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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Hours VS Actual Arrival- When Do You Get Ready?
Lyss 09:56 AM 06-06-2012
The other post about what you do to get ready got me thinking about this too:

If your hours are say 6am to 6pm and all your DCK normally show at 8:15, are you up and ready at 6 or 8?

Just curious how everyone else does this
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Ariana 10:05 AM 06-06-2012
My hours are from 7:45 until 4:45pm. The kids don't show up until 8:30-9am so thats when I'm ready to go. I get up around 8am!
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jokalima 10:05 AM 06-06-2012
My horus are 7:30-5:30, my kids don't show up usually until 7:50-8:15 But I still get up at the same time because I KNOW that the day I stay an extra 10-15 minutes in bed is the day they will come early.
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itlw8 10:28 AM 06-06-2012
If 8:15 is the earliest I would be ready by 8 If they need to come early I would have them ask if I was available
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daycare123 10:31 AM 06-06-2012
my hours are 730 to 530. I get up at 650 to get ready for the day. My first arrival is 745am.
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Blackcat31 10:44 AM 06-06-2012
I get up at the same time every day, even on non-work days.

On work days though, I don't head into my daycare house until about 15 minutes before the first DCK is scheduled to arrive. (most days it is 7:30)

Most days it is the same time every day but every once in a while I get a day that starts 30-60 minutes later than normal.
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Kiki 11:31 AM 06-06-2012
I'm contracted, all of my families arrival times vary so I don't really have an open/close time. Regardless of that fact, I wake up at 6:30 every day, and am ready to go by 7:00. Even on weekends. I'm an odd duck, and I really feel like my day is wasted if I wake up after that time. (Also, I've found that on the weekends, my kids and DH don't wake up until about 9:30, so those 2.5 hours alone? Ahhhhh. There are no words!)
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jojosmommy 11:33 AM 06-06-2012
I had trouble with this a few times. Finally I laid down the law. I open at 6, NOBODY comes until 7:45. I am not getting up to be ready at 6 unless I know for sure you are coming at 6. One of my families just doesn't have a clue, they figured I was up at 4:45 and waitied on the couch until someone came to play. UH NO! I told them that their drop off time was 7:45 and if they intended to come early they needed to ask 1 day in advance and see if it worked for me.
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WImom 11:34 AM 06-06-2012
I'm contracted. My hours are 7:00-4:30 but I'm not actually open until that first contracted client's start time is.

Originally Posted by Kiki:
I'm contracted, all of my families arrival times vary so I don't really have an open/close time. Regardless of that fact, I wake up at 6:30 every day, and am ready to go by 7:00. Even on weekends. I'm an odd duck, and I really feel like my day is wasted if I wake up after that time. (Also, I've found that on the weekends, my kids and DH don't wake up until about 9:30, so those 2.5 hours alone? Ahhhhh. There are no words!)
I'm the same way. DH thinks I'm wierd. If I'm up later than 7am on the weekends it throws me off.
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MyAngels 11:42 AM 06-06-2012
Originally Posted by jokalima:
I still get up at the same time because I KNOW that the day I stay an extra 10-15 minutes in bed is the day they will come early.
I'm like this, too. I'm up and ready for the day at 7:00 (my opening time).
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littlemissmuffet 11:56 AM 06-06-2012
I have contracted hours and my first drop off is between 7:30-7:45. I get up at about 7am and have everything prepped and ready to go for 7:30!
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EntropyControlSpecialist 12:02 PM 06-06-2012
If they pay for extended hours, they use them (because it's necessary).
So, I am up and ready for the 7:00AM child.
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Meyou 01:00 PM 06-06-2012
I'm up at 6am and don't open until 7am. I'm ready to go once I'm officially open whether I have kids scheduled or not.
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pootmcgoot 01:07 PM 06-06-2012
Up at 5. Kiddo is here at 530. It's miserable. Wish I had a 7 or 9 am drop off!
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spud912 01:20 PM 06-06-2012
I work contracted hours. Right now, my first drop off is at 7:30 am. My alarm is set at 6:50 with a 10 minute snooze alarm for 7:00 am. That gives me enough time to shower, get dressed, put on makeup, brush my hair and teeth, open the blinds, and tend to my 3 year old if she is already awake.

On the weekends, the alarm clock is turned off, but my real "alarm clock," aka my 3 year old, wakes me up between 6:30 and 8 am. On very rare occasions, I may get to sleep in until 8:15. Usually those days are the days she woke up and got into something she should not have.

You can say I am definitely enjoying the late sleep-in as a real perk to working from home. When I worked outside of the home, I had to be up somewhere between 4 and 4:30 am .
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MarinaVanessa 01:21 PM 06-06-2012
My business hours say 6am-6pm but my first DC kid is scheduled for 7am. I do NOT open the door for anyone that needs me earlier than their scheduled time unless they request it. I don't mind getting up earlier occasionally for some clients, but only if they ASK me first in advance.
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momma2girls 02:12 PM 06-06-2012
I only have contracted times also.
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Heidi 02:57 PM 06-06-2012
Originally Posted by MarinaVanessa:
My business hours say 6am-6pm but my first DC kid is scheduled for 7am. I do NOT open the door for anyone that needs me earlier than their scheduled time unless they request it. I don't mind getting up earlier occasionally for some clients, but only if they ASK me first in advance.


Ditto...

My licensed hours are 7-5, but most of my kids start later. I am willing to be flexible-but with advance notice only.

If my earliest guy isn't going to be here, I've asked his parents to let me know as soon as they know. Sometimes that's the day before, sometimes it's not until that morning. They are pretty good about it.

Wierd thing is, most times, even when I may sleep in, like weekends, I can't. Part of getting older, apparently (47). Of course, I can't usually make it up until much past 10 pm either...lol
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DBug 06:08 PM 06-06-2012
I'm up at 5:30, and I open at 7am, but only one family comes regularly at 7. The rest come anywhere between 7am and 11:30am. I'm totally okay with that because I don't wait for anyone if we're headed out for the morning. I leave a note, and they get to track us down . My families like the fact that I have "open" hours as opposed to contracted hours, simply because it suits their schedules better.

On the VERY rare occasion that my 7am dcb doesn't show on time (like Monday, when he arrived at 8:15), I consider it a freebie and sit down for breakfast with my own kids, drink my coffee in peace or whatever.
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renodeb 07:23 AM 06-07-2012
My hours are 7:00am-5:15pm. Im up at 530am everyday. My own kids 10 and 15 y/o have to be up for school and in the summer I have to get teenage son to football by 6:30am so routine stays the same. First child usually right around 7:00am. (I have one teacher who gets here at 645 on her days) but in the summer 7 is first drop off.
I love that little bit of time in the morning to sip coffee and get on the computer, and get a little makeup on.
Debbie
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My4SunshineGirlsNY 07:45 AM 06-07-2012
I am open from 5:30am-5:30pm...I get up at 5:30am but I am certainly not ready to go, it is just way too early for me when I don't get to bed until 11-11:30pm most nights. If you followed my other posting, my daycare family drops off whenever they feel like it, sometimes 5:45 and sometimes 7pm...so I am sitting around waiting and can't go jump in the shower as I don't know when they will show up. Makes it VERY difficult.

Since I only have the one family most of the week, (I have another daycare child1-2 days/week), I usually shower when I put the 3 year old for a nap. But I don't like this at all, I like to be groomed at the beginning of the day, but don't want to wake up at 4:30-5am just to shower, I get way too tired to wake up that early.
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Angelwings36 08:21 AM 06-07-2012
I tried to work with open and close times while keeping families committed to their contracted hours and it's just a head ache! I now tell families that I do not have a solid open and close time and that I base the time I start and close each day on the times that families need me for that day. I would not open until 8:15am if I didn't have anyone booked prior to that time. Door would remain locked even if someone was knocking on it.
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texascare 08:22 AM 06-07-2012
My hours are 7:30am-5:30 pm so I am ready by 7:30. Well ealier than that but that is when my lights go on , the blinds go open and I am ready for business. The kids arrive later than that but I guarantee you the one day i choose to sleep in I would have somone here at 7:30....that is how my luck goes.
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Crazy8 08:28 AM 06-07-2012
I don't publish "set" hours - I do contracted care - so everyone's hours are different. My 1st arrives at 7am, so I am up, showered and dressed by 7am. Occasionally they will show up late, but for the most part they are punctual. If I know they aren't coming (they know they are my earliest arrival so will call me the night before if at all possible) then I get up and ready by my next scheduled arrival (which right now is 7:45am).

With my own kids in school I pretty much have to be up by wish anyway, but summer is a different story.
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