None of my daycare families have ever asked me to watch their children longer than 10 hours max per day, and usually its just 9 they need, but I just got a mom saying she wants care from 7am to 6pm, m-f. Doesn't that seem excessive to you?? What is the average number of hours your daycare kids stay with you each day? I have a flat fee per day, but I never thought to put a time limit on it...Do you have a set number of hours you will allow per day or in your set daily rate? I'm interviewing her tomorrow and I'm not sure if I should charge over time...

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I had a 10 hour family that wanted 11. I changed my policy to contracted hours, max of 9. $5 for a 10th hour if there was no possible way for someone else to pick up. 10th hour was written into their contract and $ was due like normal tuition. One family paid for 10 hours. The one that wanted 11, left and I was fine with that.

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Mine are here 3 hrs, 5 hrs, and 10 hrs. (3 of them are 10 hrs.)
I'm open 10 1/2 hours, but my longest is here 10.

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That's crazy! The kid might as well spend the night with you too, by the time they get home and settled it will be bedtime already. You will get burnt out with those hours, no way I would let someone leave their child in my daycare that long. My longest is 10.5 which is only occasional.

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I used to take care of dacyare children for 11-11 1/2 hrs. daily. Then I moved into a larger city, I changed my hrs. to 10 hr. days. Families abused this, and were late all the time. Once I received all teachers children I went to a 9 hr. day. If you have your hrs. written in your contract, there will be many that will abuse those hrs. to no end. I have written work and commute times only now.

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It's not that uncommon for parents to request that around here- we live in a somewhat rural area about 30-45 drive to any big cities. So when you factor in an hour commute to work (rush hour), a one hour lunch, eight hour work day, and an hour commute home; that equals 11 hours.

However--- most of the time families can avoid this b/c the two parents usually don't have the same schedule. So, the parent who goes to work later can drop off; the parent who gets off work earlier can pick up. This is why I have a 10 hour max per day. The families have contracted hours according to their work schedules; and if they really need more than 10 hours per day; I charge an extra $5 per hour/partial hour after 10. So, if they needed an 11 hour day; they would be paying $25 more per week full time. Usually after I explain this; they figure out some way to cut their hours back to 10!!!

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Usually about 8.5 to 9 hours. 11 is a LONG time.

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Half of my kids are here 9.5 to 10 hours and the other half are here 8.5 to 9. One of my long day kids, Mom is a nurse, the other family, Mom works 30 minutes away. The nurse Mom has told me that she likes to get to work early to set things up and get things ready for the day, so if I pushed it, she could probably be an 8.5 to 9 hour day as well.
I would want to know why she needs care for that long and if it is legit and you enjoy the children I would accomadate if it wasn't going beyond my normal operating hours. I can't really imagine any job situation that would require that long of a day though!

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I used to have to work a 9 hour day (in mgmt), take a 1 hr. lunch, and drive 1/2 hour each way to work.

Doesn't seem excessive to me. However, I thought that as certified care we were limited to 12 hours a day, but that might only be on the daycare subsidy program. I'm not totally familiar with it all yet. I'm sure someone else will help!

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My wife's daycare put's a 9.5 hrs /day limit on it. We used to do anytime (or all the time) and it just didn't work out. It killed us after about a month. I think 10hrs a day is about average for max per day. She charges late fees for anyone staying longer than that per day. She's found that most people can find a way to work it out, even if they have long work schedules. They either get their spouse or relative or friend to help with pickups. People don't realize that 10+ hrs is too long for a child to be in daycare all day. It is like "work" for the kids too when it's that long.

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Here it isn't uncommon for families to want more then 10+ hrs. But for me, I set a limit which is 10 hrs. I have a teacher who works 45min out of town and she needs 10 hrs each day m-f. I know she isn't using this time to do personal things she is using it for meetings and travel. So I am happy to work with her. However, if there is a day that will be more then 10 hrs then I charge $5 after that 10 hrs per hr. There have been time I will ashually keep the kids over night as she wld not be here to pick up til 7:30pm bc of in service days or teacher meetings. I get paid an extra $25 per child for this service so I am making $100 for just that one day. I am ashually happy to do it bc she is really a good client and the kids are awesome.

U just need to do what you can handle and stick with it.

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It's usually 10 hours around here. Most parents travel from a 1/2 hour to 45 minutes to & from work. That's all I allow for, which totals the 10 hours. Anything over that is 'occasional' and falls under paid overtime (if I feel like it & my schedule allows, but my parents rarely if ever need it).

Anything over that and these kids start calling me "Mommy".

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Until recently, I had one that was here 12.5 hours a day. But, it was 3 days one week, 2 the next. They paid extra for it, but it was hard. There were 2 reasons it was so hard--one is that the baby was a screamer-except when eating or sleeping, she screamed and cried. She had never been in dc or around other kids and she was just completely freaked out. I gritted my teeth and held on because I needed the money. After about 4 months, she leveled out and while she's still a bit sensitive, she's pretty easy to keep.

The second reason is that I do odd hours care and another child comes late but stays until 8:30. So on some days, I was working from 5:40 am to 8:30 pm. It nearly killed me. (8:30 mom didn't have those hours when I took on 12.5 hour mom or I wouldn't have done it.)

Things are better at the moment. 12.5 hour mom had a temporary schedule change and is only a 4 hour mom now. When she goes back to the other schedule, it will only be 2 days a week. I can do anything for 2 days a week, especially with 2 happy babies.

Mom#2 has been put on late shift, working until 12:30 am. I told her that I'd do it for 2 weeks to help her out until she can get her schedule changed, but I will not work 19 hours a day. I feel sorry for her, but I have a sort of mini-backbone these days--and a husband that hates going to bed alone! ;-) I don't care how big a mess this girl has made of her life, mine comes first.

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Maybe you should find out why they need that many hours. Is it that she know she will always need to start at 7:00 am and will usually be able to pick up at 5:00pm but because of her work she often has to work late and will on a somewhat consistant bases not pick up the child untill 6:00pm. Does she work 45 min away.

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There are many parents out there(although very sad) will always drop off at your open time and pick up at your closing time!!! I used to have one Mom always late, she would have to work out everyday before coming to pick up her children! I had one family that actually found another daycare that was open for 12 hrs. and the family was going to use all 12 hrs. each day for their newborn child!! HOW SAD!!!!

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I've learned not to post my hours or put them in my contract. Nor do I post my rates. When a family calls I ask what hours they work and verify that they will need about a half hour transportation time on either end. Then if I like those hours ill do it. My longest is 10.5 and not every day. The rest are 5, 8 and 9. The 10.5 hour family pays more.

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My longest is about 9.25 hours. I actually have in my contract that anything over 8.5 hours is $5 more a day so most parents seem to be able to get here in the 8.5 hours to save money. I don't work past 4 p.m. so that limits who can actually use me and how many hours are actually available. I have always preferred getting to work earlier and gettin off earlier, even when I was working full time outside of my home.

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Thanks everyone. That helps. I think keeping a ten hour cap here is what I need to stick to, for my own sanity. This woman never showed for our interview today. I didn't get that great of a feeling from her anyways, but it was annoying to work so hard to get the house ready for her.

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one thing that I would be asking is why do they need so many hours? If it is because they have to travel far for work, more than 45 minutes, I would then be asking who will you have for your back up?

TRUST ME WHEN I SAY THIS.....I have already made this mistake. Every day it was I am stuck in traffic I might, will, or am going to be late. When the child got sick here at daycare it was always 2plus hours before she could get picked up. Then of course the longer that they are on the road the higher the chance of care issues, worst accident. YUP had that one too and ended up having the child for 15 hours one day because no one could pick her up.

So now I make sure to ask all of these questions. Why so many hours and will you have a back up person to help you when needed.....

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sorry let me add one more thing....from my personal experience, the child that is in daycare the longest is always the one that I had issues with. They don't get quality time with the parents, the parents don't connect with their kids like I do and then all sorts of stuff blows up.

I have had one mom jealous becuase she had her little here for 11 hour days and then put them to bed right when they got home. They knew me more than her....She was jealous of this and put me down all the time, eventually I got sick of it and termed

another child that was here about that same time I had behavioral issues with them all the time...

Lots of issue with such long hours, but it really is up to you if you can handle it....

Just make sure you ask the right questions.....Best of luck to you with your interview

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I will definitely make sure to ask those questions. I Hama new to the daycare business do I can use a lot of advise in the business side of thIngs. I do far have two amazing families. I need to find one or two more and I'm set.

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I wish I would have found this site when I first started. Lucky you found it early. there are a lot of amazing providers on here that give a lot of great advice..

sharlan, blackcat catherder, nan, Crystal, Pitter Patter, Christian mom, I am sure I will forget many names, but seriously have changed my DC for the better.

I know have a backbone and just 1.5 years ago, I didnt even know what that was...lol

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around here it is not uncommon for parents who work in the city, take public transportation, etc. but I don't take those on. My "normal" day is 9.5 hours - this year I extended it to 10 hrs (7-5) for a new family but ended up they were coming at 7:30 so we switched back to that. Most common reason I've seen for the long day is one parent does both drop off and pick up - usually see this when they have older siblings who have to be picked up from other places, get to sports, etc.

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The center I work for is an extended hours facility,10 hours is normal for most of our kids.We do however have QUITE a few who attend 12-14 hours all six days that we're open.[State says no more than 18 hours in a 24 hour period.] You'd be surprised how many parent's complain about that.

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Oh mama cat, reading what you said made my stomach ache and my heart do a flip flop.

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I am opened from 7 - 4:30, but I rarely have a child here before 7:30. My longest one is here at 7:35ish and leaves at closing, so for around 9 hours. Most of them are here for 7 - 9 hours.

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The parents complain that the state allows the "only" 18 hours???? That is very sad.

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You forgot my name.

I like having part time kids. My current families attend 4.5 hours, 6.5 hours, and 9.0 hours. I ask each person what hours THEY need. I am waiting for more kids to enroll to see what other hours I will come across. I live very close to where people work or live so it doesn't take more than 20 minutes for travel time anywhere even in rush hour.

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