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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Quick Question. . .
Lovatic24 07:49 PM 06-30-2014
How do you choose your hours, what are they, and why?
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AmyKidsCo 08:31 PM 06-30-2014
My hours are 7am-5pm.

I'm licensed 6-6 and used to be open 6-6, but 15 years ago I almost burned out working so many hours so I changed to 7-5:30. My own children had a lot of nighttime activities I missed because I worked until 5:30, and late pick-ups would be SO late and mess up our family time, so I changed to 7-5.

We're still running out of the house at 5:00 sometimes, but it's not as bad as when I was open later, and on the rare occasions a parent is late I'm not nearly as upset at working until 5:10 or 5:15 as I was when it was 5:40 or 5:45.
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Mister Sir Husband 08:32 PM 06-30-2014
I chose mine based on when my kids usually get up for school. I am open about 15 min before they would be eating breakfast.. and this way I can offer it to the day care kids, and I close about a half hour before our family eats dinner, thereby hopefully having all the kids gone in time to prepare.. (7:45-5:15). I can however fluctuate these a bit if a family needs me to.
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midaycare 04:51 AM 07-01-2014
I am legally open 24 hours. I work nowhere near that, though. I just wanted the opportunity to change hours if I wanted, any time I wanted, without any hassle.

I am currently working 7am-6pm, but I am looking to work a little less. It's difficult to do around here because most parents seem to work until 5 or 5:30.
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Blackcat31 06:32 AM 07-01-2014
I do not operate with standard open to close hours.

Parents contract with me for individual care hours anywhere between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. and pay a rate according to the hours they schedule.
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jenboo 06:46 AM 07-01-2014
Im open 7-530. I decided on the hours based on what the families needed. I used to be open until 6 but everyone was gone by 530 so I changed the hours. Someday I hope to close at 5.
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Kimskiddos 07:42 AM 07-01-2014
I have always been open 7-5:30. But in the last couple of years nearly all my kiddos are gone by 5, except for one kiddo (dcm got new hours and they are mostly picking up at 5:00 now), which I love because that last half hour is the worst! Dck leaves for K this fall and I am changing/advertizing for 7-5:00 starting mid August. It is so much better for me being done just that half hour earlier!
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nothingwithoutjoy 09:43 AM 07-01-2014
I am open 8:00-4:30 Monday-Thursday.

When I started family child care, I was open 7:30-4:30. I had been teaching for 13 years at that point and was losing a few weeks' paid vacation and adding hours to my work week. I was choosing to come home so that I could be with my (hoped-for-at-that-point) child, and wanted to ensure that I had family time and wasn't too burned out. 9 hours a day was all I was willing to do (keeping in mind that it's quite a bit more when you add set-up and clean-up). I figured 9 hours gave people 1/2 an hour to get to and from an 8-hour work day.

When my daughter was little, I found that only one family was coming early enough to justify my making breakfast for her at 7:30. Then they started coming a bit later and later, until I usually had no one there until 8, and yet had to be up and have breakfast made, just in case. We were also going through a lot of difficult family stuff and my daughter and I were both fried. I was anticipating home schooling in a few years and wanted more time for her. (She is an introvert, as am I, and all those people every day is very exhausting to us.) I had mostly part-time families at that point, and I realized that when one child left for kindergarten in the fall, I could shift the other kids around so they'd still have the same number of days, but I'd have no one on Fridays. So I made two changes that year, closing Fridays and opening at 8 (no longer serving breakfast). It made a huge difference for our family. It turned out that my mother got terminal cancer, and we were able to spend Fridays with her for the last few years of her life.

My mother died a month ago, so my daughter and I are just starting to be able to use Fridays as our own. It's been pretty amazing.

I highly recommend choosing your hours (and days) based on what works best for you and your family. You will find families who will work around it.
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melilley 11:04 AM 07-01-2014
When I opened 1.5 years ago, I was open from 6am to 6 pm, but nobody came that early and the more I thought about it, I didn't want to get up that early, so I changed my hours to 7-6. I only have one child who stays until 6 and one until around 5:40, but after the 6:00 dcb leaves for preschool, I'm changing my closing hours to 5:30.

Like pp's have said, think of your schedule, your family's needs (if you have one) and base your hours off of that. You wouldn't think it, but a half an hour makes a world of a difference!
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e.j. 02:16 PM 07-01-2014
I set my day care hours based on my kids' school schedule. Basically, I didn't want day care kids here until my own left for school and I wanted them out of the house before they came home from school. Now that my own kids are grown, I've gradually added hours - opening up a little earlier and closing a little later. I don't mind accommodating parents as long as I don't end up putting in too long a day.
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