Originally Posted by JoseyJo:
Same here! I would be upset that the parent changed plans on us, but I would have allowed it since they do pay for that time. I have found it to be much less aggravating to plan for having dcks until 6 pm no matter what the parents say since they often flake when it comes to picking up their children early. (We don't have contracted hours- we are just open 7a-6p for 1 weekly price, no drop in/pt.)
Maybe that's the difference. I run by contracted hours so when a family makes a change to their hours I expect them to be there by their pick up time that day or they would be charged a late fee.
For example:
A family may be contracted with me from 7:30am - 4:15pm and then request to pick up at 12:00pm. If that works for me I will allow it and ensure that their child is ready to go by 12:00pm instead of 4:15pm. If a family showed up at 12:10pm they would be charged $15 ($15 for every 15 minutes or part of 15 minutes) for being late. A schedule change is just that and I expect my policies to be followed (late pick up policy included) regardless of the schedule change.
If a family asks to pick up earlier I allow it but I expect them to be on time and they know that. I don't just assume they may not be there until 4:15pm that day even though they asked to pick up at 12:00pm because I don't allow families to make changes to their schedules and then choose to not follow my other policies in the mean time.