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What do you do when you or your own child has a doctor/dentist appointment and you can't schedule it for the evening/weekend? Do you close for the day, or part of the day? Do you have someone else watch the daycare kids? Do you take them with you to the appointment?
I (unexpectedly) need to see my doctor and the only time I could get in to see her is in the morning one day next week. I'm unsure how to handle this.
For me it depends on the nature of the appointment, if I have any paid personal days left in my contract or if I can budget for the closure, if back up support is available for the time the appointment is for.
Basically I have done ALL those things you mentioned depending on the circumstances
So because I do not want the kids in tow for my physical for example I take the day off for that and than try to book as many other things that day cause it is planned ahead so can be 'coordinated' better ... like my annual eye check up and a dental cleaning and things which I cannot 'watch' the kids while having done so could not take them to that and so forth.
My family Dr is over an hour a way cause I can not find one in my new city so if I am going for something 'simple' in and out like checking my thyroid and refilling medications I have taken the crew with me there is an awesome children's museum there so I get an appointment for first thing in the morning pick my mother who lives there enroute and I do the appointment quick and she feeds them morning snack at the Tim Hortons nearby and than we spend the rest of the day in the museum and have lunch out and than drop my mom back home and than I drive home during last of normal 'naptime' and the kids sleep in the van ~ pm snack and pick up time.
If it is something I can book during 'quiet time' like slipping to the local walk in clinic or having to go for a 'test' or something I have had my spouse, who has great plan with sick day and family emergency days, come home and watch the kids while I fly to the appointment and back without interrupting the program much at all and little 'effort' for him to help out.
I am fortunate that my husband works nearby and will come and watch the kids should I have a medical app. I try to schedule my appointments after drop off or at afternoon nap. I will have a snack ready for him to serve should he need it. If you don't have anyone to do this, then I would schedule your app for the earliest in the day possible or the latest possible and tell the parents they must adjust their drop off/pick up times to accomodate you.
Forgot to add ~ I always INFORM clients of my choice well in advance ~ if they are not comfortable with their kids tagging along to the appointment or my spouse stepping in for an hour than they have the option of keeping them home or picking up prior to the event ~ but if I am open they still pay so I have never had a client not be 'ok' with whatever choice I make ;)
You've given me a thought. It would not be bad idea to plan in an appointment day, say once every 3 months or 6 months (depends on you) and plan all of your appointments that day....clients know way ahead of time (heck, it could even be in their contract). Hmmmmm
Yup there are appointments that you just have to do 'annually' and if you plan them well that you can get em all out of the way ... I book my 'next years' appointments when I am at the current years one so which ever one I got 'first' on that day I than book all the others for as I go to them ~ works awesome ... I generally also book them around the stupid 'Etest and license renewal' things that are not open outside my work hours OR the lines are too nasty on a Saturday and I squeeze them in ... so my 'appointment day' is typically close to my birthday each year which sucks for this year because it fell during my VACATION which I do not usually take these weeks but this is what worked this year cause I wanted to be home for August because I have spaces opening up and I need time to 'secure' new clients :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreamalittledream
I usually try for a weekend or evening appt.
Otherwise ...I close for the day and give the parents one month notice whenever possible.
It does suck to close and lose all the $$ for the day though so I try to make it on a day where I have the least amount of kids whenever possible
Yes, I try to plan things way in advance! I have a walk in clinic my Dr. runs that I can go to at night if I need meds for something. I plan my annual stuff months in advance and let the parents know as soon as I know. I have a friend that can come and watch one or 2 so i give 1 or 2 the option, but I also have parents with great backup close by. So, they usually just keep their kids home.
I believe anything can be done if you have a good plan!
Well, it's nice that Reggio can take her daycare children with her to a doctor's appointment, but when I was starting out in my first year I had an appointment and took my first two little ones with me. The doctor's wife (who rules the office with an iron hand) told me never to do that again! I think she was worried about noise, but I'm not sure. After all, there are kids in there all day to see the doctor.
Anyway, after I thought about it I realized she's right because why would I want to take my 5 daycare children to a doctor's office where there are tons of germs floating around from sick people.
Ya although my family Dr office has a nice large 'play area' for children so they likely would not care if I brought them in ~ they do not typically come in with me for this very reason unless it is an appointment where there are not 'contagious' sick people like the Dermatologist or my Urological Oncologist follow ups .... my mom either takes them to the Tim Horton's or they stay in the vehicle and watch a movie with her depending on the time of my appointment and if it is near 'snack' or not and the weather outside..... I have learned there are some 'questions' that are no fun having to answer for kids by having them tag along to stuff like this and as much as it sucks to inconvenience the parents sometimes it is just best which is why I added paid personal days to my contract so client know I will be taking time off and budget for that so I have less guilt ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Momof4
I've on two seperate occasions had to take dcg with me & my DD to the walk-in. My DD woke up a) with a bloody eye....like tears of blood and b) weezing needing her puffer meds refilled. Luckly I only had one dc kid that day but it was MY CHILD at risk so hells yeah I went to the Dr. and the parents were fine with it. I text mom as we were leaving the house as to whats going on.
There was one time though where my DD again woke up from nap with a very bad eye (she has constant issues and we're at sick kids each month...scared cornea, loss of vision & sensations) but at that time not knowing what was wrong I was told by the eye specialist that if she got gunky or red eyed again to head down ASAP. Well she woke up looking like a horror movie...blood everywhere and coming out of her eye. Thank GOD my mom was home and got to my house in 10min. I called all the parents and told them that I was leaving and why, also that my mom was there. All the kids were fed and sleeping. I can't remember how many times I said I'm sorry but they all understood that with kids things happen and each mom called the next day (Saturday) to ask how DD was doing. Lets hope I don't have any more surprises like that.....
I have 5 personal days per calendar year. These are not sick days. I give parents 3-4 weeks notice.
I am very upfront with potential clients , I tell them I have appointments with a specialist every x # of weeks and that I will always open late those days.
If I have to go to the walk in clinic I either close or have my DH replace me.
I really do try to be professional and give them as much notice as possible but sometimes that's just not possible.
I found it really helps to tell potential clients that I may close if my children are too sick and need my attention, if I am really sick,ETC...I always ask if they are prepared for this and ask if they have family in the area that could help them out.
I have lost only 1 potential client due to this and the others who became clients never ever complained when I took time off,whether it be for appointments, illness or my 4-5 weeks of vacation per year.
Of course we have personal lives and families and we run into personal problems now and then. That's why we must make sure we have understanding and respectful clients who view us as humans doing our very best. But we must be professional at all times to keep a good reputation.
I have three personal paid days in my contract but I never use them. Some year I may need to use them and I hope that my clients will be understanding. As Sunflower mentioned, if you have a chronic problem and regular appointments and you tell your clients up front so they can make arrangements then that is being professional. But I wouldn't take the children with me to appointments like that.
At interviews I advise my daycare families that I don't have back up care and there will be emergencies that I have to take my kids to Dr etc....
For the most part dh and I share taking days off. Recently dd#1 fractured her arm and I had to get the daycare parents to pick up their kids as I couldn't reach dh to come and get her to take to emergency- for the cast I got family to take her and bought them all lunch so I wouldn't have to take another day off on my daycare families. They understand if I take a day- I have to and I don't charge them. I would not take daycare kids with me as my focus is my kids because if I'm taking a day off, they have to be sick and they need my focus.
Our dr is out of town too ~ makes it tricky but I give as much notice as I can! One of down sides :-(
i would inform all parents that I would be opening later that am due to an unexpected appt. if its an am appt I dont feel as bad, opeing later isnt too big a deal for most parents. when I have had stuff going on i nthe afternoon I have always asked my mother to cover for me, the kids call her grama and love her, all the parents know her quite well (small town) reccently however, i have a new baby, (firdt time parents) they had a prblem with anyone else taking care of their daughter for one appt last week (had to cancel, but understood their concern) did shake up my personal life however. soooo....after 10 years, I have devised a new plan hopefully it will work for me, and may give you a little idea too. I have set aside two fridays each month for potential appts. these are open in advance and my mm is on standby, in the event I have to go to dr bring my kids to visits OR JUST want to take a afternoon with my kids or out to lunch. I added it to my contracts especially for these new parents to agree to, they were thrilled to have a set day and cant wait to meet my Mom this week, I will have her over for dinner during their pick up time so everyone can meet and minds can be at ease. My daughter has a DR appt this friday, and after we will go to the beach!!!!! NEVER get to do that during the week, so excited!