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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>What Makes You're Daycare "Mean"
Jazzii 07:56 PM 12-25-2016
Just for fun, what are those policies that parenta love to hate and claim "XYZ never needed this"

For me it would have to be:

For weekend parents (we are open 7 days a week from 6-11 pm) we need to know a week in advanced what time you will be dropping off and picking up your child for staffing purposes (we are a staff of 5)

If you're child is not usually here for dinner and you do not call at least 30 min before dinner time to say your child needs to eat they will not be served dinner.

The late fee is 20$ per 15 minutes because we've had parents take advantage. One mom called, asked I she could pick her child up at 8 instead of 530ish we said no, and she did it anyway. She was paying for a full time spot (40hrs plus 1 hr travel) so she didn't understand the problem- she was charged a 240$ late fee. She pulled after that.

Bed time here is at 8. No I will not keep your 14 month old up until 1030 while they're falling asleep...
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BumbleBee 08:34 PM 12-25-2016
Top 2 are sick policy and mealtime cutoff's.

Sick policy is due to an automatic 48 hr exclusion after vomiting. It was 24 hrs symptom free but people were taking advantage and sending their kids back looking like h*ll.

Mealtime cutoff speaks for itself. Ex: Breakfast cutoff is 8:15, meaning if your child arrives later then 8:15, I won't be feeding them breakfast. Had a family consistently drop off at 8:35 having not fed their kids bc they 'didn't have time.' They had 2 kids, I have 12, but apparently I had time.
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Meeko 10:10 AM 12-26-2016
If parents arrive after the breakfast cut off time....it's not their fault....I'm just trying to starve their child....

Excluding their sick child is just me being difficult. After all...they MUST have gotten it here.....you know...considering that THEIR homes, family, churches, stores, friends, neighbors, air they breathe etc are all TOTALLY germ-free...

No toys from home....doesn't that rule only apply to everyone else's child?

"But why won't you watch Snowflake without payment? I thought you LIKED my children? You're just after my money! It's not like you have to make a living or anything!"
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midaycare 10:18 AM 12-26-2016
Breakfast cutoff and automatic payment. If you pay in cash, you pay late fees for every day late, and I stick by it.
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Mad_Pistachio 12:21 PM 12-26-2016
Originally Posted by Meeko:
It's not like you have to make a living or anything!
someone actually said that?
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midaycare 01:50 PM 12-26-2016
Originally Posted by Mad_Pistachio:
someone actually said that?
I have actually had people infer that I should wait to get paid and accept late payment because I don't "need" the money.

We don't go around bragging, but we don't. The reason we don't is because we are frugally wise where it counts. We have one nice vehicle and one beater, etc. Only 2 tvs, we buy furniture off of garage sale sites and Craigslist (2 big dogs, 2 cats...)

If we made different choices we would "need" the money. The fact that I'm not stressed out about money means I don't deserve it and should help out those who made bad choices, right??
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Mad_Pistachio 02:41 PM 12-26-2016
Originally Posted by midaycare:
I have actually had people infer that I should wait to get paid and accept late payment because I don't "need" the money.

We don't go around bragging, but we don't. The reason we don't is because we are frugally wise where it counts. We have one nice vehicle and one beater, etc. Only 2 tvs, we buy furniture off of garage sale sites and Craigslist (2 big dogs, 2 cats...)

If we made different choices we would "need" the money. The fact that I'm not stressed out about money means I don't deserve it and should help out those who made bad choices, right??
I once was interviewed for a nanny position in a pretty wealthy family. after 4 (four!) different interviews, all for the same family, I was freaked out about them being anal and pretty much bailed out last second (read: I told them what I thought and was kicked out). one of the accusations thrown at me was "all you need is money." well, yeah, what did you think? if I didn't need money, you wouldn't be intervewing me.
in a few months, one of my former bosses god a hold of me, and when we talked, I told him briefly about my experience. he asked, "what does Mom do?" I answered, and he said, "okay. does she do it for free? I seriously doubt that. so, why would she short-change you?"
I don't work, but if I do, I get paid for it. last client who hasn't paid was blocked in my phone with no way back. why would I expect someone taking care of my child to do it for free if they never signed up to volunteer? (Sunday School teachers are another story, we sign volunteer forms for that.)
by the way, I need the money, but I don't look a whole lot of stressed out about it. they won't put it into my coffin.
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childcaremom 03:04 PM 12-26-2016
None of my current families.... but past families:
*I wouldn't keep their sick child
*I wouldn't accept their child just after immunizations (I exclude for 24 hours)
*I close at my actual close time
*I charge late fees when children are picked up late
*I wouldn't take my vacation the same week that they wanted to sign their child up for a rec program
*I charged late fees when payment was late

Interestingly, this was all one family. They didn't last long. And I don't think they read my policy handbook, either, or just didn't care.
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Mom2Two 06:29 PM 12-26-2016
One time when I still enforced my sick policy even though dcps were planning to use their vacation time to go away.

Another time when I excluded a dcb from care when he had a highly contagious skin disease, dcm was mad and threatened me in text that she "might have to look for other care." I deliberately misunderstood her and texted back "Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that you're leaving. We'll really miss dcb. I hope you find another great place to be." I was soooo glad to be rid of this dcm.
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Ariana 07:02 PM 12-26-2016
Mainly that I actually charge money for my services
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finsup 07:44 PM 12-26-2016
Originally Posted by midaycare:
I have actually had people infer that I should wait to get paid and accept late payment because I don't "need" the money.

We don't go around bragging, but we don't. The reason we don't is because we are frugally wise where it counts. We have one nice vehicle and one beater, etc. Only 2 tvs, we buy furniture off of garage sale sites and Craigslist (2 big dogs, 2 cats...)

If we made different choices we would "need" the money. The fact that I'm not stressed out about money means I don't deserve it and should help out those who made bad choices, right??

Us too!! This money goes to paying down medicial debt faster but we could get by with just my husband's income. We're careful with money, pay cash for our one car, no fancy phones, no cable etc but so many think "oh you can afford to live on the water with just one income, you don't really need to be paid for this..." Yeah people, trust me, when this debt is gone, I will be done, but until then, I don't work for free.

Anyways, charging for services, not willing to do pay by the day, excluding sick kids, refusing to baby children..That's my list
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BumbleBee 07:49 PM 12-26-2016
Originally Posted by Mom2Two:
I deliberately misunderstood her and texted back "Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that you're leaving. We'll really miss dcb. I hope you find another great place to be."
This in genius! Tucking this away in my toolbox in case I ever need to use it.
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daycarediva 08:46 AM 12-27-2016
Originally Posted by midaycare:
I have actually had people infer that I should wait to get paid and accept late payment because I don't "need" the money.

We don't go around bragging, but we don't. The reason we don't is because we are frugally wise where it counts. We have one nice vehicle and one beater, etc. Only 2 tvs, we buy furniture off of garage sale sites and Craigslist (2 big dogs, 2 cats...)

If we made different choices we would "need" the money. The fact that I'm not stressed out about money means I don't deserve it and should help out those who made bad choices, right??
YES. This is my BIGGEST pet peeve with parents. We aren't hurting, but it's because we don't live an extravagant life like my daycare parents do. I cannot remember the last time we went out to eat. We just did the movies, but I used groupon + promo codes and planned it weeks in advance to do so, we ended up paying $18 for a family of 6, etc.

I think the second biggest one was that I enforce my drop off cut off time. I tell/warn parents NUMEROUS times, I tell them at THREE different times and they SPECIFICALLY have to sign after each policy- this one included. Why then are they surprised to be met with a locked door?
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Controlled Chaos 08:56 AM 12-27-2016
Mainly when a dcp texts me "running late!" and I reply "Drive safe and remember its 1$ per min you are late. Feel free to send it via Venmo so you don't have to stop by an ATM"
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daycare 12:42 PM 12-27-2016
Sending kids home because they are too tired to participate. Sorry 12:30am to 6 am is not enough sleep for any child and most adults.

I send a child home probably 2-4 times a month for this. It's nuts.
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Ariana 02:54 PM 12-27-2016
Originally Posted by finsup:
Us too!! This money goes to paying down medicial debt faster but we could get by with just my husband's income. We're careful with money, pay cash for our one car, no fancy phones, no cable etc but so many think "oh you can afford to live on the water with just one income, you don't really need to be paid for this..." Yeah people, trust me, when this debt is gone, I will be done, but until then, I don't work for free.

Anyways, charging for services, not willing to do pay by the day, excluding sick kids, refusing to baby children..That's my list
Same for us! We don't need me to work but I want to work and extra money is always nice. I like having something to do even if it is not much.

Meanwhile my DCM nickles and dimes over everything and while I basically wear the same 3 pairs of pants and 5 shirts she is wearing a different outfit every.single.day. Plus she is paying me to watch her kid while she is at home.
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Febby 05:22 PM 12-27-2016
At my center:

-No outside food/drink. The walk of shame out of the building with the half donut they managed to sneak past administration doesn't even bother most of them.

-No toys from home. "But Johnny wanted to bring it today."

-Anything related to the sick policy. If a child even looks questionable, I'll check their temp at drop-off and parents get obnoxiously whiny when they have to take their sick kid right back home. Had a parent last week pick up their kid with a 103 temp and asked if they could come back later that day if they went to the doctor.
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Tags:daycare environment, mean child, mean teacher
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