Before 6am 1 1.52%

6:30-7:00am 5 7.58%

7:00-7:30am 16 24.24%

7:30-8:00am 30 45.45%

After 8am 14 21.21%

I am debating on having a later start time for my dc but I don't know if I would lose too much business by opening at either 7:30 or 8. When do you find that most of your families arrive, on average? Is it feasible to open at 8? And those that open later, do you need to accommodate hours past 5pm?

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I open at 7 on occasion, because I have one dck contracted for that time but they rarely arrive before 7:30. (They do text me the evening before to give me an actual drop off time, so I have no issue with this).

The majority of my families are contracted to drop off between 7:30-8:30.

I have a few kids dropped off at 8 and picked up between 3:30-4:30. My only odd family is a 9-6 (usually pick up earlier) and I want to change their contract or replace asap. Those 7:00-6:00 days are LOOONNNGGG ones, especially when all of his little friends leave and he talks to me for over an hour.

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My first arrive at 6:45 and the last 8:30. Its a steady trickle in in those 2 hours.

Remember though, usually the later the arrival the later usually the parent works.

My ones that arrive at 7:45, the parents work at 8:00 and don't get off till 5:00 so the child is usually here till 5:15-5:30.

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I think that a lot of depends on where you live. Here where I live it is a huge commuting town. There really is not too much here and most people have to travel to the city. If they don't have a flexible work schedule, they usually don't attend my daycare. I will not open before 730

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I am open 7:30am-5:00pm - most kids are dropped off about 7:45am and picked up 4:45pm.

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I am open 7:15-6:00. My first usually comes around 7:30 and everyone is usually gone by 5:30.

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I'm open 7:30 to 3:30. They all arrive between 7:45-8:30 but my average arrival is about 8 am.

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I open at 7, I have two PT families who get there between 7:00 & 7:10. The majority of my children arrive between 7:30 and 8.

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I open at 7:00, but all my families come @ 7:30 or later. I am very thankful I have found families that didn't need early care.

Most of the kids leave by 4:15-4:30, but I do have two families that pick up about 5:15. I'd rather have later than early and I'm a morning person, but really don't want kids here too early.

I am in a small, rural town. I was really concerned when I opened that I'd have to have really long hours to fill my spots. I'm back in FCC after 14 yrs away. When I did this before I was in a nearby town that was even smaller. I was open 5:30-5:30 for ten years. It didn't faze me a bit then, but I would hate it now.

Also, during those years at one one point I did evening care for two kids, then at one point I had two on Sat. Morning till noon and later on I had two that stayed till 6:00 on Friday night. It was a piece of cake then....now no-way!

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I open at 7:00.I have one child who comes at 7:15 and the rest come between 7:30-8:00. I close at 6:00 everyday, if I'm lucky some days I get out of here at 5:45.

7:00-6:00 is such a long day for me, I wish I could change my closing time to 5:00

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Currently mine are staggered. My hours are 7am-6pm and these are my current clients scheduled hours:
7am-4pm
7:30-5:30
8am-6pm
9am-3pm
9am-5pm
9am-6pm
10am-6pm
(Some are part time)

I used to open at 6am but rarely had people ask for that early so I changed it to 7am. For me although most of my inquiries are for child care starting at 8am or later I do get some interest for 7am-7:30am care.

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If you are just starting out you shouldnt post your hours. Instead ask what hours people need when they call. You will get an idea of what people in your area need. I only get calls for 8:30-5:30/6. Rarely do I get people looking for 8 or earlier.

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My optional contracted hours are between 8 and 5. Most come around 8:15 and leave around 4:30. I used to be open earlier AND later (7:00-5:30) and had parents that used every second of that time. It was very draining. As those families left, I just accepted new ones with more manageable hours until I am finally at my desired time. It took about a year. It didn't put anyone out, and I am much happier.

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Most of mine arrive between 745-8:15 and are picked up between 5:30-5:45

745-545pm
815-530pm
745-530pm
815-545pm
745-430pm
1215-545pm (very occasional)

Of course when each of ^ families signed up they stated that they needed 7:15-7:30am drop offs so I was full expecting to be starting earlier.

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I live in a city where the average morning/evening commute is 15-20 minutes. My hours are 7-5:30. I would love to change my hours to 7:30-5:30 but it seems I always have at least one who needs to arrive between 7 and 7:30.

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I don't live in the states, but I open at 7. The first comes around 7:10, and usually I have 1 more before 7:30. I checked 7:30 to 8:00 because that is the time usually they are all here. By 8:15 for sure I have a full house.

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I'm open from 6:30 to 6:00 but right now, my earliest drop off is 7. It's usually like this:

7:00 - 4:30
7:00 - 4:30
7:15 - 3:00
8:00 - 4:30
8:00 - 5:30/6
8:00 - 5:30/6

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I plan on starting with a schedule where my business hours are 6am-6pm just to see what the average need is for those times and if after a while I notice that their isn't much inquiry begining at 6am or ending around 6pm I plan to change it. It depends on the demand market.

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I am open 6-6. My contracted drop offs are all at 7:30 (thank goodness) and all but one child arrive between 7:30 and 8 and one comes anywhere between 8 and 9. They leave at different times, but are usually gone by 5:30 with the exception of one child who sometimes stays until 6.
I am full right now, but if I lose children I think I am going to change my opening time to 7:00. 6-6 would be a loooooong day!

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I am "open" 6:30 to 6:30 but I do not have kids that everyday. I like the 6:30 am nurses! This morning I didn't have kids until 9:30 and in that hour I got my 4 for the day. It is summer!

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That's a good plan. I initially though that opening at 6am and closing at 6pm was a good idea because we didn't have any FCC homes that started that early but I quickly found out that 6am opening time attrcated some (not a lot, but a few) inquiries asking to do earlier than that (like 4am, 5am etc) and I wasn't getting many calls for start times between 6am and 7am so I later changed my opening hours to later (since I wasn't getting interest between 6am-7am).

Trying something out to see if it'll work is a great idea, maybe in your area you will have a demand for it. If not, no harm no foul.

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I open to my clients at 8:00 AM. I occasionally have a family needing to drop off at 7:15-7:30 and I will accommodate them at no extra charge.

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I did 6a-6p for years and the kids were here, everyday, from 6a-6p.

Then I noticed some folks from here had arrival/departure times written in their contracts instead of open/close hours I did a slight variation as that is out of the norm, here.

I now work 8-6.

* I do have to toss out there that 4 out of 6 contracts initially said 4:30 pick-up, but because 2 families are here later, the whole group stays until 6, now. I'd love to do contracted hours, only, and be able to stay full.

If my competition did not stay open until 8pm, I'd risk the earlier closing hours as well. It seems "easier" to open later that to close earlier...

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I'm open 7-5 but my current families generally drop off between 7:30/8:00 and pick up by 4:00 and by 4:45/5:00.

This fall I have 3 new families starting and they're all contracted for 7-5. It's gonna be rough transition since I'm spoiled with short days right now!

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