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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Backpack/Cubbie Woes
MissAnn 05:58 AM 04-04-2014
Currently the kids bring backpacks. They also have cubbies. After nap the kids pack their backpacks by taking stuff out of their cubbies and putting it in their backpacks. It's getting on my nerves! Parents start arriving and it's so crowded in the hallway. I try to keep kids away from the parents....keep them from tattling/overly talking/interrupting/ etc. I can't move the hooks where the backpacks and coats go. I'm thinking of just having backpacks and no cubbies. The backpacks can be the cubbies. When kids finish a paper or art project they can put them directly in their backpacks.....cut out the middle man (cubbies)!!! What do you think? What do you do?
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Blackcat31 06:58 AM 04-04-2014
Why not eliminate the backpacks?

I have cubbies for the kids. Each child keeps spare clothing here and does not bring anything back and forth.

During the day if the kids have art/craft papers to bring home, they put it in their cubbies and take it when they leave.

I don't want parents bringing things back and forth daily and do not want to deal with having a bunch of kids having to pack everything up each day before going home.

Like you said, it's too much chaos to deal with so I eliminated the need to have anything brought back and forth on a daily basis.
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mema 08:11 AM 04-04-2014
I do the same as BC. If they have art papers or projects to take, they usually just carry them. I use to have a little girl that LOVED art and would spend all her days doing it. We put them in her cubby and at naptime I would just stick them all in a plastic bag to take home. Usually tho, they only have 1 or 2 things and that can be easily carried.
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MissAnn 08:31 AM 04-04-2014
Maybe I will eliminate the backpacks. I liked the backpacks because I run a preschool and it helps the kids to remember to bring them and to be responsible. Not a big enough deal at this point with the chaos. It wasn't too bad till I got a new kid who keeps monopolizing the parents when they arrive. I have the others well trained....but not this one. It will also give me more room in my room too! thanks!
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CraftyMom 09:16 AM 04-04-2014
I also have just cubbies. No bags since I don't like finding surprises in them that shouldn't be at daycare....like a bunch of medicine!
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MissAnn 10:35 AM 04-04-2014
Originally Posted by CraftyMom:
I also have just cubbies. No bags since I don't like finding surprises in them that shouldn't be at daycare....like a bunch of medicine!
Yes! I found medicine once. I was livid! Also I've had kids steal my materials and one kid stole another kids unopened birthday present from another kid. Mom said she wondered why that was in her kids backpack. She opened it and lost parts!
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WImom 10:56 AM 04-04-2014
We have backpacks and we do what you suggested. If they are coloring and have papers they go right in the backpack. In the winter the kids keep snow pants in the backpacks too and any nap lovey that goes back and forth. I have cubbies (File folder) holders on the wall but that is just for me and at the end of the day I throw any papers I may have for each child in their backpack.

Seems to work out ok.
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mountainside13 11:03 AM 04-04-2014
I have cubbies for the older kids and my youngest has a diaper bag. I really wish I could ban the diaper bag but with cloth diapers there really isn't a way I can do that. Last week I was in the restroom and I heard I pill bottles being shaked! About had a heart attack running down the stairs! Mom had left 2 pill bottles with hydrocodone and aspirin in the diaper bag!
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CraftyMom 11:14 AM 04-04-2014
Originally Posted by mountainside13:
I have cubbies for the older kids and my youngest has a diaper bag. I really wish I could ban the diaper bag but with cloth diapers there really isn't a way I can do that. Last week I was in the restroom and I heard I pill bottles being shaked! About had a heart attack running down the stairs! Mom had left 2 pill bottles with hydrocodone and aspirin in the diaper bag!
Exactly why I had to say no more diaper bags. Imagine if a kid got the bottle open?! I had a similar situation, dcg got into her bag and was playing with a whole pharmacy of children's meds! I nearly had a heart attack also! I kept rechecking to be sure she hadn't opened anything

Now I tell them as long as I have diapers, wipes, diaper cream and a change of clothes then I have everything I need in the cubby. For infants the parents bring in food and breast milk or formula daily and take it out of the bag and take the bag with them. If clothes get dirty I put them in a plastic bag on top of the cubbies.
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MissAnn 11:41 AM 04-04-2014
I took the plunge and sent out a text....no more backpacks! Little things like this excite me! Anything to make our jobs run a little more smoothly. Thanks!
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Meeko 04:09 PM 04-04-2014
No backpacks or diaper bags or anything else from home unless I ask for it.

I used to allow them many years ago.

Over the years I found meds of all kinds, rude notes between spouses, condoms, rotten food, cigarettes, choking items like small coins etc., a check book/wallet with debit and credit cards (lucky for them I'm honest), and much more. The liability is unreal. I never found illegal drugs, but I know providers who have.

I don't want to have to rummage through bags to protect the kids or myself.
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kendallina 05:50 PM 04-04-2014
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
Why not eliminate the backpacks?

I have cubbies for the kids. Each child keeps spare clothing here and does not bring anything back and forth.

During the day if the kids have art/craft papers to bring home, they put it in their cubbies and take it when they leave.

I don't want parents bringing things back and forth daily and do not want to deal with having a bunch of kids having to pack everything up each day before going home.

Like you said, it's too much chaos to deal with so I eliminated the need to have anything brought back and forth on a daily basis.
This is exactly what I do. I really really dislike backpacks. Backpacks often have too many pockets and kids bring things they're not supposed to or when we get ready to go outside in the snow, the mittens are in one pocket, the hat in another or we have to open all the pockets only to realize that they forgot their outside stuff anyways. Or they leave their backpack at my house over the weekend and I have to look at it. haha! Sorry...I just really hate backpacks.
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Cradle2crayons 05:57 PM 04-04-2014
I don't allow backpacks or diaper bags. No way. The only backpack here belongs to special dcg who carries her tube feeding in it.
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sharlan 07:14 PM 04-04-2014
No bags of any kind. No backpacks, no diaper bags, no play purses.......
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