5 am start?

[kidlove]

YES! you are trading one problem for another! 5 am is crazy, even if you get up in time to take this kid and lay him/her down to sleep for the rest of the morning. you still would need to stay awake, considering I don't think it would even be legal to sleep with children in care. yuk, not worth the extra pay IMO. plus....although I give so much credit to parents who do cloth diapers, I think it great and quite economical (for you own child) but, taking care of someone elses child wearing cloth diapers poses so much extra time and stress....not worth it! I would wait for a more proper fit if I were you. Good Luck whatever you chose!

[kidlove]

I have learned: if you go outside your set rules and hours you are letting parents know you are "bendable", although I do bend from time to time, many times I have regreted it! My point is: if you bend to open one or two days at 5am every once in a while, these parents may begin to ask for more and more, when do you stop and draw the line? and when can you blame them, IF you were the one willing to allow it all this time? just think about it before you bend!

[Bookworm]

I wouldn't do it just because I hate getting up in the morning at 7am, so I know I couldn't do 5am ever!
I would definitely think about it because you don't want to agree to one thing, and then in a few months or so they change and ask for more earlier start days. Then you would start to feel obligated to say yes as you are already doing some for them. Start off with "special" they always think they are entitled to "special".

[mimi]

Put yourself first and decline. It will become of slippery slope of concessions once you bend your rules.

[Monday 2 Friday Mama]

Good - very frosty morning - Doodle, Ah....early start times - I love these....I'm just kidding. In all seriousness I have just three words for you: Don't Do It. If one client starts two hours earlier than your other families it makes it that much harder for you to establish a routine in your daycare. When your other monkeys are just arriving to start their day, this early start child will (not unreasonably) need a snack, he/she may want their meals at different times during the day, you may have to prepare an additional meal (breakfast) as it's been my experience that parents doing early morning drop off's typically just bring their child straight from bed to your home, and he/she may want to have a nap earlier than the other children meaning that you won't have all the children napping at the same time. (something that I NEED to have happen at my home - it's when I tidy up the lunchtime mess, and set up for my afternoon crafts etc.) I think it's this constant "being on" that contributes to caregiver burnout - maybe even more so than the super early wake up call. You also have to question whether or not you'll have the stamina at the end of the day. I find that every 15 minutes after 5 o'clock is really hard. I also find it hard because I need to get on with my evening shift - making dinner for my family, hustling the kids lunches for school the next day, and doing the whole homework/school/extra curricular activities thing. One of the hardest things to arrive at in this particular job is a healthy balance - between interviewing prospective clients, shopping for supplies/food, posting ads, and all the other things that I have to do "off the clock" in order for the show to go on each and every day here - I find there is already enough "job creep" My hours are from 7:30 to 5:00 - and that's when my day needs to stop. I have worked early shifts (when I was first getting started) and I find that it's just brutal. No amount of money is worth my burning out and not being able to continue doing my job. I think you're far better off to hold out for a client who is a better fit with your hours. If parents need extra long hours of care, then they are better served by centre care where there are shifts of people who can care for their child. No one is at their best after 11 hours or more on the clock, right ?

[daycarewhisperer]

I would definitely do a five a.m. arrival as long as there was an early departure to go along with it OR it was in a series of three twelve hour days that paid full slot child care. I would not do a five a.m. sometimes without a hefty fee for the early hours. It would have to be scheduled at least a month in advance and paid for when it was scheduled. It would not be refundable or switchable.

I don't do open hour arrival times so I would worry about once they claim five a.m. they can use any time between five a.m. and the actual opening of your child care. If they were seven to four clients who needed one or two days a month at the five a.m. they would be billed for the seven to four schedule and an additional fee for any scheduled five a.m. arrivals. The fee would be hefty... like ten dollars an hour to get me to do it.

The child would go straight from door to bed and sleep until breakfast. Crying wouldn't be an issue because I have a dedicated nursery and sleeping room so he/she could cry if they needed to. They would just not be up and crying.

[Monday 2 Friday Mama]

I agree with Reggio - one of my screening questions for all families who come to me is "Is this your child's first time being cared for outside of their home by someone other than a parent ?" I suspect another caregiver told this family that 5 A.M. was too early - it is gruesomely early - did the parents offer any explanation of why they need such long days ? (commute/nurse with 12 hour shift)

You need to reflect on the pros of cons of accepting something like that for YOU ~ cause ultimately it is you and your family affected!

I open at 7am and have had children at that age who arrived and basically went back to bed for a morning nap right away ~ so it could be very possible that a child arriving at 5am would so totally do the same thing and be really easy and so forth!

However I personally know my own sleep needs and 'work life balance' in order to remain a passionate provider who loves my job at that is too keep my work hours to a 10 hour day max ..... I personally would not touch that for all the tea in China cause no amount of money is worth working a 12 plus hour day for myself, potentially waking my own family up at that time of day if the child does not come in happily and affecting their morning routine and so forth!

Are your own family members 'early risers' would they be ok with this child being in their home at 5am potentially screaming for a few months?

My red flags with this scenario that I would be wanting more information from potential clients are the child is 15 months old ~ so where have they been for last 3 months since mat leave most likely would have ended at 12 months and second red flag is paired with the first that fact they are willing to 'pay more' for that early start date leads me to believe they have already been in care and it did not work out because of the early start date so are trying to sweeten the deal for the next provider with offer for extra pay.

[monkeymama]

i do an early 6am arrival 2x a month. i agreed to this for a number of reason : parents pay me extra to do it, she gets picked up early on these days, and this is my easiest dcg and best set of parents who i adore. any other family and no way! 5am is super duper early. i know i wouldnt be able to do it, how would you make through the rest of the day? even if they pick up early, you will still have other dck to attend to.

[gcj]

5am is the night. Imagine the poor kid, too on those days! Plus you'll be sleepy. Yikes. I don't know how you function, but I wouldn't even consider this for half a second. Again...don't let the am part fool you....it's still the night!

[sunnydays]

I agree with the others...I would NEVER start at 5am!!! I open at 7:30 and I won't even consider opening at 7:15 for anyone...I need my sleep and I need my time to shower, get dressed, make my son's school lunch etc before the kids come. I would be a basket case if I had to be ready to receive kids that early...and just think...the other kids will still be there until your regular closing time...so you will be working from 5am until 5pm or whatever time you close...no thanks!
About the cloth diapers...I just want to say I LOVE clients who cloth diaper...it is absolutely no harder than disposables and I get to send all those stinky diapers home at the end of the day