At 7:26 this morning... I don't open until 7:30. My first reaction was to open the doors because the dogs would be barking the whole time but I remember what everyone says on this thread so instead I let the dogs outside, kept cooking DD's breakfast, made my coffee and kept my door shut until 7:30. Mom rang the doorbell 3 times and when I did finally open the door I gave her a quick, "hey! We don't open until 7:30." She looked annoyed, but I guess she should have seen MY face when she rang my bell that early. This is normally a 7:45 drop off family. Its so frustrating that people think just because we live where we work, that we work whenever we are home

Reply

Four minutes? That was a big deal?

Reply

Of course it's a big deal! 4 min a day X 20 care days a month X 12 months = 16 HOURS of extra care per year.

Reply

Good for you!
I'm so thankful I found this forum. If I hadn't, I know I would be opening early all the time, working late, working for free, and getting burnt out.

Reply

for FREE

Reply

Good for you! And to the other poster, yes, 4 min is a big deal. Would a restaurant or retail store open 4-5 min early? Very unlikely.

Reply

Sorry. I just don't see it. If it happened all the time maybe. But from what I'm reading this person usually shows up 15 minutes after opening.

Reply

exactly! and if their drop off.time is 7:45 why are they dropping off 20 min early?

Reply

Plus next time it'll be 25 minutes, then 30......

Reply

I'm opened 1st, 2nd & 3rd shift Mon-Fri. I have a day child who comes at 5am Tues-Friday...., the DCM came at 4:30am one morning & I didn't answer the door. She banged on the door for 15 minutes. I finally opened the door & asked her what she wanted. She said she was dropping off to which I replied, ""Your drop off time is 5am, Do you think I sit by the door waiting for you? I do sleep you know." I acted annoyed before she had a chance to herself. She now waits until 5am, lol.

Reply

Maybe traffic was lighter? Maybe their watch was a few minutes off? Maybe they just might have their act together a tiny bit earlier today? If it was just a one time thing, and not a constant thing, I would not leave a parent and child on the doorstep for the sake of 4 minutes. I prefer to be a little bit flexible to help make things a tad bit smoother for parents in the morning. Getting kids out to daycare is a stressful enough situation without me adding to it for I what I see as a miniscule amount of time. Why stress a parent out more? I am not a restaurant or a typical type business. I prefer to work with parents, again within reason, and not on a constant basis. That's just me.

Reply

Technically yes, unless that happens to be her first client of the day. My business hours are 7-5 but if I'm not expecting my first client until 7:30 then that's when I'm open, not 7. I do contracted hours per family so my working/open hours are dependent upon my clients scheduled hours regardless of what my business hours are.

Reply

That is not necessarily the case. Am I misreading that this in an isolated thing? If it was a chronic problem of course I would say something. This poor parent has made ONE 4 minute error, if I am reading correctly.

Reply

Understandable. That's half an hour. And it's very early!

Reply

I do see what you are saying. But to me a half an hour is a lot different than 4 minutes.

Reply

This is what I do. My business hours are 7:30-5:30 but I work off of contracted hours. They aren't supposed to come until between 7:45-8:00. They are also my first family. And I am very flexible with my clients on a lot of fronts, mornings are sacred and I will not short myself on that time.

Reply

Parents also need to understand that I am not at their beck and call. I run a business out of my home but I also have a family of my own to take care of. They need to respect my time. They know my hours.

Reply

So then she was technically almost 20 minutes early. THAT I GET! I wasn't understanding that from the original post.

Reply

They DON'T door ring the doorbell at Walmart or McD's & expect to be served..., their child care provider is no different!

Reply

I have no problems opening 5 min. before they are suppose to come (I joke with them because its rare anyone makes it on time here lol) but 20 min. is way too early.

Reply

I think you were kind to let her in before 7:45 without notice!!

Reply

Actually, you would be SHOCKED to learn the number of people who DO that kind of thing at any business. "But I just need one thing!" "But it's important!" "But I'm hungry!" "Well can't you just...."

And as for it being only 4 minutes, it's the principle of the thing. And as with toddlers, if you don't want it to happen every time, don't let it happen ANY time.

Reply

That could be the case . The OP didn't actually say one way or the other, and I answered based on my personal experience. After 20 years as a home based provider I've seen this happen quite a few times. I solved it by making sure everyone understands that I'm open when the porch light goes on and the door is open. If they get here early they just wait outside quietly .

Reply

Some parents do not see our homes as a place of business.

The very same parent who would not dream of banging on the door of a store before opening time, will think nothing of banging on their daycare provider's door early.

It's up to us to MAKE them understand. If not.....you send the message that anything goes. If four minutes is OK today....then ten minutes is OK tomorrow.

Reply

For me, that 4 minutes does make a difference. I have my own two children that I need to get ready for school. Lunches are being packed, kids dressed, breakfast started, etc. I'll have up to 6 kids coming in from the time I open until the bus comes half an hour later. Time is tight and if I don't have things set in motion before opening, I'm sunk. That 4 minutes is crucial for me and it's the last few minutes I have with my own kids.

Reply

When I was the daycare parent, and traffic was lighter, and I arrived early, I would park at the corner of her block and wait for opening time because I didn't want to sit in her driveway and make her feel pressured to open the door early. Her door unlocked at exactly my drop off time (I was first drop off), and I didn't expect her to get up early and watch for me out the window.

As a provider now, I open my door at 7:30. I get up about 8 minutes before then-I let my dogs outdoors and then put them downstairs, I might tidy up just a bit before opening the door, and of course, answer nature's call. If a parent showed up 10 minutes early, they'd find me still in bed. I don't mind an early drop off if it's prearranged, but I'm not about to get up earlier just in case someone decides to drop early (my 7:30 drop offs have parents who work at 8-neither of them drives more than 5 minutes to work).

Reply

Yep, yep - we all have stories but one in particular made me grow my backbone immensely. I had 2 PT families in care a few years back- on Wed I only had the one family but their drop off time was not until Noon & all my own kids were either in preschool in the mornings or all day grade school. So naturally I wanted to utilize that morning to get things down, make appts for me etc. Week 2 or 3 of this PT family being with me I noticed a bad pattern. The DCD came at 11:45 one day & I did not say anything although I was steamed. Next week it became 11:30 & I did mention their earliness. By the next week he came at 11:15 & I spoke up, "Ted, you really need to let me know if you are coming more than a few minutes prior to noon. And if you are bringing earlier we need to discuss extra pay for the extra time (I do contracted hours). You are the only family in care on Wed so I will frequently not be home until your scheuled drop-off time" It did help but from then on a made a habit on Wed of running errands in the morning & not getting back home until at least 11:50 a.m. I did occasionally arrive home at that time to find said parent waiting in my driveway. I guess my point is with some parents if you let them come early/pick up late they will take advantage. In some instances you have to stand up & use that backbone - guard your free time!

Reply

My hours are 7:30am also, but I don't mind if they are 5 minutes early,in fact I tell parents that my hours are 7:30am but please don't drop off before 7:25am. It doesn't bother me if they are 5 minutes early,I am up,dressed and ready to go by then and will have had my coffee by then.
To me, 5 minutes is no big deal, now if it was 15 or 20 minutes early, then I would have a problem.

Reply

Yes! School age boy told me one morning in the summer, "We caught all the lights green, and we were going to be too early, so Dad parked down the street at the convenience store." I truly appreciated that.

Reply

Do you really get up only 8 minutes before you open? You must be a very good morning person. I'm not, I get up at 5:45 am to wake up,shower and be ready by 7:30, I really need that time to fully wake up.
I used to be a morning person, but the older I get, the more time I seem to need to wake up. More power to you if you can be ready for the day like that.

Reply

Yep, if she opened it this time. The next time it would be 6 minutes early, then 10. It's just how it is with this business! You give an inch they take a mile!

My daycare is in the front of the house so most parents stay in the driveway until I turn on the lights in the daycare. So far I haven't had a problem.

Reply

[quote=SSWonders;390355]Maybe traffic was lighter? Maybe their watch was a few minutes off? Maybe they just might have their act together a tiny bit earlier today? If it was just a one time thing, and not a constant thing, I would not leave a parent and child on the doorstep for the sake of 4 minutes. I prefer to be a little bit flexible to help make things a tad bit smoother for parents in the morning. Getting kids out to daycare is a stressful enough situation without me adding to it for I what I see as a miniscule amount of time. Why stress a parent out more? I am not a restaurant or a typical type business. I prefer to work with parents, again within reason, and not on a constant basis. That's just me.[/QUOTE

Reply

[quote=Laurel;390402][quote=SSWonders;390355]Maybe traffic was lighter? Maybe their watch was a few minutes off? Maybe they just might have their act together a tiny bit earlier today? If it was just a one time thing, and not a constant thing, I would not leave a parent and child on the doorstep for the sake of 4 minutes. I prefer to be a little bit flexible to help make things a tad bit smoother for parents in the morning. Getting kids out to daycare is a stressful enough situation without me adding to it for I what I see as a miniscule amount of time. Why stress a parent out more? I am not a restaurant or a typical type business. I prefer to work with parents, again within reason, and not on a constant basis. That's just me.[/QUOTE

Reply

I haven't had that experience. I walk in the a.m. and have arrived with a parent waiting for me a time or two. They don't flip out on me as I don't if they are a few minutes early. The key here though is as long as it RARELY happens.

Reply

For free, and out of our own personal time.

This, exactly.

Reply

Wouldn't have been a big deal for me. There's so much that can happen in a parent's morning that can make things early/late buy a few minutes. For ME it's not a big deal at all. I would have opened the door and not said anything at all. I try to remain pretty flexible in things-and my parents are pretty flexible with me when needed. I haven't had someone take advantage of it-if they did then I would say something.
That's how I do things and what's comfortable for me-the cool thing about having our own businesses

Reply

Good Job!!!

Reply

I guess ladies, I am a more laid back person where 4 or 5 minutes is really not that big of a deal to me. Maybe everyone's clocks are not saying all the same time and what one person thinks is early, might just be just on time for the other. I know not all my clocks in my house say the same time,one might be a few minutes fast and the other slow, but sometimes that is just the way clocks work. Maybe you should have your parents set their clocks to yours so that they say the same time if that maybe is the problem.

Reply

I do, and it's because I am NOT a good morning person-I hate getting out of bed! My snooze button gets me through til 7:22, then I jump out of bed, throw on my clothes, and run around to get ready. I shower before bed, and set things out that I need to have ready, sometimes even make up breakfast for the kids the night before, so I can just throw it in the oven. I still hate getting up before 8:30 AM (that seems to be when my body is set to want to awaken!), but I used to get up at 4AM and drive 65 miles one way to work, so this is easy!

Reply

Wow, Wish I had your energy in the morning! Want to send some my way!

Reply

I used to have a parent that would arrive anywhere from 15-30 mins early, park in my driveway, and wait for any sign of movement. We have huge, long windows, so when myself or ds would walk by one, dcm would instantly be at my door, ringing the bell. I would answer, and make comments like, "wow- you are early" or " my phone isn't showing 7:30 yet", but it made no difference, and dcm would do it the next day.

Turns out, dcm let it slip that dcg wakes up at 5 a.m. and she doesn't know what to do with her in the a.m. since all she did was make a mess in the house She never needed an earlier drop off- she would just rather strap dcg in the car seat where she was contained.

A few times of standing at the door, ringing the bell to no avail finally made dcm learn to wait until her contracted time!

Reply

Would you donate an additional 16+ hours per year to a traditional job? I think not.

Are you still flexible when it happens at drop off by a few minutes and then at pick up by a few minutes? That is a LOT of free daycare and a LOT of lost family/personal time. 5 minutes every morning and 5 minutes every evening adds up to working almost an entire work week (40+ hours!)

I also have a contract, contracted hours and late fees for a reason, to discourage this sort of thing.

Reply

This is me too!! 5 min would mean a lot to me! I am not a morning person and am not willing to deal with anyone before I have to!

Reply

I had a parent come 10 mins early as the first drop off of the day. I ignored it, and they starting making a habit out of it. 4 days later, I handed them a contract that said if they wanted to come early, they owe an additional $15 per day. They were irritated, but didnt come early ever again.

I'm more tolerant of later arrivals coming early, but the first drop off of the day, which is already an ungodly hour, doesn't need to come early at all.

Reply

I'm more tolerant too if I already have kids here. If that starts to be a pattern I will say something. It really just bugs me when it's the first one. I open at 6:45am and my kids sleep until 7am before they get up for school. I open my inside door at 6:45 so they can just come in. If a parent came ringing my bell early waking up my dogs and kids I'd be MAD! They are always welcome to come early at pick up!

Reply

When they're normally a 7:45 am family, yes it's a huge deal!!! Give them 19 minutes today and they'll try 30 next week!

If it were me, and I didn't have anyone before them, they'd have been on my porch till 7:45. I've done it before and I'll do it again.

Reply

But no one said anything about EVERY morning and evening,this was a one time thing. If OP had said it was becoming a habit then I could understand being upset.
Also, I don't mean to be argumentative but many people work for "free" technically. My husbands salary is based on a 45 hour work week-he RARELY gets to work 45 hours. THere are always emergencies that come up when dealing with people. When I worked in a center I would often work on curriculum at home or meet with my co-teacher to go over things for a few minutes before or after work-unpaid. I think that unless you are an hourly worker (for the most part) you will be called upon to do "extra" from time to time.

Reply

I would put something in your policies that states you do not want parents waiting in your driveway. I wouldn't want someone just hanging out at my home when I wasn't there. I don't like parents to talk on phone in my driveway and not come in and get the child. It is disruptive to the child and me and rude- Call whoever back after you leave and get home.

Reply

I am like this. On the flip side don't come past five and not have a cash late fee in your hand or call me ahead of time to tell me your late (unless in traffic, I don't want someone getting in accident talking or texting me while driving- but pull over and make that call if possible)

Reply

I do this too!! I shower at night. My first one comes at about 7:05, and my alarm goes off at 6:55. I roll out of bed about 6:59, go potty, brush my teeth, run a brush through my hair, throw on some clothes, and if there's time and/or mom is late, I start my Keurig machine.

Reply

this is me too........but some days I will hit the snooze button even if I am just sitting there trying to wake up and then it is fly to get ready

Reply

This is exactly what I do as well with the porch light.

Reply

Yes! That is EXACTLY what happens! The minutes for drop-off creep up earlier and earlier. I have an attendance sheet that the DCP sign in and out on, and when they see that someone has dropped off/picked up just a tad outside regular hours, then they do it, too! Pretty soon, before I knew it, my workday had increased by almost half an hour! I love my job and my kids, but for the love of all things holy, 10 hours is already enough!

And, yes, the sitting in the driveway is so WEIRD. But even worse when they do it at pick-up, blah-blah-blahing on their phone while their kid is going ballistic inside waiting for them!

Reply

I waste time in so many other areas that five minutes on the morning side of things doesn't bother me. I find you have to be a bit flexible and you get to know who abuses the rules and who doesn't. My value is my time with my family after five- don't be late and I stress this from before day one. Five is when I close and I am tired and ready to be done. My parents know if they are going to be late, cash in hand makes me happy but don't let it become an everyday thing because I value my personal life with my family.

Reply

T The difference is your husband likely makes a much higher wage. My hourly rate is only @ $$2.50. I don't want my rate going down even more due to 20 min here, 10 min there, etc

Reply

if you don't want it to happen every time, don't let it happen ANY time.

I have had to learn this the hard way in this business. if it is not something you want to happen again, then the answer in NO. I am not the price line negotiater.

morning drop offs, well, they SUCK. they are the busiest time of the day and parents don't stop to think that we are doing a million thing, while trying to stick to a schedule. If you are not proactive with a plan in place of how your day will run with a well thought out schedule, then you are going to be up for a bad day. The mood of the provider is one of the most important things for the children. when parents pull my strings by throwing off my schedule, it upsets me. I then have to find a little cool down time, so that it does not rub off onto the kids.

I don't honestly think that I would have anyone stand outside for any length of time, but I would take a longer to open the door and then communicate to them that they are early and that they need to communicate with me if they will need to attend care outside of their contracted times that are set.

I bet if we decided to turn the tables and we opened our business 4 minutes late, we would never hear the end of it.

what you did was very hard, but if it is what worked for you and it got the message sent loud and clear, then great job for you. You should feel proud of yourself that you stuck up for yourself today and didn't pose as anyones doormat.

Reply

I open at 7 am. I wouldn't mind four minutes. Actually, when I wake up (at 6:50) the first thing I do is unlock the door and THEN I go shower & get ready. I make sure everything is ready the night before and can shower, dress, brush my teeth & hair in less than 10 minutes. I figure if a family comes a little early they can come in & chill while I finish up. It really isn't a big deal. If anyone ever came before 6:50 they would have to wait for me to be ready. I've never had that problem...mine all seem to have the opposite problem of being late for work!

Reply

Same here as far as the late to work is concerned.

I have five kids belonging to two moms. I haven't had either mom on time since day one. 99%'of the time they are late. Of course, it doesn't bother me because I'm afternoon contracted for the most part so that just means I can out my feet up for a few.

But I don't have parents arriving to my house u til they text telling me they are on the way. Both moms also, by choice, text me when they hit the exit. Is convenient for me because I can let the dogs out before they get here to potty before drop off. And at pick up I can have everything ready to minimize the noise at midnight with my dog barking.

Problem solved. Lol.

Reply

I try to be flexible for my parents, even if it is 4-5 minutes early or late. I guess I am not that concerned about that little bit of time and don't even consider it free daycare. Also I guess it doesn't bother me as my children are all grown and out of the house, so it is just my husband and myself in the mornings. But still, I really don't feel that 4-5 minutes is any big deal to get worked up about. By the time they get in the house, get their coat and shoes off and go into the playroom, that few minutes is all gone and it is 7:30 by then if they happened to come that 4-5 minutes early. But this is just how I feel, but if it really is a problem for you then I can understand. A few minutes early is certainly not going to kill me or ruin my day. Just take my post here with a grain of salt.

Reply

Heck I've seen yard sales that say "opens at 8". Course everyone gets there early and they'll have yellow tape across their driveway so the crowd is all standing around waiting for the clock to strike 8. If yard sales can do it, then personal business certainly can.

Now with that said I used to get upset if people were too early or late when my kids were all home and my dh was here. Now it's just me. My 2 pups can't tell time and frankly, as soon as I close the door at the end of the day, it's too quiet. So I'm very lenient. Nobody really takes advantage and lets me know if they might be early/late. I only have 1 dcf who has a hard time getting here by 5:15 most days and I close at 5:00. I have a list of days I do need to close by 4:45 this fall, for workshops, so that they know ahead of time to be here.

As someone said, that's the beauty of having your own business. You can run it the way you want and only you are the one to own the consequences. I realize what everyone is saying but the way I look at it too, is when you get referred by your dcps for new clients, one of the selling factors might just be your flexibility.

Reply

Several years ago we had an emergency at this center I was working at and we had to evacuate the building. We never went back in, and everything was a mess.

I was the opener and we opened at 6:30. I went in at 6 to clean up. Usually I didn't go in til 6:25 because all I needed to do was turn on the lights. There were these two moms who dropped off the minute the lights came on and they would get there anytime after 6 and just let their kids run loose in the parking lot while they chatted. Sometimes in pitch darkness.

So they get there at 6:10 and proceed to ring the doorbell because they saw lights on upstairs. No lights were on downstairs. They rung that doorbell every minute until 6:28, when I turned the downstairs lights on and unlocked the door, all . And not just once and walk away, I mean dingdongdingdongdingdong etc etc etc...

People will act like that in a heartbeat.

Reply

I see your point, but I'm extremely flexible with pretty much everything else. My families know it and I get positive referrals all the time. I have no control over late pick ups, but I do have control over my mornings. It starts with 4 minutes early and then its earlier and earlier. Thursday and Friday I had pick ups between 4 minutes and 18 minutes late. I have a life and family to care for. I don't live to serve these people at my inconvenience. I do my job and expect to be respected.

Reply

I work in a center and am the opener 4 days a week. It causes me problems when people show up before their drop off time. We have it scheduled so I arrive 15 mins prior to the first kid. I turn on lights, crock pots, unlock doors, push our buggy outside under the awning, check messages, get the schedule and breaks situated for all the other workers to see when they clock in, and do bleach bottles if needed. The second person is scheduled to arrive right when the first kid is supposed to be here. I am still working because I am getting breakfast trays prepared for each room and delivered. When I have a kid dropped off early I am unable to get those things done and everything gets pushed back. I need to have it all done before we need 2 teachers due to number of kids, or ages of kids necessitating separation, however. I don't personally say anything, but the owners sure do. Maybe I will suggest to them charging a fee for early drop offs. We've had several parents drop off very early before more teachers arrived and screw up our ratios. It's a big deal because that is a violation. I've had to tell early drop off parents that they have to stay with their child until the next teacher arrives. If they arrange it before then we can just adjust schedules to accommodate.

There is a lot more that goes into being early at a daycare than there is at a business, and yet a few parents still expect to be served at the daycare when they don't at the business. Thankfully, most parents seem to understand!

Reply

I'm extremely flexible...for a fee. My contract says it's $1 per minute if parents are 15 minutes or more early or late. I explain that often this is due to scheduling my day for the kids and because if they are early or llate that means that their child has been with me for more than 10 hours a day and that isn't fair to the child. I haven't had a parent arrive unexpectedly that early or late, so far. If they contact me or schedule an early or late arrival/pick up, then I waive the fee.

I also avoid the doorbell issue (so far) by telling parents that if the door is unlocked, then I'm open and they can just let themselves in. Most have toddlers that are more than willing to oblige.

Reply

I hear what you ladies are all saying and how everyone runs their daycare business or what centers do is how you want it to be.
Like I said before I try and be flexible for my parents and it doesn't happen a lot that anyone arrives early, but when they do it is only a few minutes.
My parents will Thank me for being flexible when they need it and I truly think it means a lot to them that I am trying to work with them when they need it. I also can't control it sometimes at pick up time, I live in a big city and with traffic these days,you can get stuck in it for a long time and so I totally understand when they are late because of it, they usually will give me a call and say that they are stuck in traffic so I know what is going on.
In the winter here we have snow and that can delay things if it is slippery out etc and I will tell my parents that I want them to take their time getting here for pick up if it is slippery,I would rather have them be safe driving then try and drive fast to get here on time.
I guess I run my home daycare a little bit more relaxed for the kids and parents and they seem to really appreciate my willingness to be a little flexible with arrivals and pickups when needed.

Reply

This is exactly me to a T!

Also, I worked for a family agency for the past 14 yrs. and there were MANY times over the years someone came in at the last minute and I had to stay 5-10 min. longer, so it does happen in out of home work places, and no I didn't get paid for that extra time.

Reply

Here is why 5 minutes early bothers me:


My first contracted drop off is at 7:15am. All of my kids, my dh and I are eating breakfast and my oldest kid's bus arrives between 7:15-7:20. If they come in at 7:10, (once they tried dropping off at 6:55, and every other time in between then and 7:15) they are interrupting family time, and we won't all be together for another 12 hours.

Those minutes, heck, even those seconds, are precious to me. I MAY feel differently when all of my kids have moved out, but I doubt it. When they arrive early, I quite literally have to leave my family time and go to work early.

Reply

This is where I am in this. When the doorbell rang that 4 minutes early I was just about to pour my coffee and sit down to eat breakfast with dd. Our morning mommy daughter time is very important to me. The early drop offs are the only thing I can control, as opposed to late pick ups, which I had 2 of later that week: one was 4 minutes and on Friday it was 18 minutes. So if you're factoring in all that's almost a half hour of time I didn't/wouldn't get to spend with DD alone. As for the late pick ups, dd has an appropriate bedtime for her age (8:00) and if I don't have someone walking in to pick up their kid until 5:48 and doesn't walk out the door until 5:56 then I'm rushing around to run errands, make dinner, enjoy bath time and bed time with her and still get everything done. I savor the time we have and when things are rushed or taken away from us, I have a problem. I'm in this business to spend more time with my family, not be a doormat.

Reply

I did not go into the daycare business to "make it easier for the parents"
Why make it easy on someone who takes advantage and harder for me? Its also not my problem if getting the kids out the door is stressful!

Reply