Originally Posted by childcaremom:
I do mine a bit differently again. I have parents tell me what they think they need in terms of drop off and pick up times and then I decide whether I can work with that. Those become their open hours and I don't allow early drop offs or late pick ups. I charge late fees and will term if they are late, regardless if other children are still in attendance or not.
There is a thread that goes over someone's fee set up by pick up times and it is a really great idea. I think Blackcat, nannyde and daycare have this set up. Maybe search threads on contracted hours by them.
If I had to do it again, that's what I would do. My daily rate would be for a pick up at 3:30 and then I would add to the daily rate by $3 per half hour. So a 4 pm pick up would add $3 to daily rate, etc.
My schedule would be set. So no changing from week to week. I would allow changes if hours change at work, their commute time is not working for them, etc but it would be at my discretion.
As far as picking up earlier, I think it would depend on whether or not the parent comes right from work, or whether or not they have family members nearby who can pick up the child early.
This is my set up... my parents tell me what hours they need (limit of 10) and it becomes their open childcare hours regardless of whether other kids are here or not; additional fees are charged for Early drop/late PU if requested otherwise they get hit with stiff fines
My longest contract will be 8-5 as of next month and the other 3 are 9-4 lol. It's going to be a great year because until October last year I was working 7a-7p five days week