Here in my county, licensing recommends I not be open more than 6-6 M-F, and if I am, I must have a Dr's note/physical and submit a pile of extra paperwork explaining how I can take care of my family, myself, my housework, bathing, cleaning around kids etc while still maintaining safety and so forth. I decided its way to much paperwork, so informed my parents by hanging that memorandum from my county up and referencing it in a newsletter. My current contract says I am open 6:30 to 5:30, and I have clients from about 6:45 until 5:30 or occasionally later, so I'm already close to that limit. I am in process of redesigning my contract, in which I have eliminated hours of operation completely- stating hours are contracted individually based on work hours and reasonable travel time. I am also upping my late fees to make it much more expensive, therefore a better deterrent, as well as changes to my sick policy. I do agree the kids I have that push those hours really do seem to have more problems, in terms of health, general adherance to policies, behavioral issues, sleep/nutrition issues. While a blanket statement is neither appropriate nor accurate, it does seem these parents are too burnt out to be the best parents- they leave them late to do errands, take their holidays leaving kids in daycare, and these same parents often take sick days at home, leaving kids in daycare, to have a "break" and "get things done" when already most spend 3-4 waking hours per day with them at best, and those same kids are often gone on weekends due to custody arrangments. These parents are clearly under-equipped to handle their kids for extended periods, and do not prioritize their family time as much as they should. Yet these same parents have unreasonable expectations of a spotless daycare with 24-7 availability for minimal costs with unlimited activities that will miraculously have their child academically and socially equipped for the world, regardless of the raw material we have to work with. Yet I must cook, clean, shop, and do everything with 6-10 kids most of the time, and my own the remainder. Some people should not breed.

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