Daycare Will Not Allow Early Pick Up - California

[Unregistered]

HI
My son recently started at an in home daycare and he loves the lady and she is great with him. She has strict times which we adhere to but my issue is she will not allow early pick up ( before 5.30) of a child unless he has a medical appointment. She does not allow earlier pick up if the parents finish work at an earlier time full stop. So If I get there early I have to sit in car and wait. The current pick up time suits me but there is the very odd occasion where I may have a half day and want to pick him up but she told me the government does not allow this. This cannot be right can it? The government would stop a parent spending more time with their child?
I do know that she gets an allowance from the government as she provides food so I am thinking the rule is that she needs to have them a certain amount of hours every day to get this .
My son is happy there and I do not want to up root him. I am not even asking for flexibility for more hours I just want to pick him up early once in a while. Any one have any thoughts or advice?

[Thriftylady]

Are you on subsidy? If so that may be what she is thinking but most of those programs require you to be at school or work for them to pay for care. But they only pay when your child is there. The food program doesn't pay that much really, it isn't much of a money maker, just deflects some of the cost of food. The government has nothing to say about when you pick your kids up. I LOVE when parents choose spending time with their kids over leaving them in daycare. I would never tell a parent not to pick up early. Something is fishy with this story.

[Blackcat31]

HI
My son recently started at an in home daycare and he loves the lady and she is great with him. She has strict times which we adhere to but my issue is she will not allow early pick up ( before 5.30) of a child unless he has a medical appointment. She does not allow earlier pick up if the parents finish work at an earlier time full stop. So If I get there early I have to sit in car and wait. The current pick up time suits me but there is the very odd occasion where I may have a half day and want to pick him up but she told me the government does not allow this. This cannot be right can it? The government would stop a parent spending more time with their child?
I do know that she gets an allowance from the government as she provides food so I am thinking the rule is that she needs to have them a certain amount of hours every day to get this .
My son is happy there and I do not want to up root him. I am not even asking for flexibility for more hours I just want to pick him up early once in a while. Any one have any thoughts or advice?

NO licensing department has a rule that denies a parent access to their child.

She is not being truthful about that.

As a parent you have a right to free access to your child at ANY time. You may not stay on the property or "visit" but you can certainly show up ANY time and pick up.

The ONLY consequence to random pick ups or an unscheduled pick up is termination from care but that is a provider decision NOT a licensing or government decision.

[Blackcat31]

Are you on subsidy? If so that may be what she is thinking but most of those programs require you to be at school or work for them to pay for care. But they only pay when your child is there. The food program doesn't pay that much really, it isn't much of a money maker, just deflects some of the cost of food. The government has nothing to say about when you pick your kids up. I LOVE when parents choose spending time with their kids over leaving them in daycare. I would never tell a parent not to pick up early. Something is fishy with this story.

This (bolded above) is not true and HIGHLY dependent on the state program as my state subsidy program allows children to be pick up early without the provider being "punished"with loss of payment.

[Unregistered]

Thank you for the reply Thrifylady. No I am not on subsidy. I actually wanted to send my own food in but she did not want that as she prefers to be in control of everything in her home. That I understand as if other kids have allergies etc.. I think she is strict on routine and so she throws the government into the conversation as if we would get in trouble but really it seems to be just her rule. I don't want to upset her as my baby is happy there but this is bothering me. We respect all her rules but I have problems with this one as someone is telling me I cannot spend more time with my baby. I will try to discuss with her again

[Thriftylady]

This (bolded above) is not true and HIGHLY dependent on the state program as my state subsidy program allows children to be pick up early without the provider being "punished"with loss of payment.

Well that could be. I just know how both the states I have lived in have done it. They both pay hourly while the child is in attendance.

[Thriftylady]

Thank you for the reply Thrifylady. No I am not on subsidy. I actually wanted to send my own food in but she did not want that as she prefers to be in control of everything in her home. That I understand as if other kids have allergies etc.. I think she is strict on routine and so she throws the government into the conversation as if we would get in trouble but really it seems to be just her rule. I don't want to upset her as my baby is happy there but this is bothering me. We respect all her rules but I have problems with this one as someone is telling me I cannot spend more time with my baby. I will try to discuss with her again

Well I don't allow any outside food, drinks or toys. As a provider, it is just to hard and many licensed providers have in regulations that they have to serve healthy meals and snacks and some parents idea of healthy is cheese crackers, oreos and a "juice" box. That could land a provider in a bind! I don't allow it due to allergies and not wanting sally crying because she has veggies for snack and Jimmy has cookies!

As a parent it would bother me that my provider was lying about something like this. It would bother me mostly because it would make me wonder what else she wasn't being honest about. As a parent and a provider, the most important thing between provider and parent is trust. To me, she would have broken that with her dishonesty.

[snbauser]

As a parent it would bother me that my provider was lying about something like this. It would bother me mostly because it would make me wonder what else she wasn't being honest about. As a parent and a provider, the most important thing between provider and parent is trust. To me, she would have broken that with her dishonesty.

This. Plus I would wonder what was going on there that she didn't want anyone coming until 5:30. I can tell you that in the 13 year I have been doing this job I have NEVER come across a provider who wasn't thrilled to have a parent pick up early....for any reason...as long as it wasn't during naptime.

[mommyneedsadayoff]

Do you pay hourly? That could be the only thing I could think of as to why she would not want you to pick up early. Or if you are trying to pick up at nap time, which I would have issue with, but otherwise, I don't get why she would not be thrilled to have one less kid for a few hours. On a legal note, she can;t withhold your kid from you, so you have every right to pick up early. She also has every right to terminate care because of it, but I wouldn't work with a provider who doesn't want me to get my kid when I am done working. Of all the complaints on this forum, parents not spending enough time with their kid is one of the biggest. Getting off early and going home or shopping for "me" time, instead of picking up your kids, is a hot button issue in daycare.

[MrsSteinel'sHouse]

Well that could be. I just know how both the states I have lived in have done it. They both pay hourly while the child is in attendance.

Ohio pays either full time rate or part time rate. no hourly unless it is under 6 hours a week. So generally, no I am happy if a parent picks up early. And when Ohio was hourly, parents had to pick up in a certain time frame from getting off work- so for me they generally had 30 minutes from the time they were off. Just FYI Thriftylady

[MrsSteinel'sHouse]

This. Plus I would wonder what was going on there that she didn't want anyone coming until 5:30. I can tell you that in the 13 year I have been doing this job I have NEVER come across a provider who wasn't thrilled to have a parent pick up early....for any reason...as long as it wasn't during naptime.

Exactly this. Now, I do discourage naptime drop offs or pick ups because it disrupts naps. However if a parent calls or sends me a message I will tell them fine but stay in the driveway and I will sneak your kid out to you

You should be able to stop AT ANY TIME. My only thing is that if you come up, you need to take your child with you. I did have a mom that was having a very bad time and was very teary one day. She came up had lunch with us and then went back to work. Dd understood she was just "coming for lunch" and enjoyed it said bye mom it is time for mmmy naap!

But, my parents feel welcome whenever they get here.

[Thriftylady]

Ohio pays either full time rate or part time rate. no hourly unless it is under 6 hours a week. So generally, no I am happy if a parent picks up early. And when Ohio was hourly, parents had to pick up in a certain time frame from getting off work- so for me they generally had 30 minutes from the time they were off. Just FYI Thriftylady

They told me when I checked on it I would have to put a card reader in for the parents to scan in and out and they would pay for those hours only???

[permanentvacation]

You do know, even though your son likes it there, that there are, I'm sure, many other daycares that he will also like.

There's one daycare provider I know of in my area that has a rule of not allowing anyone to drop off after a certain time or pick up until 5:30. The reason for it is that she has a schedule of daily activities and she got tired of parents interrupting the day and her having to regain control/interest of the children every time a parent showed up during an activity. Now, personally, I would not enroll my child with her simply because I would feel uncomfortable with someone telling me that I CAN NOT go get my child whenever I want. However, as a daycare provider, I fully understand how much of a pain it is to have a parent interrupt an activity. The way I operate is that yes, you can come any time you want to get your child, however, I explain that it does cause a little chaos when we're in the middle of an activity and a parent shows up unexpected, so I ask that you call when you are on your way or let me know ahead of time if you can so I can prepare/pre-plan my activities around your arrival. But, it's not REQUIRED that you notify me, just requested for convenience.

Another thing is that that rule, does go against the daycare law/rule that a parent must have access to their child at all times. I don't know what state you are in, but here, it would be illegal for me to tell a parent that they are not allowed to get their child whenever they want.

The government does pay for some kids hourly and others weekly, but you said you're not on subsidy, so that doesn't apply to you anyway.

The food program requires that a child be in attendance at least 1/2 hour after the ending of each meal we claim. So, if she serves dinner and claims dinner on the food program at 5:00, then she is supposed to have the children that she claims until 5:30. If that's what she's demanding that you must leave your child in her attendance for each day until 5:30, then, I'm sorry, but I'd have to take my child out of her care if she's that worried that SHE gets paid the little chump change for feeding a child dinner!

It's healthier for your child to have more time with his parent(s) than to be in daycare longer than necessary. If she values her little dollar or two for claiming him for a meal more than she values the time he gets to spend with his parent, then she would NOT be allowed to take care of my child!

[Unregistered]

Do you pay hourly? That could be the only thing I could think of as to why she would not want you to pick up early. Or if you are trying to pick up at nap time, which I would have issue with, but otherwise, I don't get why she would not be thrilled to have one less kid for a few hours. On a legal note, she can;t withhold your kid from you, so you have every right to pick up early. She also has every right to terminate care because of it, but I wouldn't work with a provider who doesn't want me to get my kid when I am done working. Of all the complaints on this forum, parents not spending enough time with their kid is one of the biggest. Getting off early and going home or shopping for "me" time, instead of picking up your kids, is a hot button issue in daycare.

No I pay a weekly flat Rate 52 weeks a year

[Unregistered]

You do know, even though your son likes it there, that there are, I'm sure, many other daycares that he will also like.

There's one daycare provider I know of in my area that has a rule of not allowing anyone to drop off after a certain time or pick up until 5:30. The reason for it is that she has a schedule of daily activities and she got tired of parents interrupting the day and her having to regain control/interest of the children every time a parent showed up during an activity. Now, personally, I would not enroll my child with her simply because I would feel uncomfortable with someone telling me that I CAN NOT go get my child whenever I want. However, as a daycare provider, I fully understand how much of a pain it is to have a parent interrupt an activity. The way I operate is that yes, you can come any time you want to get your child, however, I explain that it does cause a little chaos when we're in the middle of an activity and a parent shows up unexpected, so I ask that you call when you are on your way or let me know ahead of time if you can so I can prepare/pre-plan my activities around your arrival. But, it's not REQUIRED that you notify me, just requested for convenience.

Another thing is that that rule, does go against the daycare law/rule that a parent must have access to their child at all times. I don't know what state you are in, but here, it would be illegal for me to tell a parent that they are not allowed to get their child whenever they want.

The government does pay for some kids hourly and others weekly, but you said you're not on subsidy, so that doesn't apply to you anyway.

The food program requires that a child be in attendance at least 1/2 hour after the ending of each meal we claim. So, if she serves dinner and claims dinner on the food program at 5:00, then she is supposed to have the children that she claims until 5:30. If that's what she's demanding that you must leave your child in her attendance for each day until 5:30, then, I'm sorry, but I'd have to take my child out of her care if she's that worried that SHE gets paid the little chump change for feeding a child dinner!

It's healthier for your child to have more time with his parent(s) than to be in daycare longer than necessary. If she values her little dollar or two for claiming him for a meal more than she values the time he gets to spend with his parent, then she would NOT be allowed to take care of my child!

Thank you for your reply. I agree with you and I understand she does not want to be interrupted so for my odd day that I may be able I pick up early it didn't really bother me but one of the mothers hr's has changed and she wants to pick up before 5 every day and was told no. I walked in on the argument this week which made me think this is not right. Then she told me I can only do a pick up early if baby has medical appointment hence I asked the question. Thank you all. I think I need to look at alternatives