Hours?

[Mama of 1]

Good morning ladies

I plan on opening my home care Jan 2 2014. so I am in the process of doing all the paper work. I have read some sample contracts and handbooks and have noticed a spot for parents to fill in the hours their child will be in your care. Im just curious to the reasoning is it just so you can plan your day better?

I hope that makes sense

[Bookworm]

Most people put that in their contracts so you know when to expect the child to be dropped off and picked up. Also, some providers only allow the child to be in care for 9 hours for the daily fee, and if they go over, they charge more. So, you would need to know the child's drop off and pick up time for that reason as well.

[playfelt]

Most caregivers have set hours so by having the parent fill in the form they know that both agree that the child will be there only during the caregivers preferred hours. For instance some providers open at 7:00 and others don't open till 7:30 or close by 4:30 so if a parent needs till 6:00 you would not be a good match so by getting it in writing you know that they do not normally intend to be in care beyond a certain time. And yes this is the time that late fees start.

Also there are times when you can share a space such as one parent needs care from 7:00 to 2:00 which allows you to take a child after school as well. The first parent is limited to the hours they contracted for so if they want to stay later you care free to say sorry the space is given to someone else for those hours.

Just because you are open a certain amount of hours does not mean a family can be the first to arrive and the last to leave and use every minute of your day. They should be restricted to a certain limit - some use 9, some use 10 depending on what the normal commute times to downtown from your location are.

[apples and bananas]

I use this method too rather then posting open and close times. If I post open and close times parents would take advantage of that extra 1/2 hour to do groceries or quick errands. I'd prefer that the parents picked up after work.

I also have a single drive on a busy street. If everyone came at once it would be crazy!

I also want to know when the child should be ready for pick up. I don't want parents surprising me while I'm doing a diaper change or feeding snack. I like to know when to expect someone coming to my home.

Also, if you post open hours at 7am, but for one specific day your 7am isn't coming and your next one doesn't arrive until 8, I want to sleep in and not worry about someone surprising me at 7am.

[Mama of 1]

That's what I thought thank you

[Momof4]

I guess I'm the odd one out, but my clients tell me their working hours and I'm pretty flexible, it isn't in the contract. However, my weekly and monthly calendar must always be up to date or I get grouchy. If the clients have a day where they need to change their hours slightly I'm fine with that, but I want to know in advance and I want to know exactly what to expect daily.

I had a family who arrived any old time they felt like it but within about 45 minutes and always before my deadline of arrival before 9am and always between about 4pm-4:45pm. I did NOT like that! But they were terminated for soooo many reasons, this was only one of them. So if you don't include your hours in the contract I suppose you may open yourself up to this kind of behaviour. Thankfully, only one family has been that disrespectful to me.