Chronically late but....

Hello,

I am wondering what wisdom I can find here regarding the situation of a parent chronically late to pick up their two children. It has been 15-20 minutes late EVERYDAY for the past 3 weeks. The story is: they had a house fire this summer and have had to relocate to a hotel downtown whilst waiting for major repairs. This means driving back to our neighborhood to drop off children in the am, driving back downtown for work and then battling rush hour traffic to get back here. I close at 6, which I alteady think is a generous hour given they are done work between 5 and 5:30. Should I expect the father (mom doesn't drive and works retail shifts) to leave work early for p/u everyday or should they be paying me extra to stay late? If so what would you charge? I am very sympathetic to their situation but have my own family's needs to consider. I don't want to do this longterm and they don have an end in sight at the moment. Any advice?
Also, until recently this has been a cash transaction. I let them know that as of the commencement of the school year we would have to have a contract, which they agreed upon, so nothing is written and I don't want to cause them further stress but....

YES!!!!! Make them pay extra. I'm surprised you have let this go on for so long.

I have a late fee set up:
IF they contact me before they're late: First 5 minutes you get a grace period, then $1/minute for the next 15 minutes, then it becomes $5/minutes thereafter.

Now, because this is going to last awhile for you, I would charge a flat rate of $10-15. Because this is encroaching on YOUR FAMILY TIME, they have to pay!

If you need a hand writing up a manual/contract, please feel free to PM me, and I'm happy to help out!

Many moons ago (16 years) I had a house fire ... Small fire (only 10 gals of water to put it out ) but the smoke damage was extensive. The main floor of the house (bungalow) had to be gutted right back to the studs. It was an extremely traumatic experience. I had a 5 yr old and a 4 month old .... I went from living in a 3000sq ft home to a 27 ft trailer in the front yard and I also had my two 10 yr old step daughters and 5 daycare children .... It was a nightmare! So I feel for these people to be displaced from their home and everything that they held sacred. If it was me and they are only 15 mins late due to extenuating circumstances ( which I have personally lived through) I would probably tell them that under normal circumstances you would charge them a late fee but due to their situation and not wanting to cause any more stress to their lives you would let it go for now. Give them a time frame of maybe 6 weeks then there will be a flat rate late fee of $25/week or what ever you think is fair. I know how much there is to do to rebuild and still try to keep some normalcy of life for the sake of the kids. Just my nickel

I admit it - I started out without contracts - and it was a huge mistake! Get a contract now and I'd be happy to email mine to you if you send me a personal message. I love helping newbies because I had a hell of a first year but I'm happy to report in my 5th year I'm turning people away because everyone who ever came here recommends me to friends, family, co-workers and etc.

What's that old saying? Problems on your part do not constitute an emergency on my part. That's wrong but close. You don't have to put up with this and must put a stop to it or everyone will take advantage of you and you will end up hating your job.

If you let people walk all over you they certainly will do it! Demand respect as a businesswoman and stress to your clients that you have a LEGAL contract. I make the parents sign every paragraph of my policies and won't work a single day without my contract properly signed. I just went through this with a family switching from full-time to every other day for JK next week and told the Mom if she didn't sign the contract so we have everything legal in writing I cannot provide care next Tuesday. She hopped right to it and brought in the contract today. She's had it for over a month! Let people know your rules and your demands and if they love your daycare and want to keep their space they will co-operate.

My contract is set up so that anybody who uses over a 9 hour day pays a $5/half hour fee and they also pay and early or late fee of $5/half hour if the arrive before 7:30am or after 5pm because those are my hours of business.

I have set hours and a late fee policy already in my contract as well .... if you do not already have a contract or a policy that addresses late fees I would certainly add one ... here is mine if you want an idea of how one might be worded to get you started with an idea.

Quote:

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Late Pick-up Policy
Please remember that I have a family of my own to care for after hours and children should be picked up prior to your contracted hours ending. Children still in attendance after this time will be charged $5.00 within the first 5 minutes and a $1.00/minute thereafter. Please note that this fee is per child not per family. Multiple children require multiple charges. A late form will be provided for parents to sign. Late fees are due ideally same day but no later than next scheduled payment date. As my after work time is precious to my family clients who are consistently tardy in pick up time risk having their contract terminated.

Please notify me immediately if you need to be late in an emergency, if a parent/guardian or designated emergency person has not called to make arrangements or picked up the child within an hour of closure Family and Children's Service will be contacted for assistance.

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I make the SIGN a late form so that there is proof that they are aware they were late and the extra fee paid so that if they become 'chronic' I can terminate them without notice!

However I admit that I am a softy as well and while I have 'strict policies' in place to avoid people taking advantage of me I do occasionally 'waive' those policies for worthy clients so like Crayola kiddies if I saw that were struggling trying to get to close on time and 'shared' that with me rather than just assuming I would work late despite my policy than I would have empathy and likely waive that the first few times while they get their emotional / financial barrings after the fire but I would have had that conversation with them 'empathize with all your going through and want to be supportive however working late without compensation is not fair to my own family ~ so while I am willing to continue to do it for a SHORT TERM to help your family through this tragedy I am going to need to charge additional for it starting next week PLUS I need a time frame of how long this is expected to continue so I can discuss with my family how long they are willing to share their home after hours.

Good luck with however you decide to handle this ~ my heart goes out to your daycare client for having had to deal with this :(

Thank you all so much for your thoughtful input. I am going to reread your replies carefully over the weekend and consider my course of action.

It's such a hard one. I would probably sit down with the family and explain to them that although you appreciate their situation the late pick ups are draining on your family time and see if you can come to a solution together. Maybe they dont' realize the effect it's having on you. Sometimes when I'm under incredible stress you forget little things... like how your actions are effecting other people... they may not realize.

I don't think I'd go to late payment right away. They have a lot on their plate. If they need the late pick up then let them know it's an optiong (if you're even willing to do it ) however you have to charge a little extra to make it worth your time.

I don't charge late fees. My time is my time. If they aren't here on time we have a discussion and it doesn't happen again un nessasarily. No amount of money will make it ok for someone to take away from my family time.

ok, I think I am misunderstanding something here. Has the location of their work places changed or has your location changed? If not and they are picking up their child after work, then how is the house fire making them late?
I can see that it will take longer for them to get home from your place, but not from work to your place.
I can see how it would take them longer to get to your place in the morning, but they can simple re-adjust their morning to make it on time.
I am not saying that the fire wasn't a bad thing, it is horrible that it has happened, but its not your fault and bad things happen to people all the time, that doesn't mean that they have the right to take advantage of you by showing up late that many times.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Valerie E. M-C

ok, I think I am misunderstanding something here. Has the location of their work places changed or has your location changed? If not and they are picking up their child after work, then how is the house fire making them late?
I can see that it will take longer for them to get home from your place, but not from work to your place.
I can see how it would take them longer to get to your place in the morning, but they can simple re-adjust their morning to make it on time.
I am not saying that the fire wasn't a bad thing, it is horrible that it has happened, but its not your fault and bad things happen to people all the time, that doesn't mean that they have the right to take advantage of you by showing up late that many times.

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I didn't even think of that!!! So true!!
If they work down there anyways what's the difference now?

hummmm....I was going to be all "soft" but now I'm smelling "taking-advantage-of-the-situation".

One more thing, how long have they been with you? Now that School is almost back the last two weeks have been more than normal traffic....everyone' s back from vacations :P

Ya I will admit that the being 'late' due to the fire had me wondering as well cause it should not affect the commute from work to childcare ~ I assumed that the parents were dealing with errands after work that were as a result of the 'outfall' before getting the children so that they are not stopping by insurance offices or the actual 'burnt home' to deal with things?

Honestly unless they are having to deal with stuff after work in relation to the fire that cannot be done during 'lunch hours' and so forth there is no reason they should not be to your house by your normal pick up time .... if the driving through traffic from work downtown to your home is the 'issue' this is ALWAYS going to be the issue regardless of when they get their home repaired cause that should only be affecting the 'morning commute'?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Crayola kiddies

Many moons ago (16 years) I had a house fire ... Small fire (only 10 gals of water to put it out ) but the smoke damage was extensive. The main floor of the house (bungalow) had to be gutted right back to the studs. It was an extremely traumatic experience. I had a 5 yr old and a 4 month old .... I went from living in a 3000sq ft home to a 27 ft trailer in the front yard and I also had my two 10 yr old step daughters and 5 daycare children .... It was a nightmare! So I feel for these people to be displaced from their home and everything that they held sacred. If it was me and they are only 15 mins late due to extenuating circumstances ( which I have personally lived through) I would probably tell them that under normal circumstances you would charge them a late fee but due to their situation and not wanting to cause any more stress to their lives you would let it go for now. Give them a time frame of maybe 6 weeks then there will be a flat rate late fee of $25/week or what ever you think is fair. I know how much there is to do to rebuild and still try to keep some normalcy of life for the sake of the kids. Just my nickel

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But they are not coming from their house for pick up. They are picking the kids up from the same place of employment at the daycare that is in the same location. I would not give them any kind of break. If it was late drop off, that'd be different, and I'd have every sympathy in the world for a displaced family. But I fail to see how their living arrangements changes the time they pick up their kids from the same location they always have picked them up.

ETA: Didn't read all the replies...you guys had this covered. :)

Thanks again all. After reading your advice I quickly got a contract together and now the late pickups are almost non-existent, occasionally 5 minutes with texts updating how close they are and what the traffic is doing......
Unfortunately turning the situation into a contracted one has left the relationship a little strained, they were very upset at my 1$ per minute late fee..... And maybe not so smart but the contracted time is 5:45 preferred pickup but late fees don't start until after 6.
It was that or completely change my hours and find a new family whom could accommodate me. I would love to be finished at 5:30..... When this family moves on that is the plan!

Good for you for taking control of the situation! Tough bananas if it left things a little strained,it is YOUR business and they were taking advantage of your kindness.

Yes, good for you! Sometimes you have to put your foot down hard to take charge. I'm in a bad situation right now with one family and doing some serious thinking about what I'm going to do. We have to remember to run our businesses professionally. A plumber or other service worker wouldn't work without being paid for every minute and we certainly provide a very valuable service in our field.

Although I do sympathize these people are going through a ton of stress right now , I couldn't imagine, however....keep in mind, your time is important. I would address the situation with them and give them a few options. Let them know you are so sorry for their situation and sympathize completely but the encroachment on your time IS becoming a bit of an issue and you would like to work with them on solving it. You could offer to take the kids longer, WITH an extra charge.
You could ask them if they could leave work a little early to pick up on time, given the extra commute required. You could ask if there is friend or family to help out by picking up on time so you can have your personal time. Always put your self in someone elses shoes before talking, (keeps us all humbled,acknowledgin g others troubles) on the very same note, keep your needs in mind also..kindly sympathize but let them know your time is important. Good Luck....and prayers for them..(couldn't imagine what it's like to loose your home)