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Core12 04:52 AM 08-20-2018
How far into your house do your parents walk? Mine sometimes walk right through me in order to look around! Like it’s their right!

I’m relatively new at this and am having issues with parents dropping off their kids and walking through my house. Two of my families enter through the living room (open floor plan) and walk straight into the dining room. They do this so they can try to sneak away from their kid without causing an upset...this process requires me to stop everything I’m doing with the others to go and distract their kids(ie I take them into the garage and tell them we are going to feed my pretend horse). The parents look around in my kitchen while pretending to look in their cubbies in the dining room. It makes me nervous bc there is always something u could see “wrong” .
Also, I feel like I’m working too long 7-5:30...it’s just too much! Going to pray for strength to decrease my hours.
I plan to take off 15 paid vacation/holidays next year. God I hope this works! Hopefully, that’s not too much!
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Meeko 06:59 AM 08-20-2018
I have signs up outside the front door and inside the foyer. NO SHOES!

Most parents don't want to bother to remove their shoes in order to walk on the carpet. I also make sure at interview, in my handbook that parents are not allowed around the other children at any time. So they can't go past the entryway.

Let them know it's not OK to march in. It's hard to put your foot down at first, but it gets easier. Demand respect in your own home. If you don't...chances are you won't get it. Today's parents have no idea what the word "manners" means.
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Snowmom 07:02 AM 08-20-2018
I think a lot of depends on your set up and how you set up the arrivals/departures.

Beyond the initial tour, I really don't allow parents around other children. It's not something I am comfortable with. Plus, it affects how the children's day is, what activities they are doing and not to mention any privacy issues (bathroom/nakedness).

I ask that if parents want extra time to discuss anything with me in length, it be scheduled with me in advance. I schedule those before or after daycare hours and sometimes over the phone at nap.

My daycare space is in the lower level of my home. I have a camera set up to alert me when people arrive. I walk up to the top of the stairs to greet them and the kids come down with me.
At pick up, we are all out front on the sidewalk doing a fun activity for pick up (luckily my pick ups are all within 15 minutes of each other).

If a parent arrives to a locked door, I speak through the camera when they ring the bell and bring the child to the door.
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DaveA 08:07 AM 08-20-2018
DCPs use the entryway and can come in the classroom (right off the entryway. Otherwise they stay out of the rest of my house.
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MarinaVanessa 09:00 AM 08-20-2018
Mine have free range of my whole downstairs but only because it's all daycare space (I don't have a large house). My living room and dining room are pretty much the same space and my kitchen is a small galley kitchen tucked into the back. You can see everything as soon as you walk into my house except the kitchen. I don't mind them coming in as far as going up to the kitchen, it's all daycare space. I have a gate at the kitchen to keep the little ones out and it keeps the grown-ups out too. My private rooms are all upstairs and of course my stairs have gates so no one goes up there.

I did have one DCM (my first client) that would go into my kitchen and go as far as to open my cabinets and fridge looking for a snack. I had to talk to her a few times about that. There were also a whole slew of other issues with her so she didn't last long after that.
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LysesKids 09:41 AM 08-20-2018
Originally Posted by Core12:
How far into your house do your parents walk? Mine sometimes walk right through me in order to look around! Like it’s their right!
I have a no shoes rule also, but it's required to be an Eco healthy childcare if carpet is in the home... I require it just because I do babies only & they crawl on the floor lol. If you refuse to take ff the shoes, you don't get off the 2x3 doormat and even then the playroom is right behind the front door
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Indoorvoice 01:44 PM 08-20-2018
I have an open floor plan and my front door opens right into my living room and dining room. I have a large entry rug and put a bookshelf by the door to separate the front door from the living room so it makes a little entry way. I have a policy that parents stay on the rug to keep dirt off the floors for the crawlers. They all seem to respect that since I worded it that way.
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Rockgirl 03:20 PM 08-20-2018
Mine say their goodbyes at the front door. In my opinion, it’s best if parents actually say goodbye to their children, and not try sneaking out while they’re distracted. I’d definitely put a stop to guiding the kids into the garage for the horse game. If parents are expected to put belongings in cubbies, I would have the kids busy in that general area if possible. If you’d rather have parents stay in the entry area, you will have to communicate that to them. I know it seems intimidating, but this is your home and business. You can do it!
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knoxmomof2 09:12 PM 09-06-2018
Initially, they came to the front door. The front door opens right into my living room /daycare space. After getting fed up with the distraction of lingerers and parents wanting to make a show of dropping off, I moved it to a side entrance that I luckily have. It opens into the room I use as the naproom and is adjacent to the daycare room via a small corner of the kitchen. I have a safety gate on the kitchen doorway and parents bring the child in, up to the gate and I lift the kids over. Quick conversation about things and that's it. I have a whole new batch of parents and they know to schedule longer discussions with me. The side door is unlocked for a set window at drop off and pick up times. If they arrive outside of those, they come to the front door and we keep things very brief.

I love it! Makes my job a billion times less stressful. I would find a way to designate an area just inside the door that is for drop off. Whether you use furniture, or gates or rugs or build a partition or something. Also, the cubbies need to be near the front door, for sure.

A couple of excuses/ reasons for the sudden change: cleaner flooring for crawlers or for the decency / privacy of potty trainers or at diaper changes. (I once had a DCD walk in just as a potty training girl decided to streak across the room. He was taken aback, naturally, because it wasn't his child. Gave me a good example to give for why I was making the change. No one wants to think of a strange adult seeing their child naked.)

The 2 that lingered and made a production of drop off were the most upset and it was quite the hullabaloo, but they ended up staying.
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Josiegirl 02:11 AM 09-07-2018
My front door goes right into my living room and now I have no lingerers or parents who walk all through out my place. I am so glad. I don't mind the occasional wanderer but every day gets very disruptive. My twins' mom used to take her shoes off and get all comfy cozy with her 2 dds and I'd be like wtf? She'd read them stories or play ring around the rosie with them. Or even worse her dds might've refused to get dressed at home so she'd have to get them changed, bring them into the bathroom. All this while I would try to get the dcks settled down for breakfast. I don't care if she lets her kids run her life but when it involved upsetting our schedule, it used to irritate me.
I agree with not trying to sneak out the door. It only makes it easier on the parent. A dcm I had used to bring her dd through into the playroom and get her distracted by playing with toys. Then she'd sneak out. I finally had to tell her to treat leaving like a bandaid. Let her know you're leaving, you'll be back soon and wave bye-bye. I'd handle it and dcg will handle it.
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Dohare81 10:16 PM 09-08-2018
Parents have a right to come in and see the areas used for care. I don't encourage the parents to come in because most of the time I can't get them to leave.
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Meeko 12:04 PM 09-09-2018
Originally Posted by Dohare81:
Parents have a right to come in and see the areas used for care. I don't encourage the parents to come in because most of the time I can't get them to leave.
It is also the law here, that parents be allowed to see the areas their children use during the day. That said...it does not mean they can march through the home at will.

If a parent wants to enter past my doorway, they must first remove their shoes.

If they demanded to see the playroom, they would be required to wait while we remove all the other children from the area. Because while they have a right to be with THEIR child and see where they play...they do NOT have a right to be around the other kids. They can take a quick peek, but they cannot hang around because we need to let the other kids come back and play.

My clients see every inch of my daycare area during interview. They are also told to check my licensing record any time they wish to check that my home has been inspected regularly and meets all regulations. They can see every day that they pick up happy kids.

If they cannot trust me...they can take their child and go elsewhere.

Nobody gets to walk through my home at will. It may be a daycare, but it's still a private home and visitors need to be INVITED in.
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LysesKids 02:21 PM 09-09-2018
Originally Posted by Meeko:
It is also the law here, that parents be allowed to see the areas their children use during the day. That said...it does not mean they can march through the home at will.

If a parent wants to enter past my doorway, they must first remove their shoes.

If they demanded to see the playroom, they would be required to wait while we remove all the other children from the area. Because while they have a right to be with THEIR child and see where they play...they do NOT have a right to be around the other kids. They can take a quick peek, but they cannot hang around because we need to let the other kids come back and play.

My clients see every inch of my daycare area during interview. They are also told to check my licensing record any time they wish to check that my home has been inspected regularly and meets all regulations. They can see every day that they pick up happy kids.

If they cannot trust me...they can take their child and go elsewhere.

Nobody gets to walk through my home at will. It may be a daycare, but it's still a private home and visitors need to be INVITED in.
Back in 2004 I had a father in Indiana want to check every single cupboard, my bedroom etc... I was already cleared thru the state; The state did all background, fingerprinting and even drug tested & you don't trust their ways - see if you can pull that question off at a center lol.

I tell parents now, that if you can't trust the state procedures and background checks, you don't belong here. I had one family want me to take off a day to do a 2nd background & fingerprint; like for real? I already jumped those hoops to take Foster babies
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Tags:drop off, drop off issue, drop off policy, lingering at drop off
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