Apparently, I have MUG written on my forehead!!

[Inspired by Reggio]

Nope vent away - IMO these are NOT MINOR things Brights .... the root of these things is LACK OF RESPECT FOR YOU and that is a MAJOR issue!

Seriously ... soccer dad would have owed me $20 in late fees for being 'late' with no, by my definition, valid reason ... I only waive my late fee if you've been in a car accident, family emergency where someone is in the hospital, wife went into labor right before pick up, etc TRUE EMERGENCY and even then you have to CALL to notify me before your pick up time ... sorry but a clients lack of PLANNING does not constitute an emergency for me - you pay me OVERTIME for caring for your child and you get a STRIKE against you on the late fee clause - because under late fees in my contract it clearly states - repeated lateness outside your contracted hours WILL result in termination of your contract!

honestly we have LIVES outside of childcare ... what if you had a meeting tonight, an appointment, your own family emergency and you cannot 'deal' with that because you are stuck working late because some asshat things SOCCER is more important than his CHILD? Sorry that is a huge variance from my 'philosophy for childcare' and the priority children should play in our lives - I do not care what you do at HOME as long as it does not affect ME and MY PROGRAM!

Want to 'change' contracted hours on a permanent basis to be 'consistent' would have resulted in a new contract needing to be signed - what if you were 'sharing' that space with a school ager 'before school' and that sudden 8:15 drop off meant that you would be over ratio? Clients do not get to just CHANGE their hours of service because we have to maintain our ratios at ALL TIMES!

Sorry but none of those issues seem minor to me and would have got a client who tried that in my program a stern 'talking too' with my ole business hat on - this is my business and I have a contract for service for a REASON - follow it or find someone else to provide your service!

[samantha3]

Reggio nailed it! When I first started I had a hard time standing up for myself, but once I started to it felt really good! The one thing is I wish I had started doing it earlier as what you do in the beginning sets a 'norm' for what parents feel they can 'get away with'.

Nip it in the butt! Send an email out, change your policy if you dont already have one and make sure that there is mutual respect between yourself and families happening.

I wish you the best of luck! You can do it