I recently posted on here about contracted times, and I'm revising my policy about drop-off/pick-up policy this week.

Is it reasonable to ask parents to notify me if they will not arrive within 5 minutes before or after their contracted time? I know schedules vary, but I'm thinking of those days I have kids all packed up in the winter and they are just sitting bundled. Is a 10 minute window on either side more reasonable?

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I have in my policies that if you are not going to be on time ( their contracted time) then you must let me know . No time limit , just let me know before your arrival time.

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You could always have parents text when they are on their way. I do that. Works well if we are in at pick up times.

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Personally I would hate to tell parents that they can't come pick up early. But mine are all flexible in pick up times, too. They text on their way and we get ready at that point, or 5 minutes before contracted pick up time, whichever comes first.

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Thanks for all of the suggestions!

Parents can absolutely pick up early any time they want, but I need to know. That part of the handbook is clear. I have a set up that requires us to hike up and down basement stairs, so it is super important I know when that needs to happen. I think that's smart to get ready after the text or 5 minutes before contracted time. Thanks so much!

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This is where I feel the sign in sheet comes in handy. I use the sign in sheet to look for patterns. I have a DCM that seems to be 1 minute late every Thursday.
Then I have DCD picks up earliest on Tuesdays and latest on Thursdays. DCD texts, (DCM tells him to, I never requested this) because he varies and can arrive any time in the last hour.
So once I see a pattern, then they dont seem to catch me off guard, I have everything prepared and ready to go during snack time. I have a driveway alarm that tells me when they are in the driveway and then I head the kids to the door to get them ready.

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I wish I could find a pattern! For some families, they are super routine and always notify me with even the slightest change. Others pick up at 3:40 or 5:00, 4:00 or 5:30... or anywhere in between. In the summer this worked out fine because we are outside anyway, but in the winter this just won't work. Needless to say, moving to contracted times will be a big adjustment for us.

I really like the driveway alarm. I need something for surprise inspections/deliveries when we are in the basement, so that's great.

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Just curious - why do you have them all bundled up? I let them play until Mom/Dad get here, then Mom/Dad get them bundled up.

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Me too! No way would I bundle a kid up to wait for their parent... When I worked at a center, my boss would FREAK at any staff who did stuff like this... Young children are not good at waiting as it is--when it's completely unnecessary, it's just setting them up for failure (behaviour issues/acting out because they're hot, bored, etc). Expecting a child to sit all bundled up in winter gear, waiting patiently for a parent to arrive is not a developmentally appropriate expectation.

My old boss always said that parents already feel guilty enough for not being able to spend their days with their child. (Well, the better parents do, anyway!) Arriving at daycare to the sight of their uncomfortable kid just sitting there waiting, bored, would make them feel 1. More guilty, 2. Angry--they don't pay for their kid to sit around like that, and 3. That you seem overly eager to get rid of their kid as soon as humanly possible. (Side note..what are the other kids doing while you bundle each departing child up? You could probably use that time in other ways; I know I could, lol!)

I think asking parents to arrive at the exact same time every day, (or text if their arrival doesn't fall within the five-minute time frame) is not really reasonable either... Most people will encounter various things that will make their ETA fluctuate daily-- traffic, stuck at trains, meeting ran late, weather... So with this texting requirement, on their drive to daycare, they would have to constantly re-evaluate what their arrival time will probably be.

I think you'll probably end up with lots of parents who don't text because they didn't realize they were falling behind schedule, or it was only another 4-5 mins, etc.. Then you'll be frustrated, and feel like they don't value your time, and when you bring it up, they'll feel like you don't value theirs, and that you expect too much with the precise 5-minute time frame rule.

This is why I don't do "contracted times"... My families have their regular drop off and pick-up times, and most of the time they stick to them, give or take 10-15 mins. But every so often, there's a late meeting, or bad traffic, or overtime at work, or a million other possibilities. They call to let me know and they're still here by 6pm closing time.
(Past 6pm, I start charging late fees, and start calling the emergency contacts/alternative pick-ups. But so far I haven't had to do this, in a year of my home daycare. I'm very lucky though, all my clients are great, I haven't had any issues).

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That's a good question. We are outside at pick up almost every day. We have to be outside for the school-agers that are arriving then, so it works well for us. My school-agers arrive quite late.

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Most of this makes sense to me. I replied to the original question. We are bundled because that is our PM outside time. Almost without exception, we've had really cooperative weather in my area and we are outside for 90% of my pick-ups. I've never found getting ready as a group to be a supervision issue. We get ready together. To your point, it isn't realistic to have children sit bundled, which is what happens if parents are very late and we all need to return inside for one child to use the restroom (for insurance reasons I come back in with families if that is the case). Due to the fact I exclusively care for potty training toddlers, this seems to be the tricky moving piece in our afternoon. Perhaps there will be a time this isn't so important as they get older.

I would love to continue having a very flexible pick-up policy, but without contracted times my question remains the same. I don't currently have families that pick up at (even close) to the same time each day. Without a policy of contracted times, how would you manage that? I'm less worried about my own time, and more worried about how the staggered arrivals impact the group.

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I just ask for parents to send me an on the way text. That way I can get diapers changed or shoes on and if it's an infant make sure I feed them if it's within 30 minutes of time to have a bottle.

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So the issue is really the bathroom trips? That you have to follow parents inside when they need to take their child in to pee?
Hmm. I feel your pain on this one, as I worked at a center for many years that insisted school-agers couldn't go inside to the bathroom alone, or with a buddy-- we were expected to gather up a BIG group (depending on current numbers and ratio) and haul them ALL in to the bathroom. Even if the child in question was 11 or 12 years old! RIDICULOUS.

Anyways, so these follow-the-parent bathroom trips are for insurance purposes? If it were me, honestly I'd probably just "forget" that rule... I have a thing about unreasonable expectations--and that fits my criteria for "unreasonable". It interferes with your program and has a direct impact on the children.

If you absolutely feel you can't trust a parent to take their child in to pee by themselves, then I guess I would try to meet halfway by maybe positioning myself somewhere where I could have eyes on the kids and also be able to glimpse the area of the house the parent is in (stand in a doorway, at a window..). If that's not possible, I'd probably look into setting up a video baby monitor or one of those wifi cameras you can link to your smartphone, so you can have the parent being monitored inside, while you and the kids get uninterrupted play time outside. ANYTHING to avoid hauling the kids in to sit and wait so you can supervise the parent supervise their child.
The powers that be, such as insurance companies, licensing officials, etc, often have these types of policies that just don't work for us on the front lines!

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Yes, that's totally the issue!! Hauling kids around at the end of the day is the worst. I feel like we spend our afternoon running in and out. This is really helpful!

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It really is the worst! Like I mentioned before, my old supervisor was the one who really drilled it into me that kids shouldn't have to wait for long periods, it just sets the stage for negativity--behaviours, arguing, whining, fighting between children..."keep your transition times to a minimum!" She wrote in EVERY performance review during my 8-year-long employment there. Ironically, she was also the person who created a million extra transition times. Group bathroom trips, group trips to walk 8 feet away from the classroom door to the water fountain, group trips inside to retrieve a hat or pair of mittens for one child.
We're talking about school-agers, mostly ages 7-10, inside a school with all locked doors.

Ugh! I could go on forever with examples of unnecessary, overboard supervision requirements and other policies that childcare staff are expected to follow, on top of all the *real* work they have to do. It's no wonder there's so much turnover in daycare staffing! Every day there's more policy, more requirements, more expectations thrown on top of the pile of stuff we already struggle to get through...all while getting paid a pretty insultingly-low wage!

We're supposed to have reasonable expectations of the children in daycare, but somehow the same concept doesn't apply to the staff in daycare

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hey there have not been on in a long time. School got the best of me.. Hello everyone

I work on contracted times only. this allows me to know when to prep each child. I get a child ready to go 5 minutes prior to the parent arriving. I do this so as soon as a parent walks in out the door they go.

When I have let parents get their child ready to go, they take forever, linger and often don't parent their child. It creates chaos in our environment and that is the last thing I know most of us want.

I think you have to find what works best for you.

I don't ask parents to notify me of when they are going to arrive, I just expect each child to be here until their contracted pick up time. If they are here later than the contracted time, I charge them a late fee of $15 for the first 3 minutes and $1 per min after that. No one ever picks up late here.

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