responsibility to make sure parents don't forget their kid in their car. If I assume that responsibility I assume the liability.

I care for 10-12 kid a day. I will not care for parents too.

[Second Home]

Did you remind them of the rule?

Late arrivals irritate me to no end especially when it's the first or only child scheduled for the day since I base the time I get up on the time that my first arrival is scheduled. I agree with BC that we are living in a time of technology where there's no excuse for not letting us know if you're running late. I also see it as a form of disrespect for someone else's time, I would never just assume that I could show up to any appointment whenever I wanted so this is what I have in my handbook ...

"Late Arrivals

In the event that you are running more than 15 minutes late in dropping your child off, you must notify me before your contracted drop-off time. Failure to do so may result in your child being marked absent. I may then fill their space with another child for the day or may leave my home. In the event that you are late with no notice and I have not yet filled your child's space with another child if I leave my home with the other daycare children it will then be your responsibility to come to my location to drop your child off or wait at my home for my return. In the event that I have no other children in care and I leave my home due to your tardiness and lack of communication I may not return until the next child's scheduled drop off time for the day or if no other children are scheduled for the day I may close for the day entirely.

Late arrivals do not allow for late pick-ups. If your child arrives later than their scheduled arrival time, they are still required to be picked up at their normally scheduled pick up time. There will be no refunds given for days or hours missed due to your being late with or without communication."

Yes , I do remind them of the rule , they just say "sorry" . It is because I have no consequences in my handbook . Which I will now change . I like what you have in your handbook about late arrivals .

[daycare]

It is NOT my responsibility to make sure parents don't forget their kid in their car. If I assume that responsibility I assume the liability.

I care for 10-12 kid a day. I will not care for parents too.

my county actually requires that we call...

[Second Home]

looking at it from a different angel, I always call if a child is not dropped within 20 min of their contracted drop times. BECAUSE what if they were in an accident or what if the parent forgot the kids in the car and so on.

anyways, CALL. don't always be annoyed maybe something happened and that is why they are not there yet.

NOW I will say that if this is an every time thing, then you do need to put some rules in place that state no drop off after xyz time.

hope things turn out ok.

I agree and I would normally worry but in this case this family lives 5 houses down the street . And really are the only ones who don't let me know .

[Blackcat31]

my county actually requires that we call...

I'd fight that policy tooth and nail.

I think it's because we continue to allow parents to be excused from any parental responsibility that we have issues with things like kids being forgotten in cars etc.

Imagine if a daycare provider forgot a child in a car.... talk about a double standard