How Many Hours Are You Open?

[jenny31052]

I work contracted hours, but right now my first kids gets dropped off at 6.30am, and the last one gets picked up at 6pm -

I'm really thinking about closing at 430 -5, so I can have some family/me time, that I don't have now. I'm also in school full time, and after the last kid is gone, I still have to clean up, make dinner,get ready for the next day, bathe, and do the whole bedtime routine with my 2 years old; virtually my day won't end until 8pm, and then I still have to do school work (my husband is in the military, and goes to work in the late afternoon, so I am all by myself after kids are gone)

I'm really, really getting to the point where I don't care if you like my policies or not. If my house doesn't fit your needs, then find someplace else... I know it sounds selfish, but I'm really close to getting burned out...


How many hours do you work?

[pfund2233]

I work on contracted hrs too.

DCB is here M/W 5:45-4:15 and T/TH/F 5:45-3:15
DCG is here M-Th 8-5:30
DCG is here M-W 8-5:30 and F 8-1:00.

Works well for me. Love being done at 315ish on Fridays! And only 1 here late on Thursdays.

[Michael]

More here on hours of operation: http://daycare.com/forum/tags.php?ta...s+of+operation

[Lucy]

I currently work 7:00 to 5:30. Would LOVE to change to closing at 5:00, but my 5:30 family is two sibling kids I adore, and have had each since birth. They are an 8.5 yr old boy and a 3.5 yr old girl. I would lose them if I closed at 5:00. Mom has to man the phones at work till 5:00, and has a 25 min commute. That last 30 minutes is a killer though.

[Oneluckymom]

My hours are 7-5:30 I set it up this way because I know most people don't get off work until 5 and they still need driving time. My first DCK gets here at around 7:20am. 3 of my DCK are here until closing. I would have loved to either been able to open at 8 or close at 4, but oh well...I'm just happy to be full right now!

[Rachel]

I work 7 - 4:30, standard hours for here. The kids can come any time in there. Usually I have 2 here before 8, and 3 here until closing. The last half hour is a killer!

[melskids]

I am typically open 7-5:30, but there are a few mornings a week I open at 6:30 for one DCB, depeding on the parents schedule.

I also have classes 2 nights a week, and I have to leave by 5 to get there. Everyone has been awesome getting here a 1/2 hour early, and I actually take two DCB's (brothers) with me and mom meets me there to pick up.

[SimpleMom]

I am open 7/730-4/430.

[countrymom]

I'm open from 7-5pm and everyone is on contracted hours. So I have one family that picks up at 5:10pm and another family they come from 2-6:30 on wed. (except on mon and friday they are gone by 4pm and they are good friends with us) but no one knows my arrangements with any family so it works out good. I use to be open till 5:30pm and it was the longest half hour ever, I hated it.

[MarinaVanessa]

I also work on contracted hours but I have regular business hours as well which are Mon-Fri 6am-6pm. I advertise both and work it this way so that I don't get calls from families looking for regular care before 6am or after 6pm. I mean, I don't mind doing it occasionally for the families that I currently have or even for previous families for that occasional date night or emergency or something but I don't want to do it on a regular basis so I want to make sure that I know and they know that if they need regular child care before 6am or after 6pm. it's not going to work.

[JenNJ]

I work 8 - 5:15 T, F and 8 - 6:15 M, W, TH. I work contracted hours.

[littlemissmuffet]

Contracted hours - currently, my work day averages about 9.5 hours! In the majority of my families the parent who works later in the morning drops off and the parent who gets off work earlier picks up - so generally each child is only here about 8 hours.

[SamanthaMerkle]

I'm open 6am to 6pm. The earliest kid arrives around 7:15 and the latest pick up is just after 5. I have it easy right now, especially with both kids only coming 4 days a week because their parents are awesome and choose to spend their free days with their kids

[rhondawarren]

I am open from 7:30am - 5:30p, which comes out to ten hours a day. I was open from 7am - 6:30p but that was way to long and was cutting into my family time. So ... I now close at 5:30p.

[Babybear911]

All of you have such LONG days! I don't know how you do it! My hours are 8am - 5pm every Monday- Friday. I couldn't see myself working even a minute later or earlier without it having an enormous impact on me and my families lives.

From the interview point I'm very clear about how much time off I need to "function" and run a licensed daycare. My current contract stateS not only my hours of business but that I'm PAID and closed for all Stat. holidays, closed for 2 weeks in December for x-mas and 2 weeks in August and I also take an additional 15 days off paid through out the year so I can attend my kids school functions/take vacations with my kids/husband through out the year.

Those parents that can't accommodate my time off go to other daycares. I've never had an empty space and always have a long wait list. So everyone who wants to work less hours to make it more do-able for running a daycare from home for years to come and don't experience BURN OUT...and to make your family life more balanced I would recommend looking at making some changes to your contract. My licensing officer cheered me on and helped walk me through my contract so that i could recognize what my/ my family needs were.

Good luck! You deserve to live your life with your family too.