Had a good interview yesterday but DCM needs frequent 5am dropoffs, she works in construction. This is something I do not do. I open at 7. She knows this and is having a hard time finding such an early opening. Looking for someone to drop the boy off so she can find care somewhere.

I've never even heard of anyone opening that early. I'm just curious...If you do, or did, how did it work out and what kind of premium do you charge? There's no way this mom can afford a premium charge on top of normal rates, so really it's just a hypothetical question...

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Sorry no advice! I will not open earlier than 7. I did 6:45 for a family for a week, and won't again! I workout in the am. I need to stick to 7-5, family time and time for myself too important to compromise. I love my job but when I negotiate on those things (hours, policies) I start to not. So now, non-negotiable.

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Oh I won't be doing it either. When I first started I opened at 6:45 for one family, that quickly became 6:40 then 6:30 then 6:20 (while I was still showering no less!). I won't do it anymore. My door is locked, shades drawn and I won't answer if you ring before 7

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Is it still an 8 hour day or would the kid be there until close? If they are only working 8 hours then yes, I would take them. If they were working 10-12, then maaaaybe with an additional charge. I think the mornings are so much easier than afternoons cause the kids are all still sleepy and quieter (and may even go back to sleep when they come). So any chance to have kids leave EARLIER I'll take! I love having times during the day that I only have one or two kids cause you can give a little extra attention and do special things you can't when they are all there. Most of my families pick up at 3:30/4:00 and then I only have one till 5. She gets to bask in the enjoyment of special walks and outside activities.

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No way. I need my mornings and I have 3 kids of my own that need me. I would have to wake up at 4:30 for this kid and go to sleep early in the evening so the one family would be cutting into even more time.

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Oh My that is way too early unless you finish your day by 3.

I open at 6 and I am up at 5 45. I have time to get dressed, brush my teeth and my hair and kids show up as I am pouring my first cup of coffee! (I set the timer at night so it is ready when I get up)

I work 6-4 and am VERY strict about the timing of the drop offs in the am and pickups at the end of the day.

I used to work 8 am to 6 pm but needed to change times because I felt my son was not getting enough of me. Now I do 6 am to 4 pm and it works fabulous!

It took me two years to get all dcks within this time frame. I still have one little girl here at night till 5 15 though as she started 4 years ago. She will be gone ion September and will have none here past 4!

YAY!!!! it took so long to get this point!

Now my kids that I have are 6 am-3 pm, 7 15 am- 3 45 pm, 7 30 am-4 pm and my last little girl the one gone in Sept is 8 am to 5 15 am. Space is already filled with a teacher and will be 7 30 am - 3 30 pm and taking another little guy who will be 6 am - 3 30 pm. I love it!!

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I'm an early riser so when I did daycare 11 years ago I opened at 5:30. Only one or two people used it but it made for a looooooong day!!! The one set of parents had a long commute and didn't pick up until 6:40...UH UH....NO WAY....NEVER AGAIN!!! Now I workout (in theory...LOL) and I'll never open before 7:30.

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I open at 5am mon-fri. All kids that arrive before 7am go back to bed till 8am. I love it! I get up, and shower and get dressed, answer the door, lay the kids down, and eat breakie while my hair dries. Then I get my hair and face ready, my 630am drop off arrives, I lay them down, and I sit and read email, facebook, and forums till my 720 am dropoff. They play quietly till 745 and I wake everyone up, dress them and serve breakie and we go on with our day. I have 10 out of my 12 kids arrive before 8am. I don't charge extra for the service, however I only cover the work hours so my 5am dropoff picks up at 2pm.

Rules:
The kids MUST be changed out of their overnight diaper
The kids MUST lay down
Parents MUST make drop off and pick up as silent as possible

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In this particular case the boy would be picked up around 3. She's not entirely sure this would be the case all the time. While that's all good and dandy, my other DCB is here until 5. That'd be a 12 hour day 5 days a week. Now, I'm normally up at 4am with my DS (horrid sleeper with many developmental issues), but I'm not ready to work at 5am.

I can see the 5:30-6am opening if all the kids are gone by 3 or 3:30. But it's not for me. Her request just floored me because I'd never heard of anyone opening so early. When I taught public school I needed a 6:45 drop off time the first year and it was so hard to find a provider who opened before 7:30. Thankfully my principal let me switch homeroom duty to PM bus duty so I could do a 7am dropoff.

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OMG...bowing down to you!!! My guilty pleasure is a shower and MAYBE the gym...no food, no Facebook, no emails, no TV...I just can't fit it in. Let me know when your book comes out!!!

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I have one at 5am 2 or 3 times a week. So far its not a problem because I am unlicensed (legal in my state as long as you have less than 5) so my parents and I make our own rules. So he sleeps on one couch and I sleep (very lightly of course/with the door locked) on the other till 730 when my other kids start to arrive then he and I get up and start breakfast and get on with our day

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My reg hours are 6-6, but I have taken kids earlier. I have same rules as you. They go back to sleep until the rest of the world gets up! I do NOT let kids play before dawn!!!

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I did 6:00am for one family once and will never do it again. I am just not a morning person. And when I have other families that come from 8-5:30 it made for way too long of a day for me.

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I do.

I just bring them in the house and put them right back to bed to finish their night.

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I work 430-6

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We had a poll on this https://www.daycare.com/forum/showth...highlight=open

I believe member Michelle opens at 4:00am.

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Book- HA! LOL!

I guess I am getting to the point in my daycare career that I plan to do this forever, so I do everything possible to make ME happy. I work 5am-11pm because my goal is to pay off all of our debt and make my family as comfortable as possible later in life. It 100% works for me and my family and my kids because I do so many things that work for me, and the parents I have follow my rules because they need a daycare that does their hours. My 5am drop off mom has been with me for 4 years. We have it down pat

My schedule for the kids goes:
5am-8am sleep (I hang out and get my computer stuff done

12pm-2pm am nap time am pick ups pm drop off (computer, hang with dd's, work on my sewing etc.
2pm-330pm pm nappers (my assistant takes others outside) "

from 6pm-830 pm we are on babysitter time. The kids play or watch tv while I make dinner, relax, and do whatever I would be doing if they weren't here. Basically we do whatever my kids want to be doing so we might play outside, we might walk to the park, we might walk to get ice cream, or we might just chill out.

830 pm bed time
watch tv, family time, bake anything I need for the next day, get stuff prepped for the crock pot
11pm parents pick up

sleep

My family accepts this lifestyle because the weekends are all about them. During my down time I complete every chore or project I might need to do on the weekend so it is all about my family.

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just curious, if she is bringing him that early to your house does her spouse start at that hour too. Hmm we have a noise bylaw here so I don't think construction workers can start that early making noise, I can see them staying late and I mean really late (I had a dad in construction so he would work till 8pm) maybe she should find someone to come to her house.

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What noise? The only noise is the sound of a car door closing. My neighbors are already up, but I can't hear it within my house so I don't imagine they can. Ummmm no! She shouldn't find someone to go to her house! I really like that $300!!

We are a factory town. 1000's of people go to work at this hour. If there is a noise law I would worry more about the young men drag racing on the main strip! I doubt there is, we have tractors working in town at 4am!

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Jess, I think countrymom was talking to the OP...

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Oops! So sorry! I am totally in the wrong. Chalk it up to not sleeping well last night. DH is on his way home from Afghanistan and the choppers are taking FOREVER! I'm just so ready for the news that he is finally safe that I have some idle hand syndrom.

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Maybe my tune will change after a few more years but I have a soft spot for people in "non-traditional" situations. I know how hard it is to find good care when you work different hours. Her only choice may be some old lady's house where the child may get lots of attention and cookies but no social interaction with other kids or learning opportunities. OR a not-so-serious college student that will sleep on the job and set the kid in front of the tv and text all day. I worked for a daycare in a hospital and we didn't open till 6 am and we STILL had lots of parents ask if there was anyway we would open earlier. But besides the open and close hours we catered to the part-timers/afternoon drop-offers/occasional drop-ins cause nurses work crazy hours. But the issue is it IS a full time kid just with no-so-fun hours...if I had an openning...I would jump on it.

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I have 2 DC siblings that i get up early for 2 days a week. Mom is a nurse and dad works on the oil fields. So I get up at 5:30 so i can open the door for 6am. Sometimes they arrive at 9 am depending on dad's schedual. but it's more during the summer.

I dont mind as long as i get a good nights sleep.

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I used to do 24 hour/7days/week care. I don't know simply because I moved and don't have the spare rooms for overnight care. I'm moving to a larger home soon and will again do the 24/7 care. I would let the child/children come in and go to bed. I would already have their sleeping area (sleeping bag, cot, whatever you use) ready for them. Have them come in, go to the bathroom, then go to bed. They would get up at my normal opening time - or whatever time you decide to have your daycare day start. I would allow them to be in my care for 10 hours per day for my normal rate - no matter what their drop off/pick up times are.

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I live in Aurora IL. Does anyone do early openings like 5:30 a.m.?

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Are you a provider or a parent looking for care that early?

If you are a parent, you can search for area care providers here You can search by area code or zip code.

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I'm a parent

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I would check the link BC posted. Then I would check into local yard sale and community Facebook pages in your area. I am one of the few providers in my area that does open early, in fact I am a 24/7 care provider. But it does cost more outside of normal first shift hours, so expect to pay more for it.

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I have a 5:30 arrival who goes back to sleep when she arrives. My husband is just getting ready to leave the house for work at that time, so he can let her in and get her settled in. I often get up to greet her and say goodbye to him, then go back to sleep, myself. I did tell her parents that I wouldn't be staying awake with her (and it's legal to sleep during the overnight hours with kids in care here). I don't know of any daycares that open that early locally, either. I raised my rates 20% for this.

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My day starts at 5:15. I have been in business 27 years. I am one of the only centers offering early morning care and therefore my rate is rarely questioned. I never have to advertise and have a pretty good sized waiting list.

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Wow wish you lived in Illinois

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I had a family once in the beginning that convinced me to open at 5am for them (bad.idea) They would show up at 5am, screaming and crying, with candy bars, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cookies...they would be a mess. Of course, that was only when mom actually got up amd hrought them at that time. Most days, I would have to text her at 5:30 asking where they were and she would say they weren't coming that day. After she no called no showed about 5 times (5 times too many) I told her if ahe did it again, I would not be willing to.open early for her anymore. She was not happy about that and didn't bring her kids back after that day (thank god). I will NEVER make that mistake again! LESSON LEARNED!

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I have a 5:45 arrival. I'm a morning person, so he just comes and goes back to sleep. Then, I enjoy my cup of coffee in a quiet house or get some housework done. He wakes up when the other kids start arriving. I'm not sure I'd do that again though. The days are long even if the child is easy to care for. I wouldn't mind all early arrivals if it meant they all left early too.

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I would say if they're coming that early then they should leave early. My kids are back in my hands by 2:30

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Many parents sadly don't see it that way. Many parents think they need to get off of work, go to the grocery store, go home put stuff away, maybe grab a shower, cook dinner and then come and get the kids! That is why I do contracted hours in my daycare. I ask parents what time they need to be at work and what time they get off. Then give them transportation time above that.


ETA: The other issue becomes that just because early kids get picked up earlier, some still won't be picked up until 6 PM or so.

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I'll miss my kids to much if I'm not at work and still haven't picked them up. My kids are only to be at the baby sitter when I'm anywhere they they can't be and that is only work. I'm already at work like "I can't wait to get to my babies!" I don't believe there are any in my area.

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@pepperth may I ask where you're located??

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It's because daycare is SO.MUCH.CHEAPER than a babysitter. Daycare: $2.50-$3.50 per hour. Sitter: $8-15 per hour. For $15/hour, they'll take care of their kids while they get housework done or do their shopping. For $3/hour, it's a BARGAIN.

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Im open 24 hours 7 days week lasvegas,nevada

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Thanks but I live in Illinois

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Every other weekend I have 2-3 dropped off my 530am. They are 5-9yrs old. The first day, I asked them if they go back to sleep (hoping). They smiled and said, "nope! once we are up, we're up!" And they are. They leave by 3pm, sometimes earlier.

Mon-Fri I have a different set of 3 who come at 530am. In this family, one parent has a set schedule, the other a swing shift. So one week, All 3 come at 530am, the baby leaves around 4pm (the older siblings go to school). Another week, all at 530, baby leaves at 530pm. The third week, the older ones come at 530am, before school, but the baby is only here from 2pm-530pm.

I've never been a morning person, so it was hard for me, at first. Now, I kind of enjoy the alone time when I first get up. With 3 children of my own, alone time is very precious!

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