This is my last week with a dck, and I am SO happy about it. Not because of the kid, who has always been so good, but because of her annoying mom.

I found out today that this entire MONTH either she or her husband have been off ever Monday AND Friday. There were times this little girl was the only kid here those days, and she knew it! Yet her day off was apparently more important than mine. She's always the first kid here, the last to leave, and is always here when I'm opened, regardless of whether or not her parents are working (obviously).

Just a few weeks ago, dad made the comment that dck was especially clingy to mom the past few days. Without thinking, I said "it's because she never sees her." A few days later I got my notice. LOL

I'm going to miss the kid- she's been with me for 2 years. But I won't miss the long hours, and the parents that don't want to spend time with their kid. Without her, my day will end 45 minutes earlier.

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not to sound snarky, but I can't relate, because I have contracted hours and no kid would be in care from my open to close unless I was getting paid over time for it. So far only one family did it and it was just for a short term.

Maybe you can rethink your attendance policies that won't allow a child to be there for that long.

I have a lot of clients that are stay at home parents, so I am used to them being at home and their kid here with me for a full 9.5 hours.....If I knew that their kid was going to be the only one here, I would just tell them so.......

Sorry you had to deal with this situation for so long. 45 minutes is a long time with only one kid. Glad things will improve for you.....

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I have a DCG who in Nov of last year had missed 3 days of daycare all year. I found out at the end of the year that DCM didn't work Fridays, EVER.

Now they are paying for FT, but it still just blew my mind.

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Parents need a break from kids. As a provider, I totally get it. I need a break, too. If they're paying for full time care, they want to use it.

The thing to do is to change to contracted hours, allowing ONLY the hours that parents are working and charge your full time rate for that OR suck it up and accept that parents are bringing their child because they are paying for her to be there. They love that they can do housework, get their hair done, go shopping, play tennis, mow the lawn, etc. without their children in tow. They probably get home from that and take a much needed nap.

It hasn't been SO long since I've been employed outside the home that I can't say that I remember what working outside the home is like...it sucked. It was SO much harder on me than daycare (and daycare is NOT at all easy!). However, I was more tired, more stressed, more rushed...it wasn't fun. I didn't have time for anything! Now, I have a closer connection with my child, I don't want to be away from him. I wanted to be away from him before because I just needed time to unwind where no one was needing me. Now, I call that time NAP time .

I hate parents bringing their kids here when they're not at work, too, but I get it. I wouldn't trade them anything about their lives except for paychecks and benefits!

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Yes, it's true that parents need a break from their children. But, I tell my parents that I'm a child care provider for when you work or go to school, or in some sort of job training and not a babysitter. Not going to work on Fridays ever, and never take a Friday to spend with your child is crazy (IMO). They already have a break from their children everyday when they are at work.

We providers need a break from their kids more than they need a break. But I have experienced where parents will bring their children everyday while not working because they feel that if they have to pay for the week, then they'll come for the week.

So, I'd rather not a parent tell me they were just laying up at home while their child was in my care all day, because it does annoy me. Not because I don't want their child their, because I'm just thinking that it's tragic for a parent to not spend one available moment with their child.

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I had parents like this too. I thought it was rude of them to NEVER EVER take their OWN child on any day off, yet they got paid vacation time/sick time to be off work and NOT work. I think that once in awhile, it's fine; everyone needs a break. But if they're off every single week, they what, can't give you ONCE per month that day off?

The kicker is they don't see their kids already for 10+ hours per day 5 days per week and then on weekends, one of my DCP's used to keep the kids with Grandma Friday night through Saturday evening. So really, they only spent ONE day with their child, and by Monday morning, they were b**!!ng about their child being AWFUL and hard to deal with. SURE they are! I'd think to myself: ' They don't see you , want your attention, but hair/makeup/your day off is more important than spending it with your kid that YOU created? ' Finally I stopped taking kids open to close, and did working or school hours ONLY unless on job search. I would offer ONCE in awhile care for other things such as dates etc. If a parent ASKED me if they could have me keep the child on a day off for a few hours to go shopping or do whatever, I had no problem. It was the ones who just expected me to raise their child for them and they could do what they want. As if I'm not tired too. As if I didn't have things to do too where I, too, didn't want to drag kids around. Additionally, I had to take ALL kids to appointments I didn't HAVE to take them to, had I known mom was off.

The lack of respect of time I got from these people is astounding!

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I was shocked by it, but not upset in the least. It is her child, and she can do whatever she pleases. However, it was sad to me because as I noted, in an entire calendar year - this little girl had been at daycare every single day except for 3 sick days. She was a 7:00-5:20'er (not complaining, her rate was a full-time), but this little girl was here constantly. And to know that mom had Fridays off, and chose not to spend even 1 of them with her daughter was disheartening. She had every Friday off, you would think that maybe she could use 1/month to take her child on a special outing or spend some time alone together, when she had the other 3 Fridays to "get a break". I wasn't upset at all, just sad for the little girl. I really don't care what a parent does as long as they aren't arriving late - but it was sad.

I don't complain about what parents do, but am shocked by it. I was just trying to relate to OP.

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Really......

Did you ever think that maybe the child needs a break from daycare?

Daycare is work for children. If they come every single day, it's like going to work every single day.

I feel sorry for these poor dck's who get woken up at 6:30 every morning, at daycare all day long. Meanwhile mommy and daddy are busy watching tv at home comfy in there pj's.

Money is more important to these parents than their children, they are selfish. Contracted hours or not they would still do it.

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I'm not saying that these parents are right. I'm saying that I UNDERSTAND what's going on. Mom is probably more worn out than selfish. And probably somewhat clueless as to the fact that her daycare provider is upset about it. As far as these parents are concerned, their kids are happy here, and we LIVE to have their kids in our home 24/7. Just imagine what you could spend that extra $10 you clear by having their kids for an extra day (snark). I am saying that I felt the same way when my child was in daycare-I just dreamed of a day to myself! I never got it, though, because ALL of my vacation was used covering for his sick days (I actually didn't send my sick kid to daycare-obviously, he was my priority, because I finally just quit my job so that I could raise him myself-rather than paying someone to do it for me).

It's hard for some providers to draw the line. I actually have a section in my handbook saying that if you have the day off, I expect you to consider that your child would love to spend that day with you, and your provider would appreciate the day off, too. I take VERY few days off compared to other providers in my area, and ask parents to take this into consideration when leaving their child with me on days off. I have only ONE parent who tries to take advantage, and I simply don't let her (she asked me to work on 7/5 so she could have some "me time").

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