Anyone Working 12 Hour Days?

[Sandbox Sally]

It seems that one of the downsides to moving to the suburbs is the hours that I will work. I am getting requests (not from the same families) for care starting from 6:30 and some until 6pm.

Question to you guys is, who here works 12 hour days? Has it worked out for you? Advice? Should I just suck it up and work it, or should I hold out until all my clients' times coincide and starve? ;)

I am feeling pretty lucky that I have so many interviewees already. This makes me think a) I should count my blessings and sign them all or b) If they came to me within 4 weeks of advertising, more will come if I am patient.

Thoughts? Ideas? Anecdotes?

[clep]

My hours are 7:30 - 5:30. Even with that I used to work 12 hours a day as I had school aged children through nap time and couldn't cook any of my food for the next day through rest time, so I was doing it at night.

I would not set my working hours for 12 hours a day. That is a recipe for burnout imo. I would set your hours according to what you feel you can successfuly do and find families to fit in those hours.

Yes, more will probably come.

[michellesmunchkins]

I work the 12 hours and it sucks! It is so hard to get anything done at night because I`m exhausted. I literally have kids here from 6am until 6pm at night. My kids sports are at 6:30 so its a mad rush to get them there in time.

I have recently changed my hours for any new families. Open at 7 and closed at 5:30. I will NEVER again offer the 12 hours. I did it when I first started and all the families I got were those who needed those hours for travel into work and home. On the odd day when everyone is gone early working 10 hours feels like heaven.

I also never set my rates higher for those using the full 12 hours. That will change for new families coming in as well. Its been 4 years like this and honestly its exhausting both physically and emotionally to have to be `on` for 12 hours a day.

[jodaycare]

When i first started home daycare I had kids in care from 6:00 am to 7pm sometimes. When we moved I switched to 7-6, then to 6:30 to 5:30. Currently I work from about 6:35-5:00 but in a couple of weeks I will be opening at 6am for 2 weeks of the month and closing at 5. I actually just had a call from someone who needed care until 6:30 pm some nights and i told her that I wasn't willing to work past 5.

[Crayola kiddies]

When I first started I had a flex client that needed 6:30 -6:00 and then in the summer they needed 6:00 -6:30 good grief it was awful... The only thing that kept me going was that it wasn't everyday but it was 1-4 days each week .... I am not a morning person so getting up at 6:15 to open at 6:45 is early enough for me .... I was opened from 6:45-5:30 and now I have changed my closing time to 5 but I would actually like 4:30 cause of my sons hockey starting up again in Oct Once the summer starts my last child will leave at 4. Im looking to fill a spot for sept so I'm hoping to get one that will pick up around 4 also. Keeping my fingers crossed! So if your kids are going to be in afterschool
activities you might not want to work that late. Maybe sign on
the early pick ups to start with and then see what's left. See if
your budget affords you to wait a bit to fill the rest If not then you have to do what you have to do.

[Inspired by Reggio]

Nope - could not do it - when I started out I made the mistake of making my hours 7:00 - 5:30 and within a few months I was EXHAUSTED working just the 10.5 hours a day ... I could not imagine having to be ON more hours than that - if that was my only option I would have to consider doing something 'different' from home to earn income or working outside the home again ... IMO life is too short to be WORKING 60 hours plus a week specially for what ends up being $2 an hour and while I get that when we are mothers we 'work' 24/7 it is not the SAME as caring for other peoples children - it is just NOT!

My program hours are 7:30 - 4:30 and my fees are based on that - if you need me to work earlier or later than that A) I charge extra fee of $5 per half hour per child on top of that for the overtime you are asking me to work so that I am not working 12 hours a day for what works out to be $2 an hour and B) it is only if I am ABLE to work earlier or later cause there are times when myself or my family have evening commitments to attend to and I do not want to be working 'evenings' and I will not start earlier than 7am because I do not feel my family should have to share their morning routine with 'strangers'.

[Sandbox Sally]

Thanks for the input, all. I have decided to keep my scheduled hours. Not worth the stress. You're all right.

[playfelt]

Around here we sort of have three shifts - those that work 7-3, 8-4 and 9-5. While a few caregivers work enough hours to cover two of the three shifts most don't and while it takes longer you will find enough clients all working the same shift. Or as what happens most here mom and dad work different shifts since a lot of places give that flexibility and one parent drops off and one picks up. I do 6:30 - 4:30 now and will go to 4:45 if necessary so can cover the first two shifts if I am in the mood - the family seems right but will not work till 5 anymore because of the morning start. Finding early morning care is much harder but it works for me since I have to be up before hubby leaves for work at 6:30 or I would sleep through so up anyways might as well finish earlly.

[Momof4]

Oh, I just answered this in somebody else's thread! I offer 7:30-5 as my hours but my current families all use 8-4:15ish and I'm so lucky. I used to work 7am - 5:30 from the time the first one arrived and the last ones left but those clients are gone and I don't want to do that ever again.

We DO work way OVER 12 hour days when you consider all we have to do in the evenings for cleanup and preparing for the next day and dishes, sweeping, vacuuming, laundry, getting groceries. I tell parents that my work is not done when the children leave.

[apples and bananas]

I used to sometimes do 6am - 9pm some days when I started out. It was long but not so bad. The 2 I had until 9 were 3 and very well behaved and they just played with my kids. I hardly knew they were here. So, I think you should consider anything especially when you're starting out in a new area.

Now, I wouldn't do it again unless I had to, but back then I had to. Thank goodness their mom when on mat leave is all I can say! I couldn't have done it forever, but it wasn't that bad when I did do it.

Right now my hours are 7 - 5:30 and I have a before and after school that starts as early as 6 am some days. But she's older and I can let her in, have my coffee and shower while she watches tv, so I don't mind so much.

[playfelt]

I think the key to working the extra hours is that it has to seem like you aren't working. Having a baby that needs to be spoon fed and held for a bottle or going through a period of teething and fussy is very different than having a couple kids the same ages as your own or old enough to play unattended leaving you free to do more of your own thing. Also it is important to set your "school hours" and to realize that while you work with the kids from 9-3 the hours on either side and especially the ones after 4 are freeplay downtime for everyone and that means tv and videos and just hanging out is ok. If you let yourself do that then having the longer hours isn't so bad. You can still do laundry while they watch tv and keep your own kids entertained and get paid for it - not such a bad deal really.

There was a time when I did that and my own kids enjoyed having just the big kids around and no babies underfoot. Mostly this was kids from the neighbourhood who would have been wanting to play at my house anyways. I was able to just put them outside to play hockey on the driveway or in the backyard.

When money is tight, or just starting out and trying to get ahead to prepare for lean times this kind of care can work. It can also come with a premium charge because it is so hard to find. I know of a caregiver that worked 12 - 8 with the idea of so many retail jobs that were a 1-7 shift in the area at the time. She had a lazy morning with her own kids then had kids come after lunch but gave them a snack before nap and sleep all afternoon, play outside, have supper and then freeplay till pick up. And she was able to charge more than the going rate for this service. Finding the niche in a new area can work wonders.