3xbluemom, 10 hours is a really long day. Children are really affected by that amount of time away from home, at least in my experience. Are you in a city where the parents have a really long commute time? That's crazy! Put your foot down and you will be amazed that the parents can make arrangements for dropoffs and pickups. They have family members, Mom, Dad, grandparents. Every one of my clients makes arrangements every day so that they never go over 9 hours. I just had a Mom who had to work overtime on Friday, yuck, but she was 1/2 an hour late so arrived with my late fee in her hand.

I adore the children in my care but I need my evenings and weekends and alone time for myself and my home and social life and my family and so do you!