One of my DCK last day was Friday and am looking to fill his spot. My current and former families are awesome and I am getting a ton of referrals. My 'hours' have been 7:30-5:30 for years. However, for the last 2 years I have been transporting my daughters to school and I'm gone between 7:40-8:20. I have only had 2 families(at separate times) drop off before I leave. Everyone else meets me at the school(it is closer for them then driving to my house), or at my house between 8:20-9:00. I really try to avoid drop offs before I leave because then I have to take the DCK in with me when I walk my girls into the school. As you can imagine that is a lot of extra work, especially when it is freezing outside. My current families hours are 7:15-3:00, 8:20-3:45, and 9:00-5:30(working to change that to 5). I love that none of them are here more then 8.5 hours. It really helps me to feel happy with the children when they aren't here 10+ hours a day. I don't have contracted hours, that is just what works for them, and me, and they are good at sticking to it. When someone asks what my hours are, I ask them what they are looking for. Sometimes there reply is way off and I know it won't work. However, sometimes they will say like 7-5. I can't for the life of me find a simple way to explain why that won't work and see if they can possibly do a later drop off with out sounding super high maintenance. I know that it actually is, but honestly my former and current families have never complained. How would you word a response? I am struggling each time to find the words and then I feel like I am falling short.

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OK, It really sounds like you are not quite sure what hours you want to work when you explain it that way. As a client your wishy-washy schedule would be enough to deter me.

As a provider I imagine the level of stress must be insane juggling it all.

Can you try offering a straight up 8:30 - 5:00 to all future clients, as that seems to be your stated goal? Phase out all the early/late families over time?

It would be the easiest way to keep the hours you want while also meeting your families needs with the least stress possible.

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What about stating your hours are 7.30-5 with staggered rates for time used? Blackcat & NannyDe do rates based on time used so they could explain it better. So the base rate could be for something like 8.30-4 then add extra for each 15mins before or after that time?

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I would just say that your hours are 8:30 - 5:30 (or 5:00).
If they need 8:00 or 8:15 I would explain the school drop-off scenario (which doesn't sound that complicated - I would totally understand if you said you were doing school drop-off, so we could meet you there at 8:00 or wait until 8:30 to drop off).

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I've been here exactly when my daughter started k in sept. I was open at 7:30 and explained that drop-offs must be between 7:30 and 7:45 or after 8:15.

After explaining the whole situation several times and still having people show up at 8:00 upset that I was not here, I ended up changing my hours to 8:30...and let me tell you it made a world of difference! I no longer have to drag 4 toddlers and an infant with me, it's wonderfull! Not to mention a bit of quality time with my daughter in the morning

I allowed one family to still come at 7:30, but that phased out and they now come at 8:30 like everyone else.

I should add, for me it was walking to the bus stop. We don't have sidewalks and it was just unsafe to have these kids trying to stand and wait for the bus. Our street is quiet but gets busy in the am with buses and people going to work etc. If we missed the bus or if she just wanted to be driven to have extra time and not rush, then we would all load in the van and drive her to school. I ended up driving her more than necessary because at least in the van they were all safe. It was just soooo much extra stress first thing in the morning and by 8:30 I was wishing for nap lol

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I used to close at 5:00 to take my own to after school activities (DH glued to his work till 6:30 back then). I explained to potential clients that hours were not negotiable and since they were shorter than the norm, my rate is lower than the norm. My DCFs staggered their hours slightly to accomodate it, and it was up to them to decide if it worked for them. I would also add a comment about the 2 out of 3 rule for service industry:

1. You can have convenience.
2. You can have it cheap.
3. You can have quality.

Pick 2 of the 3. You can NEVER have all 3. I deliver #2 and #3. #1 is lost to an inconvenient early closing time.

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I would say to new clients that the hours are 8:30-5:00 and leave it at that . There's no need to explain anything

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