I'm Not Complaining

[Meeko]

[QUOTE=jen;128188]

Well, two things. One, this post is about parents arriving LATE, not early, so I am not working for free.

And two... I am not open 24 hours so people aren't going to be showing up at all hours of the day and night! If they did, they'd be sitting in the car! Your comparison make zero sense.

I am open from 6:30 to 5pm. Anyone is welcome to use those hours. I will say that in TEN years, I have never had a parent voluntarily get out of bed early to drop their kid off at daycare if they didn't need to go to work. I would address that if needed. I have one parent who drops at 6:30 and the rest around 7:30. Today none of my 7:30's showed up until 8:45. I parked the one I had on the couch with some books and enjoyed my coffee! Why would I charge someone for that???

I've had people attempt to pick up LATE, but that doesn't fly well here either.

I am very strict on pick up time, but not so much on drop off. My parents pay a flat rate and can use as many hours as they like. The slot is there's to use however they wish. I have 16 kids...so we don't do field trips as I can't transport that many easily. So we are here every day regardless. Now if I did a lot of field trips, I would have to be more insistant on certain drop off times. I DO require parents to call and let me know no later than 9AM if they are going to be absent ...just so I can plan lunch numbers etc.

[Meeko]

I can see that contracted hours works well for many. However, I do not do that.

I like to think of my day care like a store. I open at 6AM. I close at 6PM. My clients can come and go during those hours, except for no drop offs after 2PM.

So if normally early clients didn't show up...even though it would be rude of them not to let me know....I figure I'll just enjoy some quiet time until someone arrives.

[CheekyChick]

I can see that contracted hours works well for many. However, I do not do that.

I like to think of my day care like a store. I open at 6AM. I close at 6PM. My clients can come and go during those hours, except for no drop offs after 2PM.

So if normally early clients didn't show up...even though it would be rude of them not to let me know....I figure I'll just enjoy some quiet time until someone arrives.

That is exactly how my facility is run. Since all of my parents pay for a full day, they can use 1 to 10 hours per day. They are welcome to drop off and pick up their children at whatever time they'd like - except during nap time. No matter what we're doing (eating, school, crafts), the child just jumps right in. That has always worked well for us.

Oh, and I love those mornings when nobody shows and I get to drink coffee and catch up on e-mails and Facebook messages. I wish that happened more frequently.

[Crazy8]

the only time Ive ever been upset is when it was my early family and they didnt even call. I got up at 5 and no one else got here till 8 amd and they didnt even call till 630 so I could have had 2 more hours sleep
they knew that I was opening early JUST for them and it was rude I felt.

that just happened to me this morning!! My first kid arrives at 8am during the summer, this one needed 7am today (and the rest of this week) so I set my alarm extra early and dragged myself out of bed. Sure enough they show up at 7:45. Yes, I got 45 min. "extra" time but I am NOT a morning person so really would have rather had that time to sleep. Not to mention me getting up early woke up my own kids.