5 am start?

[DisneyPrincess]

I would be more worried about the mood I would be in !! lol No way I would get up at 5 am. My girls are all grown up now and its no earlier then 6:30 sharp that I get up. I start at 7:00. One asked me if 6:45 would be an option and I just couldn't. Im very moody if I dont sleep until 6:30. Weekends I get up at 7:30, so its not that lazy huh ?!

[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!

[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 ?