Right now I do not travel with any of my daycare kids. My youngest is going to start a preschool program which means I am going to take him and pick him up. I have talked to all my families are they are all fine with this. The school is only 3 mins away if that.

The question I have is: Do I ask the parents to supply a car seat or do I supply them?
Please let me know how you handled this with your daycare parents.

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I just bought a bigger car so that I could take all the dck's in the car to drop off n pick up my DD for kindergarten. I normally don't drive with dcks so I asked permission and offered to supply carseats and told them they could inspect n approve. Each parent offered a car seat. Ya!!!!! If they didn't offer I planned on asking friends n family if they had or I would suck it up n make the investment. I look at it this way.....I save a lot of money by driving DD myself and I get to have her home with me instead of before and after care. So if I did have to make investment in car seats it would b well worth it! Just ask parents if they can supply. Most will. If they don't than consider it an investment.

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I do transport with my group and I supply the seats. I know they are safe, installed correctly (a close relative is a car seat tech so I get mine checked frequently ) and don't worry about people "forgetting" seats at home. I buy mine through my child care resource and referral agency for cost, so that saves some money. I also think if you are transporting to benefit you, then the onus is on you to provide the seats. If you were transporting for day care field trips that parents wanted/encouraged then it would be more reasonable to expect them to provide a seat.

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I think it would be unrealistic for parents to take car seats out each day.
Also if they forgot to one day your stuck!
I purchased car seats (and two were donated by a trusted friend) and I also have my own boosters. Storage takes up a ton of space but I like knowing if I had to we could all safely leave.
In NY we have to have an evacuation plan now so I will be surprised if proper car seats don't become a requirement.

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I supply them.

I'd rather not rely on DCPs to remember or plan ahead to have time to take them out, we'd be stuck here a lot then

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I am not saying that parents need to leave a car seat each day. I would ask them to supply one to be left here in the van. That way I would not be taking them in and out all the time. Our local police station does inspections which I would have done. I just didnt know if it was right to ask parents to supply them or not.

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I transport my dck's daily to drop off and pick up ds from school. I provide all of the car seats mostly because I don't want to be liable for their property, I don't know where theirs has been (accidents, for example), and I don't have to get 4 car seats in and out of my van everyday (for safety and sanity)

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I think you should provide them- esp like a PP said it is for you rather than the ability to offer field trips.

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When I had this exact situation come up last year, I had the dcps supply one and it has been left in my car ever since.

In the past, I have supplied my own for some of the dcks, but since I had gotten rid of all of them, I told them I needed them to buy me one to keep here and they had no problem doing that!

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I would ask parents if they could supply one for you to keep at the house, but don't be surprised if some are unable to or balk at doing so. If they do bring a seat, great! But I would be prepared for some (or all) to be unable to.

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I used to ask parents to provide but I've had parents bring in those infant snap in car seats for two year olds!! Or seats that looked unsafe and incorrect.

So then I got my own seats. A few were donated throu a local church, a few were mine from my kids. And I've bought the boosters myself.

That way I know they are the CORRECT seats.

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I don't transport right now, but when I did, I provided the seats, always bought top quality, and seats that support easy size changes (you don't have to remove the seat to allow for a winter coat, or a smaller child within the realm of the seat's capacity.) I also really like seats that fit a large range of sizes of kids.

You are in control, can install them properly and mostly permanently and you can keep them clean. All of these were issues with having a parent provide them. And as one poster said, you know where they have been.

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I buy all the car seats... I am sorta vain and I like them to all to match and also I want to know for sure that they have never been in a car accident!

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I don't think that is so much vain as just common sense. Knowing the car seats well is worth the cost to me. You know how they work, how they install, how to resize for coats/no coats, etc.

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I transport and I supply the seats and have them professionally installed. I would rather not deal with parents bringing cheap or expired seats or saying they will drop one off for use each day and then forget, etc.

I know you aren't suppose to buy used seats, but if you have friends or relatives that bought seats new and don't need them anymore, this is a good way to start your collection. Perhaps also asking parents if they want to donate a seat and then use the one they bring for their kid.

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I also provide my own although I have had clients offer to leave a car seat here during the day but then take it again each day (usually infant gateways that are easily detatched from the base). I personally wouldnt ask or require a client to purchase another car seat to be left here at daycare all of the time, I guess I see it as an added cost for the client for something that they personal will not use. Most parents buy two car seats already ... One for moms car and one for dads car ... So having them buy one more for me seems a little much especially since I can write off the cost of one for my business.

Also I like choosing the car seat myself because sometimes only certain combinations of car seats fit in the seats. Like others have said, I also like knowing for certain that the seat has never been in an accident.

And I agree with Angels and also buy car seats that work for infants all of the way until preschoolers. This helps out with the cost since a wide range of height, weight and ages can use the same seat.

Buying them yourself also means that you can have the car seats professionally installed and checked correctly (usually free) which means that you and your clients have that added peace of mind of added safety and security, something that isn't always the case if you install them and remove them regularly (there is more chance of accidentally not installing a car seat correctly).

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Actually, you're not supposed to have the child wearing a coat/thick jacket in car seats. car-seat.org is a great website for info, a lot of car seat techs are on there. I only transport for school runs & I supplied the seats because that way I can be sure they would fit in my vehicle.

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I supply convertible car seats. If a child is in an infant seat, then I ask the parent to leave it for me (usually not a problem, since most get carried in still strapped in).

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