How do you handle early arrivals? I've had other issues with this family in the past, but things have been going well lately. Yesterday morning dcm shows up at my door 20 minutes earlier than our contracted time! This morning was the same! She was driving her daughter to school, and now her daughter wants to take the bus. So she gets her daughter on the bus and then immediately comes to my house to drop off dcb. She did NOT ask if she could start bringing him early. Seems like she must think that I am home anyway, so why not? UGH! What I want to say to her is that I'm so tired of being taken advantage of and can't believe the nerve she has to think that I am ok with working for 20 extra minutes FOR FREE!!! Believe it or not, I DO have a life outside of daycare and do not live to serve you and your child! What I will actually say to her has yet to be determined. Yesterday, I ignored her knocking (and being loud with dcb) for a few minutes and then finally opened the door to quiet them since my own toddler was still asleep. This morning, I drove past her while she was on the way to my house and I stopped and told her I had to be somewhere and would be a few minutes. I should have kept going and let her stand there knocking in the rain. I just find this very inconsiderate of her to not even ask if it's ok. To just assume that I'm willing to take him early because it makes life easier for her! The more I think about it, the angrier I get. I'm debating if I should just let her knock like a fool for 20 minutes before I open the door tomorrow, text her about it and tell her that early arrivals will not work for me, or not be home and show up at our scheduled drop off time. I need to put a stop to this but am so tired of being nice about everything all the time! What would you do?

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Do you have a signed contract with the times of care clearly outlined as well as early and late policies? If not, revamp your contract and hand it to her asap. If so, its up to you if you want to offer to redo the contracted times (for a fee) or remind her that care was agreed on from X time to Y time and you are not available for care outside of those times...whether you are home or not. You will have to be clear about what she can and cannot do....especially since you opened the door early twice. I have had to tell parents when they could and couldnt come before and it is never easy but you have to do that because as of now, you are working almost 2 hours free a week, 8 free a month, 96 free a year....think of it in the big picture and put a stop to it now!

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I would have put a stop to it on day one. so now you have let it go and said nothing so the mom thinks that its ok.

I would be emailing the mom right now..

also, what is in your contract...what does it say about this??

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I would come right out and ask her why she is dropping dcb off early. Have a conversation about how to resolve the issue. I find it's best to always be open and honest about concerns and issues.

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I don't have anything in the contract about early fees...we go based on contracted times and never had to deal with this...until now! I really don't want to take him any earlier than I already do. I guess I just need to be upfront about it and refuse to open the door any earlier than our contracted time!

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you need to talk to this mom and let her know that SHE CANNOT bring him earlier.

I would also do as cheer suggested and create a contract right not that indicates late fees or fee for earlier arrivals.

EXAMPLE
I operate from 7:45-6:00pm if you need me to open earlier (which I would not open earlier than 15min) the charge is $10.00 per chld. I will not stay open any later.

If it is something that only happens every once in awhile becuase of a meeting or what not, then I would not charge....

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I'll take kiddos later on occasion, but never earlier. I don't care how much a parent may offer to pay me, it's not happening lol

I know it's hard but I'd say something if I were you. If it's hard shoot her a text or an email:

I've noticed you've been a bit early the last couple of mornings. Just a friendly reminder Johnny is scheduled to begin care at _:__am. I really need the time beforehand to prepare for the day and cannot accommodate any drop off earlier than that. I appreciate your cooperation, thanks!

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I'd put a stop to it immediately. I had a mom do this to me once. I typically had two girls arrive early anyways but this particular day they didn't come. This other mom must have had the thought...hey she's working anyways. Showed up at 6am when she normally doesn't get there until 10am.

I just didn't answer the door. They called a couple hours later sounding worried about me. I just said well my usual's weren't here today and because you normally don't arrive until 10 I wasn't awake yet. If you want care at a different time you should really ask first. They of course apologized over and over again.

Not long after I put the following in my handbook:

Arrival- It is not acceptable for your child to arrive any earlier than 5 minutes before their contracted time without making arrangements ahead of time. If you arrive more than 5 minutes early please park on the street and wait to enter the day care until your scheduled arrival time. If your child’s arrival time will be later than usual, please call or text to let me know. All children need to arrive clean, dressed appropriately for the weather, and ready to play.

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I had a dcm do that to me last week. I told her wow you are early, sorry I am not ready yet and continued cleaning and prepping for the day until her usual drop off time 20 minutes later. Then I washed my hands and said, welll that will have to do for now! And took her child

Let's just say she got the hint realy quick and we haven't had an issue since

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I would just say to her that you notice she has been coming earlier than her contracted time (or your opening time) and that if she feel this is something that needs to continue that there wil be *** amount of charge for it. But for now unless it is APPROVED by YOU, you will not be opening early or taking him early. I do not do contracted times. I do a certian open to close time. Anytime before or after and there is a fee.

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I had this happen. I already open at 6am, and a Mom showed up at 5:40. I let her knock and knock and knock. I don't even unlock my screen/storm doors until opening time, so she wasn't loud enough to wake everyone. She finally got her and her kid back in the car and waited until I opened up the doors. It was quite obvious that I knew she was there as the lights were on and I was prepping for the day and walking back and forth in front of the windows.

When I opened up I didn't mention it at all. Passive aggressive much?

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I agree you need to put a stop to it. What I don't understand, is how parents think this is ok, and not pay us for it. If a parent goes into work 30 minutes early, they get those 30 minutes paid for additional. For those providers who charge a flat daily fee, most of us end up working for free. I don't understand parents way of thinking that they (the parent) gets paid extra for extra time, but the provider does not.

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That isn't necessarily true. Many people go into work early and are not paid extra for it.

That doesn't mean that daycare providers should work for free for those extra minutes. It all depends on the contract and how things are agreed upon. In many instances providers are not making much money per hour and an extra 2 or three hours a week makes that amount even less.

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I had this happen once. I put a note on the door:

Opening time is 8am. Early arrivals are not accepted. Please stay in your car until 8am out of respect for my family and neighbors. Thank you.

NEVER happened again.

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Love this!!

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I dont understand their thinking.....If you dont open til a certain time, why would they think they can come prior? do they think you just cant sleep because you are so excited to see their child?

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I did this last week. Then, I put up a reminder about rules from the handbook that were being broken. The reminder told them to please stay IN their car if they arrived earlier than 8:00am UNLESS they had a prior arrangement with me.
I made sure to review it WITH the parents and then to ask if they needed an earlier arrival time and if so I could send them the rates.

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I haven't had anyone try to drop off early, but I have a $15 per 15 minutes early drop off fee that I would definitely enforce if I decided to accept the child.

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I had a parent come in early one morning. I just told her that her watch or clock must need new batteries because I don't open for another half an hour and I will see her when I open.

Never happened again.

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This - or just plain say something. If she is your first drop off, and it sounds like she is, just tell her - and let her know that you'll put the front porch light on when you are ready to welcome her child for the day.

Don't be harsh because one of these days you will be late and you don't want that to come back and bite you in the tush.

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20 minutes a day equals two free weeks of care per year if you work off a 9 hour day. That's a lot of FREE! I agree...be upfront and friendly. There's no need to be stressed....she is the one in the wrong and will likely fix the situation once she knows its an inconvenience and disrespectful.

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Just wondering how it went this morning. Was she early again?

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This is a good thing to let the parent know if she balks and says, "but it is just 20 minutes".

K

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I love this. It's nice but clear and to the point. I would talke to her in person however. Just let her know that you aren't taking clients and earlier than her already scheduled drop-off time and then stop her at the door and ask her to come back at her scheduled time if she tried to drop off early again.

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Thanks everyone!! She did not try to drop off early since then, so fingers crossed that she will stick to our agreed upon time. However, I know that since she's done it before, she will likely try it again. At least I will be prepared to turn her away next time. I'm not sure there's any amount of money that could be offered to me that would make me agree to taking kids earlier than I do....I need those very few free moments in my day to just sit and breathe.

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I have this issue twice a week. This morning I drove my kids to the bus stop at 7am. All of our subdivision is picked up in one spot. The bus comes at 7:10. I open my doors for child care at 7:15am. DCM pulls up behind me at 7:02, and brings her child to my van. Irritates me beyond belief, but this is one of my best families. I have had her since I started and she is a great little girl. The mom is also a really sweet lady and is always bringing me eggs, pumpkin butter, etc (I live in a rural community :-) and they are really good to me at Christmas. So I let it go. She is in preschool this year and I will only have her until May of next year since her mom is a schoolteacher and she will be in kindergarten next fall. Now if it was the three year old who refuses to potty train and pushes his limits every second of the day.............those extra 10 minutes might be a deal breaker.

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