Home Daycare Provider Asks For Us To Call Before Dropping Off And Picking Up

[daycare]

I personally would not like having 8 different parents texting or calling me daily at both drop off and pick up to say they were on their way. That would drive me crazy!

However, if it is not within the normal window of time they are supposed to arrive or get picked up, then that would be a different story. Parents will text or call if they are arriving late for drop off or picking up early for some reason, but I have never requested it. It is just common courtesy to let me know when to expect them, if it's not the usual time. Most of them all have the same window of time for drop off and pick up, so I know pretty much when to expect them.

At pick up, I like to have their things together, shoes on, etc so it is helpful to know if they are coming earlier than usual & since they are usually on a time crunch and needing to get somewhere like a Dr. appt, they appreciate having them ready to quickly scoot out the door.

I agree that would drive me NUTS....
I only require they call or text if they will be later than normal.
Or picking up earlier.

Noting worse then having a parent pick up early in the middle of pairing and then you have to stop what you are doing, leave kids unsupervised painting to open the door. Then to have that parent not control their child's behavior added to it. Omg I wanna pull my hair out just thinking about it.

Every provider does what works for them and the kids. If you are not comfortable with WHY she does something a certain way. Just ask her. You should be able to express your concerns with your provider. Open communication is so important to have.

Good luck.

[Laurel]

I personally would not like having 8 different parents texting or calling me daily at both drop off and pick up to say they were on their way. That would drive me crazy!

However, if it is not within the normal window of time they are supposed to arrive or get picked up, then that would be a different story. Parents will text or call if they are arriving late for drop off or picking up early for some reason, but I have never requested it. It is just common courtesy to let me know when to expect them, if it's not the usual time. Most of them all have the same window of time for drop off and pick up, so I know pretty much when to expect them.

At pick up, I like to have their things together, shoes on, etc so it is helpful to know if they are coming earlier than usual & since they are usually on a time crunch and needing to get somewhere like a Dr. appt, they appreciate having them ready to quickly scoot out the door.

That would drive me crazy too! Texting is not my favorite way to communicate anyway.

Laurel

[nanglgrl]

All of my clients put prewritten text in so I just get a quick text that says "here", "on my way" or "on your street". I don't mind it and I don't respond to the text. To me is so much better than having children run around crazy because their parent can't control them, having other children act crazy because there is another adult in the house, parents standing with my door open, having a parent linger etc. One of the biggest things for me is that when I get a child ready to go or when they arrive I teach them to take off shoes and coats and put them on, it always seems to me the parents do it for them so they have a hard time with it later when it should be a skill they mastered.
They text, I meet them at the door in the morning and they hand me their child. At pick up they text, I get the child all ready to go and meet them at the door with their child. It keeps parents from tracking dirt into the playroom and keeps me sane. Parents do enter the playroom throughout the year but its pretty rare. They come in on special occasions and there are times once in a whole that I wasn't able to get their child ready so they come in and do it. I try to make sure every parent enters the playroom once in a while so they don't feel disconnected with my daycare.
I prefer to text or email my parents and send pictures of their child to them. It cuts down on parents telling me all about their own lives and things I already know about their child. It cits down on people telling me I didnt tell them something and so many other communication problems. Not that I don't talk to my clients, we do plenty of talking, but unless there's a problem we talk only when I feel like talking and have time.
I understand its not for everyone but I wouldn't do it any other way.

[LK5kids]

I agree that would drive me NUTS....
I only require they call or text if they will be later than normal.
Or picking up earlier.

Noting worse then having a parent pick up early in the middle of pairing and then you have to stop what you are doing, leave kids unsupervised painting to open the door. Then to have that parent not control their child's behavior added to it. Omg I wanna pull my hair out just thinking about it.

Every provider does what works for them and the kids. If you are not comfortable with WHY she does something a certain way. Just ask her. You should be able to express your concerns with your provider. Open communication is so important to have.

Good luck.

Agree!!! It would drive me crazy and we are so busy I probably wouldn't have time to check all those texts! I have no desire to carry around my cell. But I agree also that everyone must do what works for them

[MCC]

I also have all my clients text before drop off/pick up. My kids arrive between 7:30-9:30. Most parents say they will drop off around 7:45, but usually it's not until 8:30. Before I had them text me, I was just twiddling my thumbs in the playroom until they arrived.

Now I just head down stairs once the first kid is on their way, which often allows more time with my own child upstairs in her own space, or time to empty the dishwasher, or put away some laundry...

At pick up it gives me the opportunity to get the kid organized, make sure their diaper is dry/have them use the toilet, have them help clean up some toys. This way all these things aren't happening once the parent is here, b/c most children are too excited to see their parents that they won't want to help clean up, or use the toilet.

I have never had a parent question the policy, but I always explain why I do it, so possibly that helps?

[Blackcat31]

My parents all contract for specific drop off and pick up times.

I would NEVER be comfortable (as a parent) being required to call/text before dropping off or picking up and would NEVER consider enrolling my child in a care facility that has that requirement.

The ONLY time I would be comfortable with it (BOTH as a provider and as a parent) is if my drop off and/or pick up time is outside of my contracted times.

Also the ONLY time I have ever had a child bundled up and ready to go by the door is if a child or parent has a difficult time transitioning for drop off/pick ups.

I don't know but something seems a little "off" about this.

[MsLaura529]

My parents all contract for specific drop off and pick up times.

I would NEVER be comfortable (as a parent) being required to call/text before dropping off or picking up and would NEVER consider enrolling my child in a care facility that has that requirement.

The ONLY time I would be comfortable with it (BOTH as a provider and as a parent) is if my drop off and/or pick up time is outside of my contracted times.

Also the ONLY time I have ever had a child bundled up and ready to go by the door is if a child or parent has a difficult time transitioning for drop off/pick ups.

I don't know but something seems a little "off" about this.

I don't understand why this seems "off"? A lot of people have explained their reasoning as to why this is beneficial to their program. My parents vary with their pick-up times greatly, within an hour to an hour and a half range. I already have one parent that does this without my request. Another parent occasionally asks, "Did DCD pick up yet?" so I kind of get a sense of when she is coming, but I think it would be so helpful to our end of the day routine to add into my policies to send a quick text that they are on their way.

[Play Care]

My parents all contract for specific drop off and pick up times.

I would NEVER be comfortable (as a parent) being required to call/text before dropping off or picking up and would NEVER consider enrolling my child in a care facility that has that requirement.

The ONLY time I would be comfortable with it (BOTH as a provider and as a parent) is if my drop off and/or pick up time is outside of my contracted times.

Also the ONLY time I have ever had a child bundled up and ready to go by the door is if a child or parent has a difficult time transitioning for drop off/pick ups.

I don't know but something seems a little "off" about this.

I do wonder what the OP's arrangement is with the provider - does he have a window of drop off and pick ups? Then the texts would make sense.
Most of my parents are very good about getting their kids and going. If they were not I would deal with it on the individual basis.
Maybe because I still have the old fashioned cell phone, I am not someone who texts and would be annoyed if it were one more thing I had to check.

[MrsSteinel'sHouse]

Cell phones don't work in my house We live in a dead zone. I do ask parents to give me a heads up if they are going to be outside their normal time frame. If a child is over 20 min late for drop off, I will call to check on them. But, my parents are pretty good about letting me know if they are running late.

[Blackcat31]

I don't understand why this seems "off"? A lot of people have explained their reasoning as to why this is beneficial to their program. My parents vary with their pick-up times greatly, within an hour to an hour and a half range. I already have one parent that does this without my request. Another parent occasionally asks, "Did DCD pick up yet?" so I kind of get a sense of when she is coming, but I think it would be so helpful to our end of the day routine to add into my policies to send a quick text that they are on their way.

It seems "off" to me because the OP hasn't shared any other information as to whether his kids are having a tough time during the transition of drop offs/pick ups and/or if the family is arriving at random times.

I completely understand PP's reasoning for requiring calls/texts from parents but it doesn't make sense to me to just require it just because....

Unless there were other mitigating factors....kwim?

A provider NOT allowing a parent to enter the house and seemingly "pushing" them out the door so quickly would be a red flag to me.

The OP would have to supply more details though to know the exact situation.

[MsLaura529]

It seems "off" to me because the OP hasn't shared any other information as to whether his kids are having a tough time during the transition of drop offs/pick ups and/or if the family is arriving at random times.

I completely understand PP's reasoning for requiring calls/texts from parents but it doesn't make sense to me to just require it just because....

Unless there were other mitigating factors....kwim?

A provider NOT allowing a parent to enter the house and seemingly "pushing" them out the door so quickly would be a red flag to me.

The OP would have to supply more details though to know the exact situation.

I gotchya

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

The only communication I require as far as drop-offs go is if you are going to be later than normal. I will have parents that usually bring their child for breakfast be running late and they are courteous enough to let me know so I don't prepare a plate for them that gets wasted.

I also have parents who give me a general time frame of when they'll be picking up if it is earlier than our typical pick-up time. I try to have their child ready/almost ready to go at that point in time.

All of the children are picked up between a 20 minute window at the end of the day (unless they are contracted for the extra hour of care) and we ALL go to the gated off entryway, put shoes on, get ready to go, and sit and read books together. I don't require a text because I know that all parents will be coming in this 20 minute time frame. I prefer to have the child ready to go so pick-ups are short. They're only over 1 minute in length if the parent has something to say to me and I have no issue with correcting a child if the parent won't. I PREFER to not have to and this is why I make sure the child is ready to go, but it does happen.

[itlw8]

I know everyone runs their business different but if I was a parent then yes I would wonder why I HAD to call or text first. To many times you hear of providers doing things like Way over capacity and you say didn't the parents see all those children.... No because they never saw them they had to text they were coming or wait at the door.

so while it works for lots of providers I would not take my child there unless they told me Why and also let me come in to where the children are

[nanglgrl]

I guess I should add that one of my clients doesn't text. She always shows up within 5 minutes of her scheduled time and is the first arrival so I don't have to worry about the kids being so noisy I won't hear the door. She picks up right before lunch time so she's my first pick up and in the summer just comes to the yard where we are playing and in the winter she just comes in and gets her child ready. She's my best and most responsible client though and is very reliable on her times.
I get a majority of young clients and college students because I live so close to the university and so I often have kids arriving and leaving at all different times, I remember I once had so many arrivals/departures it took an entire page of a notebook each day for me to write down my schedule! Now I'm open 7:30-3:30 and all but one of my clients drop of between 7:50-9 am and pick up between 3-3:30 since I charge the same rate no matter what the hours are.
I haven't had a crazy schedule like that in a while since I stopped taking school agers and babies but I think that's when I first started implementing it.
I've never really thought about it from a parents perspective before because no one has seemed concerned but if i had a provider and she asked me to text it would throw up some red flags for me, not sure why it doesn't do that for my clients. Now I don't require parents to do it but tell them that if they would like me to have their child ready to go at pick up to send me a text and I will meet them at the door. Maybe that's why no one has a problem with it here.
There are plenty of times throughout the year that clients don't text, maybe it's on accident but it could be on purpose I guess.
I also explain that we have at least 4 unannounced visits a year from the state/food program. Maybe that puts their minds at ease. I also have a private Facebook group just for current clients where I post a ton of photos throughout the day, welcome new clients and post information so all of my clients can see their children having fun and who their friends are. If a provider just told me I had to text and I never got to see where my child was and what they were doing all day I would definitely have a problem with it. I agree with previous posters that if your children seem happy with her and you're happy with her just ask about the policy.