Recently the school-ager of a younger child in my daycare, has been coming in to pick up and drop off her sibling. When I asked her where dad was, her reply was "He's in the car. I told him to stay there." She's 7 years old, and already has issues with being overly bossy and spoiled. The only thing that came out of my mouth was, "You should let your daddy be the one to come in. Sometimes there's things I need to talk to him about." Just wondering, does anybody else think it's ok for parents to allow a child to pick up/drop off younger siblings, or anyone else experienced this? This seems crazy to me! I shouldn't have to tell the parent to stop allowing their child to make tell them what to do!!
Wheres the Parent?
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A parent must pick up and drop off at the door. Thats not a licensing rule for me because I am not licensed, thats just my rule.- Flag
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Do NOT release a child to a 7 year old. If it happens again, tell the child "I'm sorry but I can only release dcb/dcg to an adult."
Honey, you just got walked on by a 7 year old! Backbone!- Flag
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I don't have that problem here only because I have parents sign in and out each time. I tell them it's so that I can have proof of attendance just in case I should get audited and they question my meal counts but I'm not required to have them sign in. It would bother me too.- Flag
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I've had older siblings come in and try to sign their little brother or sister out. The most recent was a girl around 12 or 13 yrs old. I asked where her Grandma was (since it was supposed to be the Grandma picking dcg up). She said, "she's outside in the car", so I just asked her to go get her Grandma so she could sign dcg out. I told her everyone has to be at least 18 yrs old to sign someone out. I don't know if that's the law or not, but I know in our state 18 is the legal adult age, and I'm not going to let a teenager or child sign their sibling out. If something happened, I'm sure I'd be in really hot water! Besides that, if the child or teen wasn't on the pick-up list, I couldn't let them sign the child out, either, and I've never ever had a parent list a child as being okay to pick their younger child up!
So even if a 7 yr old could legally sign their younger sibling out, if they aren't on the list of people who can pick up the younger child it wouldn't be legal.- Flag
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Where's the dad?
Thanks for your replies. Agreed with all. I didn't mention that I don't have a sign in/sign out policy because I'm a home daycare provider, not a center. I have always greeted parents/kids at the door @ drop-off time, and taken them to the door & talked with parents @ pickup time.- Flag
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The only time that I've had this happen is when the older brother or sister grew up with me, no longer attends daycare, but does come with mom/dad on occasion to pick up a younger sibling. I've known all of these families for 10+ years, and don't mind when the parents wait in the car. I give the end-of-day update to the older sibling, with a "make sure to tell mom..." And instructions to the little one to "hold hands to the car".
The little ones are generally excited to see their sibling, and the older child just "beams" with pride with their new responsibility. Both kids feel like they're being trusted with a special responsibility. Plus it gives the parents a few minutes break just to chill in their car without the kids- Flag
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Thanks for your replies. Agreed with all. I didn't mention that I don't have a sign in/sign out policy because I'm a home daycare provider, not a center. I have always greeted parents/kids at the door @ drop-off time, and taken them to the door & talked with parents @ pickup time.- Flag
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I too am a home and I don't exactly have a sign in/out sheet.
I have Minute Menu that I mark when the child arrives and leaves and I have a Day Minder calendar that I do the same thing on. My parents don't see either, unless they specifically ask, and then they would only see a Minute Menu report specific for their child.
My calendar I have notes in, like who picked up a child (parents divorced, fighting custody), anything I need to talk to a parent about (good or bad), and their balance. And I have my calendar as an added insurance in case Minute Menu crashed or something.
But I agree that only an authorized adult should pick the kids up. I will allow a parent to tell me that day X person is going to pick the child up, who is not on the authorized list. The parent will jot a quick note so that way I have proof they ok it, AND when X person arrives I do check their I.D. And parent usually says X drives a yellow Maserati or whatever...Give a little love to a child, and you get a great deal back.- Flag
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im a home daycare too. I do not have an actual sign out sheet, unless its someone other than the parents picking up. Its a form I made that states the persons name, they are on the release list the parent made, I confirmed ID and they were taking the child on this date, such and such a time. I sign and they sign.
I also state in my contract, children must be picked up at the door by parents or peeps on the list. ( never just send the child out to a beeping car horn, yes some have tried) I suppose if I saw the parent in the car and the 7 yr old was put on the release list by the parent, Id release the child unless I could not confirm it was the parent in the car or I needed to speak to the parent. I also assume I can speak to the parent every morning as well.- Flag
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