Errands

Hi! Just wondering if anyone has ran errands during the day at all? I agreed to take on my first dayhome boy from 7 am- 6pm. This leaves zero time during the week for things like, banking, post office, groceries....does anyone take time during the week with the kids to do running around? Are the parents ok with it? I am contemplating taking the kids but maybe I should just be asking for an afternoon off every couple of weeks to get my own stuff done.

I agreed to start my dayhome 3 weeks early too and have now realized that I have no time to get my daughter ready for back to school. lol.

Thanks for the advice

When I had a full daycare with 5 kids no. My selling point for most of my families was we stayed on site (huge backyard). But, as you noted long hours and no time for errands or other things was really not working for us.

I then closed the daycare and kept one child. We now spend our day in the main house (not in separate daycare space) and the families knows that I do tend to the house during the day and run errands as needed. It is manageable with two children (both approx. 2.5yrs.). They find it fun. I go to grocery stores with the double carts so they sit side by side and giggle the whole time etc. I would have ZERO desire to go out for errands with more than 2!

If you plan to you need to discuss it fully with parents so they know. You DO NOT want to run into a family member or family friend and have them casually mention seeing you to the parents if the parents do not know! You just need to be transparent with the daycare families. Mine knows that for periods of time their child needs to entertain herself as I do laundry, cooking, cleaning and house tasks during the daycare hours to free up my evenings for family time. I made sure they knew this so when their child, who is talking more and more, goes home and says I was ignoring her, or wouldn't play with her or whatever 2.5yr olds randomly report I am able to clarify that while doing laundry she was told to go play etc.

7am-6pm is an incredibly long day. Why do they need such long hours of care?

If you start running errands a god way to off set it is to run a few on the way to the park. Then the kids get something to look forward to after the boring adult stuff and if they complain to the parents they had to run errands you can follow up by saying, yes we stopped at the post office on the way to the big park. So the parents see you still have the kids in mind.

Sometimes but not often. I don't have a big enough vehicle to take the kids so my running around is usually evenings.

On occasion when I have 1 or 2 we do! A few weeks ago I ended up with 1 boy. We went to the bank, got groceries and picked up the mail. We then did the park and mcd's for lunch. If a parent doesn't like it then too bad. It gets us out of the house and it isn't often. I also do laundry, water flower beds, go online when kids are here.

I am walking distance to everything. I work 6:30 -5:30, I do most of my banking online or deposit cheques from the parents by mobile deposits. My bank is open till 8 pm and on Sat and Sun. I have a Walmart and a Fortinos within a 5 minute walk. My parents have no problem with me walking to the store, it can be an awesome teaching opportunity.

Just got back home from doing an errand lol, so yes, I do!

Home daycares are different than centres. We offer a home like experience. For some, this includes doing errands. My daycare kids even know our family members (in laws, cousins etc) as we sometimes go to their houses as well. My Inlaws give the dck's Halloween treats and we visit them often on our walks.

I've never had a parent not like this, in fact it's usually a selling point. I only go in the car when I have 2-3 though.

Tomorrow were headed to the mall to meet Anna and Elsa and we'll likely browse the stores too!

Right now I only have my 2 kids and one extra, I'm going to see if the parents mind. It is a very long day for us all and an hour every once in awhile could sure break up our day a bit. I have been taking them to the splash park, playgrounds and picnics daily so a stop for something would be super handy. specially since I started up earlier than anticipated. I need to get my daughter glasses and nothing is open past 5:30.

I think most parents wouldn't mind. As long as you are looking after their child it shouldn't matter what you are doing. I think most parents would rather not have to take extra time off if they don't have to.

About a week after starting My handfuls mom made a comment about her previous daycare. She said provider would get upset that her pickups and drop off times were all over the place because she had errands to do. She said well I certainly wasn't paying her to do errands!!! So yes there are some who think that.

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Originally Posted by mickyc

I think most parents wouldn't mind. As long as you are looking after their child it shouldn't matter what you are doing. I think most parents would rather not have to take extra time off if they don't have to.

About a week after starting My handfuls mom made a comment about her previous daycare. She said provider would get upset that her pickups and drop off times were all over the place because she had errands to do. She said well I certainly wasn't paying her to do errands!!! So yes there are some who think that.

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This would annoy me too. If pick ups are all over the place and they are your only/last child, than it's hard to plan your evenings. Yes, you could say well your done at xx time so just plan for after that but if I was done 1-2 hours earlier, that's a lot of extra time that I could have made appt's/done errands. If it's the mom I'm thinking if, she was likely just mad about having to be on time or commit herself to set times as it sounds like she just likes to come and go as she pleases. She sounds like she uses daycares as drop centres lol. (If this is your mom that you've told me about before!)

I don't.

In my view, we are being paid to work not run errands. Not saying others shouldn't, but it not sit right with me.

I think if I paying person to care for my child, I would be annoyed if provider running errands and bringing my child along. If I wanted my child running errands in day, then I stay home and bring with me. It blur line between babysitter who just supervising child for safety and day home which provide safe, nurturing and educational environment with focus on child's needs not provider's.

Sure, if work outside home, I'd have lunch period to run errand that day home provider not have, but that is one of down sides being self-employed our of house.

Not knocking those who do it, as sure they have okay from parent but I wouldn't and don't.

I take my dcks out but only for day trips. I will have less children this September and so I'm planning outings once or twice every week, but they are geared toward the children having fun and learning. I wouldn't feel right going out shopping or running errands either, it doesn't seem very professional to me. However, not knocking others for doing it, to each their own. Everyone runs their business differently and has different values and goals.