What are your daycare hours?

[DaycareLady1]

Hi there,

I started a home daycare this month. I originally wanted my hours to be from 7:00am to 5pm. I had a family ask for a start time of 6:45am, which I thought wasn't that big of a deal... well, I am two weeks in and already regretting agreeing to such an early start time. I feel tired for the whole day when my days start so early. It doesn't help that I have a baby getting up for 2 feedings in the middle of the night as well. I was wondering what everyone's hours are? When do you start and when do you finish? I'm already thinking that I won't be able to keep this 6:45am start time for too long... Have any of you been in a situation where you had to terminate a client because it was too early of a start? I'm thinking of changing my hours to 7:30am start time and once I find a couple of families, I may be letting the 6:45am start family go.

[mimi]

My hours are 7:30 to 5:30 and I am firm about it. More, and I would crash and burn!:)

[BlueRose]

My hours right now are 7:30 to 5:30.
but I am going to be changing them to 7 - 5pm, My oldest son will be starting school in Sept. and I have to have him there for 8 am, so a 7:30 drop off time will not work.
I am so not a morning person, so its going to be fun, getting up even earlier.

[Crayola kiddies]

My hours are 6:45-4:30 ..... I have to have the early open because of my location to give enough time for parents to travel into the city .... Plus I like being off early!

[Inspired by Reggio]

Yes this is the challenge with this industry ~ we really need to decide on our hours of business and stick to them otherwise before you know it your starting 15 minutes early for one client, staying late 30 minutes for another and after a while you are working 12 plus hours a day :(

My program hours are 7:30 - 4:30 for my base fee ... I offer 'extended hour service' as early as 7am and as late as 5pm for an ADDITIONAL FEE.

I made this change heading into my 2nd year in business when I was starting to feel burnt and I wanted to help ensure that clients truly NEED more than 9 hours of service because I have found over my years that often clients will say they 'need' 10 plus hours because the daycare is advertizing they are open those hours and it is really just EASIER to leave the child in care and go run errands and so forth before or after work ~ however when they have to pay EXTRA for those additional hours in additional to the normal '9 hour work day' well suddenly it is not so much trouble to take Johnny to run their errands or they realize it is cheaper to invest in a 'second carseat' so that the other spouse can share in the drop of and pick up to keep the child in daycare less than 9 hours and so forth ;)

Find the hours that work for you and STICK to them hon ... we do not have to say YES to everyone who shows interest in our program it is ok to hold out for the BEST MATCH!

[DaycareLady1]

How much extra do you charge for more than 9 hours? When I interviewed this family I told them it is a max of 9.5 hours per day, and somehow they are here for 9.75 hours per day. If I were to do it again, I would make sure the client falls between the hours of 7:30am - 5pm. Like I said, I can see myself replacing them eventually because I can only do such long, early hours for so long.

[Inspired by Reggio]

I charge $5/day for overtime in the morning if they need to drop off before 7:30 am and an additional $5/day if you need care past 4:30 ... some clients arrange it for just 'specific days' each week and others might need it consistently daily.

Reality is it is still cheaper than 'centre care' would be to get that same extended hour service but they get the 'pro' of having the same staff at arrival and departure verses centre care and it compensates me for working 'overtime' like any other person in the working world would get!

[Momof4]

Daycarelady, my official hours are also 7:30-5pm with a maximum 9 hour day and $5/half hour overtime or early or late fees. I'm really lucky that my clients right now arrive at 8 and are all gone by 4:45pm. I love it and I'm not exhausted the way I used to be in my first 3 years where my start time was 7am. The extra hour in the morning has made a huge difference in my health and sleep. You also have to watch out for the clients who say they want to start at 7:30 and arrive at 7:15. You have to tell those clients that is not allowed.

[cfred]

My hours are 6am-6pm and have been since I opened over 11 yrs ago. Over the years, I've only had a couple years during which I didn't have 6am or 6:30am arrivals. You get used to the early mornings within a couple months to the point that you don't even notice. I had young ones up in the night when I first started too. It sucks, but passes.

[playfelt]

The trick to doing the early hours is to also do the early evening so my first arrive just before 6:45 but all are gone by 4:45. Hubby leaves for work at 6:20 so I am up anyways - if he didn't wake me I would for sure sleep through so this way as long as I am up might as well start the day. What I really like is that most nights the kids are gone or I am down to only a couple before I have to start making supper as we time it to be done so we can watch the news and eat.

When your own kids get to be school age you will for sure appreciate the earlier finish time as it means getting kids fed and out to evening activities a lot easier.

[Bugaboo]

My hours are M-F, 7-5. I'm firm on my hours. I just can't work a longer day without feeling burnt out or have family time taken away.

[jodaycare]

I open at 6am for two weeks of the month and 6:30am for the other two weeks. I normally close at 5 but sometimes I am open till 5:30 a couple of nights a week. I have been doing home daycare for almost 20 years and have always opened early.

[fruitloop]

My "normal" hours are 7:30 - 5 but I have 1 family that pays me extra to start at 7 (although they are rarely here right at 7...it's usually about 10 after). I have accepted another family in that starts in March who is also paying extra for a 7 am start. I will only ever do 2 kids at that time (for extra pay) because I'm trying to get my own kids up and ready for school.

[mom-in-alberta]

I am reopening, and new hours are 6:30-4:30. Used to be 7:30-5:30. I am switching to conform more to our family's schedule and the kids' extracurricular activities. I was a little concerned that I wouldn't have any interest, but I actually think I have just tapped a different "market" of parents than I had before. I WILL NOT work for more than 10 hours though. I don't think people realize that in home daycare, there are no breaks! I can't pop out for a coffee with my co-workers, or take a nice quiet lunch break.
I made the mistake of doing the "early start" for one family a couple years ago. What do you know, they started showing up earlier and earlier, and picking up later and later. Never again.
I will admit that I am loathing the idea of getting up at 5:45, though. :crying:

[DisneyPrincess]

Yep I'm a 7-5 also. Can't do earlier, I really need that extra 15 minutes to sleep no joke. Plus, I don't want to finish later than 5 either, 10 hours is enough... for me AND for the children. Parents do try to get more, but it's a NO sorry. (Unless it was one time for an emergency of some kind, with extra fee). They manage just fine believe me !!

[apples and bananas]

i used to open at 7am and close at 5:30. That was rough enough. I have since had that client go on mat leave so I run a pretty consistent 8 - 5 right now. However, that will go right back to 7am come November. UGH! And I have a 6 am that comes about 4 times a month.

When I started I had much longer hours and I've learned my lesson.

You have to have good balance when running your own business. You ahve to know what you can take and when it's time to rest.

[Nottellin']

Wow! You ladies have long hours!
My hours were 7:30-4:30. Most days I only had kids here from 8-4. I thought that I would have a difficult time finding families, but I actually didn't at all.

[DisneyPrincess]

Its not easy being a parent with managing work/kids/daycare... been there, and when I had to find a new job, I had to get hours to work around my provider's daycare opening hours and I had to miss out on good work opportunities because the hours simply didnt work with daycare :( that's life right !

[Cadillac]

My hours are 8am to 530pm

I hate getting up early

[DaycareLady1]

I definitely am changing my hours to 7:30am to 5pm... 6:45am is WAY too early! How do you tell the family that comes so early about the hour change :S

[Momof4]

DaycareLady, I would simply send out a letter addressed to all your clients stating that due to circumstances within your family you must make the change in your business hours. Don't apologize or make it personal for anybody. One of the hardest lessons we have to learn as caregivers and nurturers and natural givers is to take care of ourselves. So when we make a business decision keep it professional and keep emotions out of the letters to your clients. Somebody said to me once - put on your business hat when dealing with client issues. It's true.

[loulou]

My hours are 7:30am-5:30pm. All but one of my kids are gone by 4:30pm though:D

[kidlove]

I had a start time of 6 and closed at 6 for about 7 years. Then moved to 6:30 to 6 pm for a few years and just recently moved to a VERY comfortable 7:30 to 5:35 and would rather shoot myself in the foot than go back to those hours EVER again. I do open for a family who both parents work as prison gaurds and have to be in a town about 30 minutes away by 7am to work, they drop off at 6:30, daughter in pj's and she is great, lays down, goes back to sleep or just plays quietly for the first hour of her day. The are great people and have never shown me anything below the most high regard and respect. I would take her forever at that time. plus they pickup at 3:30, it's a fair deal. other than that.....I would be crazy to take others at those hours. i am definately what you would call "start sensitive" I need coffee and quiet for the first hour of my day or I am not a happy camper!