Quote Originally Posted by Gails View Post
Parent(s) consistantly pick up after agreed pick up time, anywhere up to one hour late; but seem to be consistantly late in the morning agreed 7.30/8.30; arrives 11.30 to 12.30; it is driving me nuts, the poor child is so confused and sometimes arrives after our lunch time, sometimes right at quiet time!!! He doesn't understand why he needs to do something quietly at arrival when he is used to going outside, creating conflict between him and I. I assume he is sleeping in so isn't hungry until it is time to go to the park... not serving lunch again; more conflict? Parents feel because he is late it is okay to pick up late... too tired of parents. What do you think? thanks
Wow
when you say they pick up late - do you mean beyond your open hours or is it beyond their agree-upon time but still within your open hours?
I have a parent who generally picks up around 4. Sometimes the mom picks up at 3 though so when she occassionally comes at 4:30 it sort of evens out for me and I don't mind because I am open until 5:00 and have other kids here until 5 anyways.
However if they came to pick up beyod 5 I would be mighty miffed.

I think what I would do (and this is just me) is tell her that kids can tell time. They ca't look at the clock and say it is 9:15 but kids tell time by routines. They can time that they wake up have breakfast, that they get a snack, that they go outside, then lunch, then nap then snack, etc. The kids sort of know what comes 'next' and they can tell at pick up that first Sammy goes home an dthat means that next Molly and then it is my turn.
Kids cannot tell the time on the clock but they use 'markers' throughout the day and that is why routines are so important to them. I can ask the kids in my daycare...what comes next and they will say that it is snack time or nap time or whatever. They know.
So I would tell the parents that without a regular schedule/routine-- it seems to confuse their child's day. Just tell them that the child seems confused and has a hard time get acclimated each day and figurig out at which 'marker' point they are arriving because it varies too much day by day. Ask them if they think that you could nail down a more exact schedule because you think it could make the child's day much smoother