Contract Hours

[Momof4]

Everybody has a different opinion but I don't make people stick to a definite time on their schedule. I have a family where the Mom works different hours all the time so they use from 6-8 hours depending on her schedule. She was scheduling all over the place but I had to make a rule in my contract that they arrive before 9am and not pick up until 3pm. The little girl was falling behind in learning compared to the others in her age group when she missed out on all my morning lessons and we were having to rush back from the park, hence the morning rule. The afternoon rule was to protect her nap because she only got 1/2 a nap when her Mom picked her up earlier. So that's one situation that taught me a lesson.

All my other daycare families are mostly on regular daily times, but as long as they tell me if there are any differences in advance and stay within the 9 hour time limit I'm happy with it. I need to be able to mark my calendar for the child whose Mom works until 4:30 once every 2 weeks because he is usually picked up by 4, in case I have somewhere to be that evening.

I had a family in care who only needed 3 days per week until last year. My suggestion is to ask all your families to always give you their next month's schedule before the end of the previous month so you can mark your calendar.