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This is the exact reason that we walk to the local park to play everyday or play in the backyard. I have my hands full with my own crew and was tired of being put in a dangerous position. Not only technically being way over my numbers but also what if one of the children got hurt.
Be nice if you could have each of them sign a waiver of some sort saying that you are not responsible for their children as they are not in your care.
I ran into this at parks at my old location. Except it was other daycare providers. They would go sit on the benches away from the action chatting and not watching the kids. I would find myself in the midst of 15 or more children under 4, and found it too chaotic to monitor my group, while needing to aid the others too. I loved when our backyard was ready to spend most of our time there. We would still go to the parks at times I found others not to be there for variety, but had the back yard to retreat to.
I haven't encountered that as a daycare provider, but as a mom. There have been times where i have been outside with my kids, and two particular siblings from the neighbourhood will come and play. Nice kids (4 and 7), nice parents but not usually outside supervising the kids. It's ok if they play over but i always have to remind them to ask their mom if they can play over, asking if their mom knows they are here, etc. Sometimes the mom doesn't even know, they just come over without telling her. My son (almost 7) knows that when i have the daycare kids here, he can't have anyone over to play because i can only have a set amount of kids, so we reserve playdates for outside of daycare time.
I also had this problem with our neighbour's son, who would always come over here to play but my kids couldn't go over to his house for some reason. So much so that when my family came over they would ask where our neighbour was if he wasn't here. When I asked his mom to give me a reference when I was opening my daycare, she said that she really didn't know me. We weren't super close but we would walk the kids to school together and would talk occasionally. Not to mention that her son was here ALOT!!:mad:Quote:
Originally Posted by MonkeyPrincess
This happened to me a couple of weeks ago. Neighbor DCD came to pick up his kid just as we were headed outside to play. DCB didn't want to leave, so they, along with the older brother ended up staying for a bit. It wasn't too bad, but then DCD said he had to pop home to talk to a plumber who just arrived. Thirty minutes later, they were still there! The siblings are completely out of control and I was so frazzled. We ended up going in to the backyard so I wouldn't have to worry about either of them running on the road. SO not cool.
My next door neighbours have a grandson that spends a lot of time at their house. I told them when I started the daycare that he could come play by himself if I wasn't at my maximum number of kids, otherwise they will have to stay outside if he wants to play with the daycare kids. It has worked well being very upfront with it, there is no misunderstanding and they help me out too so we both benefit. They will supervise my own daughter outside sometimes so I don't have to (during non daycare hours) and they also walk home my school age kids sometimes as their grandson takes the same bus. I feel very lucky and grateful having this good relationship!
At least I'm not alone! Yesterday after school the weather brightened and the kids wanted to go out before pick-up time. The minute we stepped outside, the 2 girls from a couple houses up came down to stand on our front lawn, eating something out of bowls. My son asked what it was, and they said "peanut butter cookies!"
I freaked. This was exactly what I was worried about. My dcb with severe nut allergies was standing right beside me, had been asking all afternoon to come out and play, and now these kids are on my lawn, without a parent in sight, munching away on food that can kill him. I told them they had to go back to their own yard and they needed to wash their hands with soap before they could play with any of my kids, and unfortunately they couldn't touch my ride-on toys because it wouldn't be safe for dcb. They were good about it, but the whole time we were out I was watching like a hawk, making sure dcb didn't go anywhere near them. At no point did either of their parents even stick their heads out the door to check on them.
Can't wait for our backyard to be done!!
I sent a note home with my daycare parents as well as put a note on front door stating that during daycare hours only daycare children are allowed to play here. I had to because on Easter break, I had kids coming to my door and after 2 days of explaining that "No, during the day a daycare is here", I had no choice. Summer is coming and if we're in my fenced backyard, I'm sorry but I am responsible for these children with me. It's my job. This is a good example of how people will take advantage of you. You let one kid in and pretty soon, you know whose house they'll be at.
I like kids and it's what I do for a living but put your kids in something or do something with them to keep them occupied.