SO Sick Of Inconsiderate Parents!!!!

[rmc20021]

What does it take to get through to these parents these days!!!!!

I have two separate families that were due to be here well over an hour ago...no show, no phone call, no text...NOTHING!!!

I JUST sent home a new policy and have explained to these parents that they must let me know within 15 minutes after the time their child is supposed to arrive if they were not coming. I explained that I may not be here if they don't let me know because I will assume they aren't coming if they don't bother to call.

I have been dealing with both my parents being ill and having dementia for the last 2 weeks (my mom has been in the hospital 2 times, and we placed my dad into a nursing/rehab home a little over a week ago...there's a lot of legal things I'm trying to take care of) and if I am only going to have one or two kids here, there are other things I can be doing to help my parents.

These parents know this, they know how extremely busy I've been the last two weeks and I'm sick of their lack of respect. I NEVER had these kinds of issues when I did daycare years ago...NEVER!!!!

[Heidi]

so sorry...and I was ticked this morning because dcm that I open extra early for (an hour) was late 15 minutes again...

[hgonzalez]

I feel the same way. The level of disrespect is so much higher than it was 10 years ago. I have had more trouble with parents in the last 3 years than I ever had before. They don't seem to recognize or respect the fact that we have lives outside of caring for children.

I also think kids have more issues now than every before. It is all so draining.

[countrymom]

attatch money and you won't have this problem. Trust me it works.

[rmc20021]

How do you attach money when they don't show/don't call? I already charge a flat fee that covers whether they are present or not.

I just don't feel I should have to sit here all day waiting for kids who may or may not show up. There are some days I only have a couple kids and if neither of them show up...I'm left sitting when I could be doing so many other things outside my home.

I'm pretty sure at this point neither of these families are coming today and I so wish I believed they MIGHT...I'd leave just to be gone and maybe that would teach them to let me know in the future. I'm sure if they showed up expecting me to be here and I was gone, they may think twice about not calling next time.

[sharlan]

Originally Posted by rmc20021

How do you attach money when they don't show/don't call? I already charge a flat fee that covers whether they are present or not.

I just don't feel I should have to sit here all day waiting for kids who may or may not show up. There are some days I only have a couple kids and if neither of them show up...I'm left sitting when I could be doing so many other things outside my home.

I'm pretty sure at this point neither of these families are coming today and I so wish I believed they MIGHT...I'd leave just to be gone and maybe that would teach them to let me know in the future. I'm sure if they showed up expecting me to be here and I was gone, they may think twice about not calling next time.

I have one father that shows up whenever. I told him that if he didn't tell me the day before or call me by 9 AM, that I would charge him a $10 late fee and would increase it every time he refused to call.

[clep]

Originally Posted by rmc20021

How do you attach money when they don't show/don't call? I already charge a flat fee that covers whether they are present or not.

I just don't feel I should have to sit here all day waiting for kids who may or may not show up. There are some days I only have a couple kids and if neither of them show up...I'm left sitting when I could be doing so many other things outside my home.

I'm pretty sure at this point neither of these families are coming today and I so wish I believed they MIGHT...I'd leave just to be gone and maybe that would teach them to let me know in the future. I'm sure if they showed up expecting me to be here and I was gone, they may think twice about not calling next time.

Are you looking to take the children to the park every day? If so, maybe let the parents know where the park is where you will be so they can drop off there. The other alternative is to let parents know if they don't arrive by ___ time, they will need to find alternate care if you are not there since the weather is nicer and you will be taking the children out regularly.

[MarinaVanessa]

This is what I have in my policies:

Late Arrivals
All clients must adhere to their scheduled drop-offs. The childcare provider must be notified if a child will arrive more than 15 minutes past their scheduled arrival time. If a child is more than 15 minutes late without notice it can be assumed that the child will not be present and the child’s spot may be filled and no credit will be given for the missed day.
Clients with scheduled arrival times of 7:30 a.m. or earlier are required to give notice no later than 7:00 p.m. on the previous business day if their child will arrive later than their scheduled arrival time. Many times clients with these early arrival times are the day’s first arrivals and the childcare provider wakes up according to the client’s arrival times. Advanced notice allows the childcare provider to plan a later start for the day.

Late arrivals don’t allow for late pick-ups. If a client arrives later than their scheduled arrival time they are still required to pick-up at their normal scheduled pick-up time.

It sounds a lot like what you already do. In this situation I would text, email or call (depending on what your way of communicating with clients is) and remind them of the policies by saying something like ...

"Hi Susan. So you are XX minutes late to drop off this morning and since I did not receive a phone call from you to notify me of this like we discussed and like it was stated in the notice that I gave you on [day of the week] I am assuming that you are not coming today. It's ok that you are not coming because I have another cancellation today so I went ahead and made plans to help out my parents since I will have no children scheduled to day until [when the next child will arrive]. Please let me know next time in advance when you will not be coming so that I don't wait for you to arrive .... Oh, you are just running late? Well since you didn't call me like my policies say to and like we discussed I'm already heading out the door and just wanted to call you to remind you of the policies before I headed out...." etc.

So far what you are doing now is not really an inconvenience for them so it's not a big issue for them. If they are just running late and didn't call try closing (or telling them that you are closing) which will create an issue and an inconvenience for them. Whether or not you decide to actually close or not is up to you. Be prepared for them to call your bluff or for them to decide to find child care elsewhere however.

[countrymom]

I would let them know that if they don't call (call it the courtesy call) you will charge them 10 dollars ontop of their fee. Its not your job to go hunting everytime someone doesn't show up.

[AfterSchoolMom]

Do you have other kids there? If not, leave - Go have some time to yourself and don't worry about what they're doing.

Parents are the worst part of the childcare business.

[Laurel]

Originally Posted by rmc20021

What does it take to get through to these parents these days!!!!!

I have two separate families that were due to be here well over an hour ago...no show, no phone call, no text...NOTHING!!!

I JUST sent home a new policy and have explained to these parents that they must let me know within 15 minutes after the time their child is supposed to arrive if they were not coming. I explained that I may not be here if they don't let me know because I will assume they aren't coming if they don't bother to call.

I have been dealing with both my parents being ill and having dementia for the last 2 weeks (my mom has been in the hospital 2 times, and we placed my dad into a nursing/rehab home a little over a week ago...there's a lot of legal things I'm trying to take care of) and if I am only going to have one or two kids here, there are other things I can be doing to help my parents.

These parents know this, they know how extremely busy I've been the last two weeks and I'm sick of their lack of respect. I NEVER had these kinds of issues when I did daycare years ago...NEVER!!!!

Just leave if they have not called. Knowing me, I'd probably wait 30 min. just in case, but then leave. That should solve the problem.

I know one provider who won't take the child for that day if they arrive after a certain amount of time without calling. That is an option but I don't have the guts to do that. I could definitely leave though.

Laurel

[rmc20021]

Originally Posted by MarinaVanessa

This is what I have in my policies:



It sounds a lot like what you already do. In this situation I would text, email or call (depending on what your way of communicating with clients is) and remind them of the policies by saying something like ...

"Hi Susan. So you are XX minutes late to drop off this morning and since I did not receive a phone call from you to notify me of this like we discussed and like it was stated in the notice that I gave you on [day of the week] I am assuming that you are not coming today. It's ok that you are not coming because I have another cancellation today so I went ahead and made plans to help out my parents since I will have no children scheduled to day until [when the next child will arrive]. Please let me know next time in advance when you will not be coming so that I don't wait for you to arrive .... Oh, you are just running late? Well since you didn't call me like my policies say to and like we discussed I'm already heading out the door and just wanted to call you to remind you of the policies before I headed out...." etc.

So far what you are doing now is not really an inconvenience for them so it's not a big issue for them. If they are just running late and didn't call try closing (or telling them that you are closing) which will create an issue and an inconvenience for them. Whether or not you decide to actually close or not is up to you. Be prepared for them to call your bluff or for them to decide to find child care elsewhere however.

I just went through this with one of the mom's who didn't show or call a couple weeks ago. They missed 3 out of 5 days in less than 2 weeks. I had seriously thought they went someplace else as dcb had mentioned he was going to the name of another daycare center close by. So after the second day of no show/no call, I didn't have any other kids and guess who showed up? Guess who didn't answer the door!!!

And this is a subsidy paid client, who I just today received a notice from the state that they are cutting the amount they pay from 95% down to 80%. I accepted the 95% in full because it was the same as what I charge for full time...but 80% is a bit too low for me to have this child 50 hours per week.