Parents day off child still at daycare

[mickyc]

Now I know this has been talked about before but it is something that baffles me often.

I currently have 3 families, all are full-time and one dad has Monday's off, another has Friday's off and another has random days off during the week as he always works Saturday. They never ever keep their child home. I don't really care that they are sending their child here as that is what they are paying for but how sad is that! Would it not be nice to spend the day with your child once in awhile? What a wonderful opportunity to have time to bond with your child without anyone else (mom/older siblings).

Is this something that everyone else notices too? It just makes me sad that these parents get so little time with their kids to start with and don't take more time with them when they can. They are great kids! (I know I spend 45 -47 hours a week with them).

Very sad I think

[Busy ECE mommy]

Yeah, I guess they're paying for the spot, so why not take some "me time" as a parent. I get that, but why not give them a shortened day like 6-7hrs. The kids love being picked up early!
I have several teacher clients who send their kids full-time in the summer/march break/Xmas, and not even shortened days-usually about 9hrs. I feel bad for the kids. I have learned now to book part of Xmas holidays off, otherwise I'd never get a break! That way, they have no choice but to stay home with their kids! I don't get it, but to each their own. They want their money's worth!

[mickyc]

I have had the "I am paying so will use it " families. These 3 don't seem like that. I don't mind having the child and some days they do go home early but they never ever keep the child for the whole day. I get the whole me time but these dads get that every week.

My husband would never do that.

[Lee-Bee]

I did have one family that was amazing. Mom worked 10min away and the child was literally here 8hrs 20min. She zipped over as fast as she could to get him at the end of the day (3:40pm) every day. They truly valued their child and enjoyed their time with him. While this obviously isn't something all families can manage, I do believe that as these children age they do know, they see if mom and dad are doing what they can to spend more time with them.

[kindredspirit]

When my oldest was in daycare, hubby and I both worked shifts, and so we only needed 2-3 days per week. Our dayhome required us to pay for 5 days/week, so we always used 4 days, and used the extra day to study, work OT, run errands, clean, sleep if we were coming off nights, etc. Rarely we sent her all 5 if we had big jobs to do, like a reno.

[MommaL]

So I might get push back here, but have to admit that the thought of having a day off each week to myself sounds wonderful! It's not that I don't love my kids and want to spend time with them. Rather I love the idea of having a day each week to run all my errands, go to appointments, clean the house, prepare meals for the week and possibly get to sit down and relax for an hour (alone) without getting interrupted by anyone. That would then free up my evenings and especially my weekends to dedicate to my family, doing things that are fun and relaxed versus feeling frazzled and trying to get everything done. Certainly if it was me, the day at daycare would be shorter and it wouldn't be every week. But I'd like to think that other parents with days off use that time constructively or to recharge so that they are even better parents when they are with their kids.

[5 Little Monkeys]

When I first started, I used to think this too. Now, I think more like mommaL. I do think most use it as a day to do errands, appointments, shopping etc. This hopefully allows them to have better quality time with their child. Quality versus quantity is much more important IMO.

I've never really had an issue with parents doing this though. I actually find it throws the child off and prefer that we just stick to our normal schedule. I do have one that will drop off late and/or pick up early and I have to admit, the late drop off drives me nuts! I find the child cries at drop off those days because they thought it was going to be a home day

[Suzie_Homemaker]

I not mind when parent do this. I had 4 boys and if I had a day off in week when they smaller, I think I would use that to do all routine errands like groceries, haircuts, bank run, cleaning, laundry, maybe meet friend for lunch for adult breathing space too, rather than spend whole weekend trying do these things. I would have love to be able spend entire weekend focus on family time with no errands. They grow so quick and gone in blink of eye.

[mattsmom]

I love the ones that have the day off, drop off in their sweat pants or pjs and won't even mention that they have the day off. Like maybe you should let me know so if something happened during the day, I wouldn't be calling your work trying to get a hold of you! This has happened several times!

I can see the odd time, taking a day for yourself, I have kids and can totally relate. But, I had a family a couple of years ago with 2 young boys. The parents would take a couple of weeks in the summer and 2 weeks at Christmas and not once did they keep them home or pick up early!
The dad would bribe them each day saying that he would have something special for them when they came home if they wouldn't whine about coming, when they knew mom and dad were home. This I totally did not understand.

I worked outside the home for a long time before starting home daycare and I would take every opportunity to spend my days off with my kids. Especially now that they are a lot older, I am so glad that I did spend the extra time and not once do I regret it. Time goes by so fast and before you know it, your kids are grown and you will miss all the chaos.

[Crayola kiddies]

Oh boy I would love a day off during the week so I could do all the stuff that I do on weekends or even volunteer at my kids school.... Instead this Saturday I will be sitting in a hair dressers chair from 2-330 ... Right smack dab in the middle of the aft ... What a waste of a day but this was the only appt I could get till sept .... I have a kid in care and dad has Monday's off .... She is here every Monday ... I have another who's father is a firefighter and works about 8 days (24 hour shifts) a month and she is here every day !

[mickyc]

Like I said I don't care if they are here and I totally get the need to do errands/recharge/do renos/ clean house etc but why not keep the child once in awhile at home. In the 2 years I have had the one child he has never had a day with daddy on daddy's day off unless I was closed or he was sick. My other two have only been here a few months so I can't really say if summer will be different.

Time goes by so fast and in no time these littles will be in school. I just see so many missed moments and memories these parents could be making.

My husband has 2 kids from a previous marriage. He missed all those moments when they were growing up. We struggled with infertility and were blessed with a miracle baby (now 6yrs old). It just breaks my heart to see these parents not taking more time when its there.

[5 Little Monkeys]

I know what you're saying but really, we don't know what they do with their child so it's not really fair to say that they're missing out. I know a few sahm's that honestly, aren't great moms. It's parents like that, that I think about quality vs quantity.

Not all will agree but I think it's important for parents to realize that they just aren't mom and dads, they're people too and I think to be a great parent, you need to take time for yourself and do things that make you happy.