Drop off times

Hi Everyone,

I have a set of daycare parents who are amazing and just wonderful (as is all my daycare parents) I open at 7:30 for my daycare parents with the exception of the very first family that I signed at 7 am.
This recent family approached me as they want to drop off their son as well at 7 am.........ugh. What do I do? I would love to help them out but my mornings are stressful enough with getting three kids dressed and out the door to catch the bus at 7:45 am.
He is a wonderful little boy but a little of a handful (in a good way) How can I say yes and then where does it end?????? Then other parents will be asking for an earlier drop off as well and before you know it I will have 6 kids to dress and get out the door!!!!
I am so stressed out by this request. I want to help. The dad is with DND and going on a deployment overseas. But I soooo don't want another little one before 7:30 :-(
What would you do or have you done????

I wouldn't do it, but i guess its up to you. i learned the hard way...I once did this for a family and the next thing I knew they were knocking at the door at 6:45am. If its going to be stressful for you, don't do it. You don't have to feel like you have to do everyone else favors. We work such long hours as it is :sleep:

If you don't want to do it, just tell them no. How long is the child in care? I only offer 9 hours care, so if I had a parent ask this, I would then ask them to pick up half an hour earlier. In fact I do have one family who occassionally drops at 7:30 instead of their usual 8am (all my other kids are 7:30) and on those days, they pick up by 4:30. But if you just flat out don't want to do it, just tell them that or you will resent it. I had a family like that in the past...used to drop off at 9am adn then they discovered that the other kids came at 8am and suddenly they were the first to arrive every day...and the last to leave:mad: I learned my lesson!

I would just explain that you can only do it for this one child as this is the limit as to what you can handle at that time of the morning with your Mom duties. Be honest, there are limits to all of our capabilities.

The fear that other parents will want the service too is real but that is when you could then say no and draw the line telling them that the only reason you are taking the other child is because of the deployment and your contribution to Canada or whatever patriotic way you want to put it. Also make sure the family knows that the service will end as soon as deployment ends.

Why? What is their reason for dropping off earlier? To make their lives simpler and your life more complicated? So that they have time to get a coffee or to change their work hours? Will they be picking up 1/2 hour earlier so they use the same amount of hours? I would ask them questions about all that and explain the reasons you told us it would be very inconvenient for you and ask them to stick to their agreement.

I have had several military families in care and the problem is that to keep within our hours sometimes like other families they do staggered work hours so one parent drops off and the other picks up. When the military member is deployed and it can be a month or a year or more then the family goes into single parent mode meaning same parent has to drop off and pick up. Because they are already in care it is normal to ask for a change in hours during the deployment if necessary. Not something the caregiver has to agree to but if the deployment is long enough there is also the risk the family will have to look elsewhere for care becuase there is just no other way to do it.

The last military family I had had both mom and dad in the military and dad did two tours overseas and mom was on course for 4 months at the same time and the grandparents and an aunt came to look after the kids when they weren't with me and we changed the hours for that 4 months to reflect their working hours not the parents. But then hubby is military so we take care of our own. I would have opened or closed at whatever time parent needed or kept child overnight if necessary etc and have done that in the past. Kind of a we take care of our own type of thing.

Also in many cases the mom can negotiate with her own boss for changes temporarily so she could try that too.

Tell them it's an extra charge

This is why I won't do extended hours for anyone. My hours are my hours and if a parent can work within my operational hours then we part ways or I don't take them in the first place. This always happens if you make an exception for one parent.

However, IF you wish to keep them and you want to accommodate them then you MUST charge them for it. You should not be working for free. And I would make it a significant fee to stop them from deciding to go forth. For that extra half an hour I would totally charge them $10 more per day. AND, that is their new fee for EVERY day. They don't get a break on that fee if one day they decide to not drop off early. Their new, every day, fee is your normal fee plus the extra $10 a day. Type up a new contract and have them sign it.

My guess is that once you bring up the additional fees they will suddenly not need such early hours. ;)

I wouldn't do it. I don't open any earlier for one person then another. This way I never have a client asking for an earlier drop off. I may do it the odd time if they have an early meeting but I would never do it on an ongoing basis.

If you over stretch yourself you will be no good for anyone! I hate having extra kids here before the bus comes. It just becomes so stressful and I feel my own kids don't get my full attention they deserve first thing in the morning.

Let her know... I'm very sorry but I already have a full plate with getting the kids ready for school, it just won't work to take on another one. If she asks why you do the other 7am drop off, I would let her know that "I wish I didn't" Make a joke out of it and let her know that it's just the way that spot worked out.

Or, I always fall back on my business plan. "My business plan only allows for one early drop off, otherwise I would be over stretched and no good for anyone"

Part of the problem is that she has already made an exception for another child that already comes at the time the next family wants to move to so the precedent has been set.

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Originally Posted by playfelt

Part of the problem is that she has already made an exception for another child that already comes at the time the next family wants to move to so the precedent has been set.

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Yep, I agree. BUT, the beauty of being self-employed is that any time she can change things as she sees fit.

I think your hours have to be your hours for all clients. Otherwise it opens quite a can of worms, as it has in this case. I can totally see you not wanting too many kids if those aren't your hours, but I can also see the parents thinking that if others are paying the same price, why can't they have access to the same hours.

I don't think some families can have privilleges that others don't.

At best, I hope the family there at 7 is paying more and then your can explain that this option is only available for 1 child due to your limitations, but they can be put on a waiting list for this extra service....

I agree. They will need an extra 1.5 hours a day and I will have a whole lot more work in the mornings :-) Thanks Judy :-)

Thanks Apples and Bananas......that is some great wording and great advice :-)