I am revamping my policies, I have been getting phone calls and I've noticed if I tell parents my hours they think they can have their child here the whole time.

So for those of you who set limits do you choose 9 or 10 hour limits? And why

Does anyone have any good articles maybe about children in care and hours?

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Here is a similar thread: https://www.daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28949

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I just tell parents I close at 5 pm and I'm flexible with opening hours. If people tell me they have more than a 10 hour day I would charge more. I have not had any issues yet because every call I get is for part time like 4 hours a day which is perfectly ok with me!

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I'm only open 10 hours per day so they're welcome to come open to close here. When I revamped my policies I decided I didn't like the clock watching or hour counting so I switched to a flat fee that keeps me happy even with those little ones that are here open to close M-F.

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I no longer take children unless parents are at work. None of my parents work day (plus commute) is over 9 hours, so that's my limit.

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I have provided care about 7 yrs. ago- 12 hr. days. I have went down to 9 hrs. over the past 7 yrs. Let me tell you, 12 hrs. sucked!! I used to work 10 hrs. til 2 yrs. ago, and I went to 9 hr. days. If you provide 9 hrs. a day x 5 days= 45 hrs. a week. This is enough in the town I live in. All my parents are about 10-15 min. from their jobs. They work an 8 hr. day and have 1/2 hr. lunch. If you allow your hrs. to be 10-12 hr. days, there are some daycare parents that will abuse this to the fullest extent. I have learnt over the yrs. it is totally not worth it!! I have my own life, my own children, swim lessons, ball practices, ball games, meetings, parties, lunches, fixing lunch, gymnastics, dance, etc... etc......

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If you're trying to decide on the hour limits, their isn't anything specific for a difference between 9 or 10 hours. Most articles are about the difference from part time care vs. 60 hours a week. If you are looking to find a good medium I would stick with 9 or 9.5 hours a day as a maximum limit and if they need 10 or 11 hours (if you're open those same hours) I would charge higher hourly for those.

I know some places require a one hour unpaid lunch break and some people may have to travel one hour to work. If those are not too common in your area, I would stay near the 9 hour limit. Parents have choices on where they go for childcare and you have choices on how many hours you work in a day.

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yeah i decided to go with the 9 hours and go up from there on pricing. I used the nanny dee fee schedule thingy, a little complicated at first but i made a cool chart that has hours, weekly hours so they see what their getting. Thank you all for the advice

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My child development psychology text book (Dr.Laura E.Berk) says that care should be around 8 hours or less. There have been studies conducted that state that long hours in care is not good for children. Having said that the quality of care is paramount to this. If they are in crappy care then of course fewer hours are beneficial. I will try and find the info for you when I get a chance.

I wish I had done a feww schedule a la Nannyde but I didn't. I'm just lucky that although I'm open for 10 hours my kids are only here for 7.5 hours per day

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I read a book similar to this. Since then, I have also decreased my hours of care and invited more Pt clients in. Kids need thier parents more than they need me (in most cases) I just recently also switched to only being open for 40-45 hrs/wk as well so that I have time for my own family. It's going well for the most part.

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I'm doing "open hours" but 9 hour blocks max. There is no long commutes where I live, 9 hours is plenty of time, especially when most of the military families around here work far less hours than that.

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I do the same. I'm open 7a - 5p so they are welcome to come open to close or anything in between . I only have 1 child here open to close. We live about 45 minutes outside Dallas, TX so I do have some families that work closer to the city so the 10 hours covers everyone and their commutes.

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I dont really announce what my hours of operation are. When someone will ask me, I will say it will depend on when you need daycare. What time will you need child care? I let them answer and if they say I work from 8-5, then I will immediately reply with ok great so a 7:30-5:30 schedule would work great for you then? I then explain that I only work the hours that I am need for parents to go to work or school.

If they say no, then I will ask where do you work? If it more than 50 min away, I usually don't take those people. Why? because then if their kid gets sick or something to that degree, it will take the hours and hours to come get their child. lol can you tell I have BTDT??

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What is BTDT?

I also ask what hours they are needing and if they don't answer I just let them know I'm open early and close at 5. I also agree about the "how far do you work" or else they need to have family or someone in town who are available to pickup if their child gets sick.

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In my phb i have that I am open 6am til 5pm however, those are my hrs of operation. Each parent has their own set scheduled hrs. Each aloud 10hrs. Anything over is extra.

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sorry been there done that.....BTDT

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I do this, if they hesistate then I know they are not going to be a good fit. I can see that they would be the parents that would lying about if they are at work. I had a family who I would see drive by my house every day, but the child was here for 10 or 11 hours a day (he left in july because they wanted to save 20 dollars a week) to me that was so ridiculous. I remember how many times he would be so sad (he was 3 at the time) because everyone went home and he was still here and the parents where home, playing on the computer or making dinner, and the thing was, he was such a good kid, they even said he was a good kid, they just didn't want to spend time with him.

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