Contracted Hours, Showing Up Late, But DC Still Open?

[momma2girls]

thank you, thats perfect working. But I'm only open from 7-5pm so how do I go about that. I get alot of "what time are you opened till" how do I answer that, and what happens when people ask me at interview time.

I took out my opening and pick up times a long time ago, in my contract. This is how it reads- I provide daycare for work and commute times only.
I ask everyone what hrs. will they be needing?
I once had a Father tell me over the phone, they are needing 7:30am-4:00
His mom was a teacher. I said this will work well. Then when he contracted with me, I made a copy for him here, and after they left I looked at it, and he wrote down til 5:00- I had to call him on it right away, and he resigned one immediately-
When families ask you -" well what time are you open?" I always reply back-"what times are you needing?" Then contract the hrs. they are needing only!!

[Symphony]

I have one little guy that is here on a sporadic schedule, but when he is here it is long days. So the other families all see him when they drop off and pick up. The last month I started noticing one of my families wouldn't pick up at their normal time on the days he was here. I really think they would see the little guy here in the morning and think, "Great, she's working late, more time for us!"

I think you did the right thing standing up for yourself! I don't know why it is so hard to ask people to treat you with respect!

[daycare]

So here we go again...
DCM emails me this morning and asked why she is being charged late fees for three days when they were only late 1 time and then once again goes into why are there other kids there that late. She was very rude about it.

SO I decided to show her.
My response was.

Dear ***
as you know, I use the sign in sign out book to track all hours used by each child/family. On X days you were late for a total of 45 minutes.
Each family attends DC on contraced hours just as your family does and each family is expected to abide by thier contracted hours.

Also, as you know, if you need longer hours, I can arrange that for you with an additional cost.

Currently your rate is 40.00 per day. If you take the amount of time that your child is here and then base it off of what i am paid, it breaks down to about $4.00 an hour or less. This is before taxes and overhead. When you take all of that into consideration I am making about $2.00 an hour. The longer you are here the more my rate goes down and I honestly don't know anyone who would be willing to work for wages that low and hope that you would not expect for me to do so.

Just as you expect me to be here on time for you when you need to go to work in the morning, I too expect for you to be on time when you pick up at the end of the day.

The late fees are not new, they have been in the PHB since the day you started. If you are not willing to pay these, please let me know.

Thanks

[countrymom]

I took out my opening and pick up times a long time ago, in my contract. This is how it reads- I provide daycare for work and commute times only.
I ask everyone what hrs. will they be needing?
I once had a Father tell me over the phone, they are needing 7:30am-4:00
His mom was a teacher. I said this will work well. Then when he contracted with me, I made a copy for him here, and after they left I looked at it, and he wrote down til 5:00- I had to call him on it right away, and he resigned one immediately-
When families ask you -" well what time are you open?" I always reply back-"what times are you needing?" Then contract the hrs. they are needing only!!

ok thanks. Right now I have afterschool kids here till 630 (every other week) but they are past clients who came back to my town (great kids) but I have a feeling that some are wondering why they are still here.

[momofboys]

So here we go again...
DCM emails me this morning and asked why she is being charged late fees for three days when they were only late 1 time and then once again goes into why are there other kids there that late. She was very rude about it.

SO I decided to show her.
My response was.

Dear ***
as you know, I use the sign in sign out book to track all hours used by each child/family. On X days you were late for a total of 45 minutes.
Each family attends DC on contraced hours just as your family does and each family is expected to abide by thier contracted hours.

Also, as you know, if you need longer hours, I can arrange that for you with an additional cost.

Currently your rate is 40.00 per day. If you take the amount of time that your child is here and then base it off of what i am paid, it breaks down to about $4.00 an hour or less. This is before taxes and overhead. When you take all of that into consideration I am making about $2.00 an hour. The longer you are here the more my rate goes down and I honestly don't know anyone who would be willing to work for wages that low and hope that you would not expect for me to do so.

Just as you expect me to be here on time for you when you need to go to work in the morning, I too expect for you to be on time when you pick up at the end of the day.

The late fees are not new, they have been in the PHB since the day you started. If you are not willing to pay these, please let me know.

Thanks

I'm curious to see how the DCM responds. I think you are doing the right thing but how do you plan to respond if the mom says she is unwilling to pay. . . is there a reason why you had written that?

[cillybean83]

i'm open 6a-6p, but my contract states that parents can contract UP TO 10 hours during that 12 hr time frame. I have a parent that drops off at 6, and a parent that drops off at 8, so parent A starts accumulating fees at 4, whether parent Bs kids are still here or not, because parent B is PAYING for their kids to be here past 4, parent A is not, therefore, they need to compensate me for my time, and for caring for their child when they're late.

[daycare]

I'm curious to see how the DCM responds. I think you are doing the right thing but how do you plan to respond if the mom says she is unwilling to pay. . . is there a reason why you had written that?

Yes, becuase they said at first they were not going to pay it,.... then they said they were going to pay it and now it seems like they are going back to not wanting to pay it. If they decide that they don't want to pay it I am going to term them. I dont understand why all of a sudden they are showing up late, kids have always been here later than their child. I don't know why they also think that they are above the rules either...

So far I have not gotten a response back.... I also typed that last line giving them the option to not pay so I can term, as I am pretty upset about how they are treating me.

[Angelwings36]

My hours of operation are from 7:30am - 5:15pm, however just because these are my hours doesn't mean if the parent asked for a 7:30am - 4:30pm that they are allowed to show up later than 4:30pm to pick up their child. However, I do allow parents to ask me if it's alright to keep the child a little later from time to time. If I have someone scheduled to pick up later I will allow, if not they are out of luck and have to come by their regular time. Lots of time all of my children are picked up at 4:30pm and I VERY much enjoy this. I have not charged a late fee to parents who show up later than their contracted hours, however, they get a firm talking to and made aware that it is not to happen again. I very rarely have a family come later than my 5:15pm closing time to pick up, however, if it happens hubby, my son and I will take the child outside and stand on the front lawn by the truck until the parents arrive. I normally say something like...we have an appointment and are just about late...then as soon as I hand the child off we jump into our vehicle and drive away...never happens with the same family more than once!

[SimpleMom]

Yes, I would charge a late fee. It could even put me past my capacity. Happened one time. I called the parent and had them come pick up right away. Also, got a late fee. If they need use of all hours that I am open, then they have a fee based on those hours. No one uses a full day that I watch as of yet.