So I have a dcm that I've told at least 3 times now that I do NOT allow sippy cups from home...period. We have lots of sippy cups here and there is no need for more plus I don't want to have to scrounge the house at her pick-up time to find said cup if she has decided to play hide-and-seek with it

At drop-off today she brings in a cup and says this has milk in it, can I just leave it here? I was a bit dumbfounded!! Seriously?! She needs a drink in the 4 minute drive home from here? AND I'm now your personal refrigerator?! I just don't understand this..maybe it's just me?

Does anyone else have this policy and does anyone run into this problem with parents?

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I have a family who does this. She commutes to my town from 40 minutes away though and so I understand giving the baby his milk. She puts it in a thermos cup and it goes into the diaper bag. She knows that it runs the risk of it ruining but it's not like she serves it again at pickup. Stuff from home stays in the diaperbag around here, even if it's perishable.

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I might be a bit more understanding if they lived a bit further away...but literally it's only 5 minutes...and that's IF you hit all the red lights! The dcg is 19 months, so with the exception of the infants nobody brings diaper bags.

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Can you just pour the liquid into one of your cups and hand the cup back or is she wanting the cup to be given back for the long drive home. If she wants it for the kid to have it then pour it in your cup and decide what to do with it after she leaves. If you don't want the kid to have it... toss it. If you can give it to the kid when the kid has meals then give it then. It will save you from buying a couple of servings of milk.

I know you can't receive any liquids in some states because providers and centers have had problems with parents spiking the contents with fever reducers or medicine.

I used to have parents bring ginormous big slam sippy cups with twelve to sixteen oz. of juice or milk. Now they have sized down the cups. If they bring it in... I just switch the contents over and hand the parent the cup back. I appreciate ALL donations of milk. The milk I provide is EXPENSIVE so I'm glad to have parents bring their own. I just don't keep the cup here.


Sheesh it makes you wonder how our ancestors crossed the Atlantic by boat or Kansas by covered wagon without having all the youngins attached to a sippy cup the whole way.

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The funny thing is..she wants it for the drive home, not for during the day. Although, I'm not sure what she would say if I gave it to her at the end of the day empty because dcg drank it during the day.

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I have one dad that drives almost 40 miles each way for his commute. So he brings a chilled sippy cup with juice or milk in it and I fridge it for the return trip home. Under the circumstances I don't mind at all.

However, I did have a parent who brought me a empty sippy cup at pick up and ask me to fill it with juice or milk for the ride home! Another parent heard and thought that was a brilliant idea too! I brought that to a screeching halt ASAP! I pointed out that if every body did that, I would be out of milk in no time and not getting paid for it!

So then they asked for water. So I had to explain that it is VERY busy at pick up time (we have 16 kids) and I can't be running back and forth to the kitchen a dozen times!!! Most of them live only a few minutes away and yet act like they will die without a sippy in hand...ggrrr.

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I have had some that do this for the ride home (all 5-10 minutes) and I just tell them they should store it in the fridge at work and bring it with them at the end of the day.

I concur with the comment about how our ancesters made it on their long, tough journey's with no sippys, or even better.... no dvd player in the car! That's a whole other rant. :-)

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I'd like to start this policy. I don't like that they put them down on my sign in sheet making a wet ring on it, I don't like that I end up having to wash it and have it ready to go home, I don't like that it ends up being a duplicate of someone else's cup (either from here or home), etc. etc.

Think I just found something to add to my September newsletter.

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One firm NO is all it really takes to solve this problem entirely.

For the parents that "need" a cup for the ride home...they can take a clean cup, leave it in their car, stop at a convienience store and pick up something cold to fill it with. It would then be sitting in their carseat, waiting to greet them each day.

That is what Mommies do...plan for their childs needs. I have seen me do it many times.

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This is a great use for walmart sacks, well besides putting dirty diapers in them. When they hand you the cup, have the sacks handy, place cup inside, twist it up tight (like you would a diaper), tie it off and place in their cubbie, coat rack etc. Say, well it will be right here waiting for you at pick up.

That is only if you don't have the back bone to say, sorry no sippies from out side and hand it back (that's what I do).

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Ditto Had an empty sippy cup in the car, filled it with water at work and had it ready for my DD and DS at pick-up.

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This is very common.

The sippy cup represents sucking, easy, sweet, baby, comfort, something to do to keep the kid from cyring.... etc.

So this is very valuable to the parent even though it has nothing to do with the child consuming liquids.

Maybe attach a sippy fee of a dollar a day. That would most likely quell it.

Just put out a note saying that begining next working day that such and such day care will charge a dollar a day fee for the management of personal sippy cups. This means you will receive, store, and return sippy cups for the cost of one dollar per day. If they would like you to provide liquids for the sippy cup it will be an additional dollar per day.

Five bucks a week per kid for storing and returning them and ten dollars per week for providing milk or juice, storing, and returning them should cover your expenses.

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LOL That's great! granted this parent is also the same that asked me last week if I could keep dcg until 730 pm (my hours are 6am-5pm and dcg is dropped off at 6am and usually picked up at 3pm). I honestly couldn't believe what she was asking me!! So you want me to watch your child for 13.5 hours...seriously?! Of course I told her I close at 5 and that's not changing..but what I wanted to say was 'sure! That'll be an additional $5/hour' I don't think she really listens to me when I tell her my policies or anything..I kinda feel like a broken record kwim?

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I don't have this problem (knock on wood) but the thought of typing up a sign that reads "PLEASE PLACE SIPPY CUPS HERE" in the biggest, boldest letters that will fit on computer paper and an arrow pointing down and then taping it to the outside of my house on the porch by the door and then drawing a 12"x12" square on the floor right beneath the sign in chalk came to mind . I must be in a bad mood today .

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How much you want to bet that even if you did that, it would get stepped on and completely ignored?

I'm imagining everything you said, plus one of those lighted arrows that flash and a computer's voice constantly repeating "put sippy cups here, put sippy cups here" once it detects movement at the door. What do you think!?

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Some parents would still think that was for everyone else and not them.......

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When our parents do this we take the cup & put it in the refrigerator for later or to take back home when the child finishes with it. They have to sit at the table & finish it and when they're done, if its gone, I wash the cup & put in their cubby or place remainder in the fridge.

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Haha! Love this.

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NOTHING FROM HOME! I tell them point blank NO sippys from home, keep them in the car or at home. I provide plenty to drink here, Milk, juice, water through the day. I would put a stop to it immediatley! I have fought my share of battles in the sippy cup war. At 1st I would bend a little and say ok but they are going to stay in the diaper bag because we have our own here. Then at pick up DCM would want me to fill the cups up with milk for the ride home. Sorry they just had snack they will live for the next 10 minutes it takes to get home! Another time a DCM picked up just after lunch to take DCB to the Dr and she pulled out the giant sippy cup, shook it, and handed it to me telling me DCB would need to have the cup filled so he could have a drink while waiting in the Dr office. I explained he JUST had lunch! She says, OK but he gets thristy. (so stop and buy a juice from the vending machine is what I think) I filled it with water and she asked if I was out of juice. I said I will be if I fill every child cup before they leave.

Honestly I think some parents just use those cups as a sort of power play or to keep getting free milk/juice. I quit, I suggest you not even start. Just my opinion.

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Exactly!

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I had one family that came in every morning with sippy cups. The family lived almost 40 miles away, Mom worked in my area. She would fill them with hot chocolate in the morning and I would fill them with juice in the afternoon for the ride home.

I never had an issue with it.

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sippy cups...bleh

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I don't accept anything from home either-

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I just take dump toss in sack for them to take home. It's in my contract they read, sign and return every aug. I never wash it either. The only exception is one girl who gets miralax each morning. She finishes hers. I put in cubby and move on with our day.

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