Was reading somewhere that according to the Daycare Nursery's act children should be in daycare no longer then 9 hours per day.
How many providers provide care for more then 9 hours a day?
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Was reading somewhere that according to the Daycare Nursery's act children should be in daycare no longer then 9 hours per day.
How many providers provide care for more then 9 hours a day?
I'm not sure that there are any laws, maybe a recommendation? Anyway, I find 9 hours to be long enough for the children and for me. I also feel that 8 hours of work plus a 1/2 hour travel morning and afternoon makes a total of 9 hours. I'm very lucky that a few of my families only use 7-7 1/2 hours because they have it worked out that the Mom drops off and the Dad picks up or some other combination. Only one of my families is actually using close to 9 hours. In the past I had a few problems and I implemented a $5/half hour early fee, late fee or overtime fee.
Hmmm, I originally was going to enforce the 9 hour rule, but I'm in Toronto, so I was advised that I may have to make it 10 hours,,, I do think it depends where you are- plus some parents may work 8 hours and have 1 hour for lunch, which is 9 hours- then they need travel time,,, so in my handbook, children are "recommended" to be there 9 hours but cannot stay more than 10, and if they do, parents must pay an extra $5
I do 10 hrs/day. But my family's usually pick up early which is nice. right now my hours are 7:30 to 5:30, with one child staying until 6pm a few days a month. i am with two agencies and they have said nothing to me about how long I can work per day.
Do you find it harder to find clients who are able to drop off and pick up within the 9 hour period even with one parent dropping off and another picking up?
I would imagine that travel time would be a huge factor. I live in a small city, and everything is within a 10-minute drive, so it's not a problem. Toronto traffic, however, could add an hour for some people!
The longest any one child is here right now is 9 hours. In Fall I will have one for 10 hours. She drives in Toronto traffic though and there's really no way to cut that down to 9. I don't take on clients anymore that travel that far to work.
Yes ~ nothing black and white in the DNA forcing only a 9 hour rule ... the 9 hour day is a 'recommendation' based on evidence in the field that children left in care longer than that start to have increased anxiety, stress and negative behavior ... 8 hours seems to be most children's perfect threshold, 9 hours is pushing it and over 9 hours and you can expect to have more end of the day accidents and incidents so I would be planning things that are quiet and calm to help reduce chances of behavior occurring in the first place!
I have a dck who is here for about 10 hours per day. It makes for a long day, for sure! I have recently changed my hours to 7:30am to 5pm, which forces new families to only stay a maximum of 9.5 hours per day. I find that if you are open for 10 hours, families will have their child(ren) stay for the full 10 hours.
The fee my parents pay covers up to 10 hours of care. Hardly anyone uses it but those that do have jobs where they actually are at work for 9 hours - ie one hour lunch is not paid time or who work clear across town so on any given day their commute time will vary depending on traffic.
My daily rate only pays for 9 hours of care. I am open for ten hours a day, but parents can only leave their kids with me for nine unless they want to pay extra fees.
My hours are 7:30-5. I have worked as early as 6:30 and finished as late as 5:30.
I probably turn away a good half of my enquiries because they want pick up between 5 and 5:30 which sucks, but I have to put my family first and I have night school twice a week and my own children have extra curricular activities and need their dinner on the table at around 5:30 and also need my attention for homework help earlier rather than later in the afternoon/evening. I think it really depends on your location and like you said how far the parents commute to.
My daily rate includes up to 10 hours of care but non of my families use it. Most are 8-9 hours which I think is more than reasonable
My daily fee is for nine hours maximum of care. I found that when I was open 10 hours, I had some families who used it although they did not need to and I couldn't say no because those were my hours according to our contract. I am currently open 9.5 hours, but each family has a max of 9 hours (eventually I will only be open 9 hours once my original family leaves). I would think that in Toronto the commute would add a lot of time and you might have to be open 10 hours.
What is the average hours people are doing in Ottawa?
:ohmy:I'm doing close to 10 hours and I find it to be a long day, especially since I have kids that don't nap, no break for me! I'm thinking that when my contracts are due that I will change it to 9 hours but am not sure if I should have potential new clients lined up before giving this information to my existing clientele. I am finding that they are going grocery shopping, clothes shopping, cooking supper doing whatever they like and not picking up their kids earlier when they can. Its crazy to me that children spend more time at my house then with their parents and that whatever free time the parents get they don't spend it with their little ones. Its sad really. I chose to stay home because I can't imagine not spending these precious years with my children, I really don't understand this mentality of someone else raising my children. I understand people have to work, but just because you are paying you leave them in care and spend your precious free time doing something other than parenting your lil ones?
I hear ya amotherfirst ... I saw this all the time when I worked in centre care and the centre was open 12 hours a day and many children were left there from open to close :(
One of the reasons why I have a 'fees are based on 9 hours of care' ... if they truly NEED more than that than they have to 'contract' it ahead of time and they have to pay an additional overtime fee that reflective of 'overtime' they are asking me to work ... I have found that when it is going to cost EXTRA to leave their child while they run errands or go to the gym after work suddenly they are able to manage taking them along with them and staying within the 9 hours ;)
Yep...this is why I changed my hours! I used to be open until 5:30, but I had one family who were the first to arrive and last to leave and they did not need those hours at all...the mom was a supply teacher and when she worked she finished at 3:15. She would go home and cook dinner first before picking up the kids...run errands etc. I felt like I shouldn't care what parents did with their time as long as I was being paid...but it bothered me. I am now open only until 5pm and all but one of my fmailies are gone by 4:30...now I truly don't care what the parents do with their time because I finish at a good time and have time for my family. I think the only way to avoid feeling used is to set your hours to something you are comfortable with.
My hours are 6:45 - 4:45. Arrivals are done by 7:30 and pickups start at 3:45 and are done just after 4:45 and always before 5:00. In most cases the one parent drops off and the other picks up which allows them to manage with less hours. My late family travel to work together in the same car and have two other boys they pick up first so they don't have to have the youngest which I have in care in the car for so long.
At the same time I have a military family and we have flexible rules for them when one of the parents is on course/deployed of course.