Pickup policies

[MommaL]

Sometimes parents don't have a choice for when appointments are made, so the one pick up, one drop off rule is tough in those cases. Obviously I'm not talking about haircuts. But sometimes one has to take doctor or specialists appointments when you can get them. It would seem fair to me that if a child has an 11:00 appointment that the parent drop them off in the morning as usual, pick them up before their appointment and then drop them off again once done.

This all being said, what these parents are doing is ridiculous! It doesn't make any sense. One would think that if a parent is done work 2 hours before closing and wanted to book an appointment for their child or take them to the park that they would do so in the last hour, not take them for an hour and them bring them back for an hour. Is it the same parent that picks them up and drops them off or is one parent initially picking up the child and bringing them back and then the other parent picking them again later (in which case, maybe there is some sort of explanation for it). Either way, I'd definitely have a policy around not being able to drop the child off again during the last 2 hours of the day (or whatever time frame you see fit).

[MommaL]

I understand about appointments that are out of the parent's control, but it is still too disruptive to have the child popping in and out. Every time I've allowed it in the past (I've been a HDP for almost 26 years) it's been a disaster. If the appointment was for 11:00 I would take the child at their regular drop-off time, but once the parent picked up for the appointment they wouldn't be coming back. I would have already had to alter our morning to be home (we are out in good weather until 11:30ish), and we most likely would have already finished lunch before the child would be back. Being dropped off a second time can be confusing and upsetting for the child, and then naptime is affected as well. In group care, the needs of the group trump the needs of an individual child.

I just had a similar situation on Monday- the child had a doctor's appointment at 10:00. The mom kept her home for the morning, and brought her to me afterwards. She texted me after the appointment to see where we were, and met us at the park. I've been handling odd drop off and pick up times this way for a very long time, and none of my families have had an issue with it.

I certainly wouldn't want to argue with someone who has that much experience. Of course, it would depend on one's daycare as well and how structured it is and what you all do during the day. However, I have to admit that I'm surprised that it wouldn't be more difficult for most parents who have morning appointments not to be able to bring their child back. That would mean a parent having to take more than a half day off from work (possibly 6 hours) for what might be a 30 minute appointment.