Hours of operation

[mickyc]

OMG jodaycare - how can you not be burnt out! There is no way I would work that many hours in a day.

[5 Little Monkeys]

I would be burnt out as well!! I have a friend who recently opened though and is working 11 hour days. She is from a small town though and has parents who commute so it can't really be avoided. She is up those hours anyways with her own family so she says she doesn't mind it.

I certainly couldn't do it!

[ttremble88]

Yup! 6am-6pm here. But I am one of those whom live in a smaller town where everyone commutes to the Toronto area. Yay for me! lol

[Secondtimearound]

Oh my goodness !! Wow I can't imagine !! I open at 8 and close at 5 ,

[DCMG]

I am currently 6:30-5:30 and there is no early pickups here. I used to be 8-5:30 which was wonderful for my own family in the morning but in January I took on 2 new early families. They are gone by 3:30 but it is still a long day with staggered start times. My 5:30 family is leaving for school in September so I will be changing my hours to close at 4:30 which I am sooooo looking forward to. I have turned away 4 families who need later hours and will hold out for the schedule that will work for me.

[jodaycare]

Oh believe me as I get older, it gets harder to do those long days! I have been working 11 or 12 hour days since 1994 when I started my home daycare. I think I am heading for burnout since my patience is running pretty thin these days, and I am convinced that I am in premenopause so that doesnt help either. I currently take 4 weeks vacation per year but am considering upping it to 5 in 2015! Thank goodness, my next holiday week in coming up next month.

[Secondtimearound]

I am impressed ! I'm a newbie , coming up a year lol !! I love so much of the work I do and wish I had an administration team to deal with parents lol !
I must say I really enjoy each of my families now !!! I went with a couple of families I wasn't sure about and learnt the way of experience to be picky ! But I'm sorry after 5 is too long ! Ugh I can't do it personally ! My dd was going to bed at 6:30 before dayhome and I upped it to 7 just to get some time with her !! I'm so drained done nights and still have soccer ect !!
I wish there was a way to visit each other's dayhomes ! Everyone sounds so interesting !!!
Wow way off topic !!

[martymonty]

I used to have a dck that came at 4 am. in the morning and my daycare is open until 4:45 pm. Now THAT made for a super long day. Currently my earliest arrives just before 7:30 am. and the last one leaves by around 5 pm. My main issue with the parents is that they will be home from work and leave their child here up until 4:45 - 5:00 pm. How do you enforce that pickup is when the parents are done work....it exhausts me some days to have kids here for 9 hrs + Also, I have a total of 25 days off in the year, I send home my vacation day schedule in February every year and I always get parents who say "oh I didn't know you were off next week"....I always reply with, didn't you read my calendar I sent home and record what days I am off....grrrrr...it frustrates me to no end. I've been doing inhome daycare for 28+ years and feel that 5 weeks vacation is warranted in order to get some much needed rest and relaxation and recharge. If I was working out in the real world for that long, I would get 6 or more weeks. How do you deal with parents who make you feel guilty for taking time off

[daycaremom9]

Thanks martymonty, you've given me an idea.I've been thinking about sending home newsletters but didn't want to waste more paper and ink. I think I'll just email all my clients my newsletters instead A! Thanks!

[Rachael]

I feel like a slacker now!

Core business hours are 7.30am until 4.30pm. I will open at 7am if needed for the Military as parking around the base is horrible. I won't close late.

Used to work longer hours but my client base changed and for about 3.5 years they were all gone by about 4.20pm so I decided to carry on with that.