Why do parents abuse daycare hours??

26 Answers

• I use to work at a daycare and we had the same problem. It was in NC and we had a lot of military mommies and daddies. My husband is also in the military, so I knew what days he had off. Well... we would have parents bringing in their children on their days off! Why wouldn't you want to spend time with your babies??

• Daycare Hours

• I am glad you changed your hours. Yes, parents abuse (I am not a daycare provider myself, but I have seen it). If you open from 7 am to 5:30 pm then parents that have their children in your daycare they have to calculate their driving time from work to the daycare (or VS) to be there on pick up time. If they can't make it, then they should go somewhere else. You mentioned that when you changed your hours those same parents were there on time... how come now they could? I think there are parents that don't like to take care of their children and prefer those poor little things being in care of other people for more than 10 hours if they can.

  I personally know of someone that they go on trips to water parks, etc and they leave their 3 and 4 year olds in day care all day. The go with the rest of older siblings an family and don't take the little one with them. They say: "Oh, I just don't want be changing diapers and feeding, it just gets too cumbersome!" .. Uhu, I take my little ones with me always, and leave them in day care absolutely when I have to.

  Most people are abusers, and sometimes don't respect day care providers because they don't think of them respectfully.

• Daycare is a very wonderful resource for burnt out parents. Without it there would be alot more problems at home I think. I am sorry that you feel abused though. I am probably one of the parents you speak of, well my child isn't there from opening to close, I do not always rush to pick up my child right after class... sometimes I have errands to run, which could potentially be unneccessaily chaotic if I always brought my four year old along, and sometime I need quiet time for homework. I guess I never actually thought that someone who has made a career of working with children would be so resentful in doing their job within their working hours. Thats a little harsh sounding. I am sorry, But we (me as a parent & you as a child care worker) have both made comittements in working with children day in and day out. Lets be a team instead of being pissy at eachother. If you do feel a little stressed by this "abuse" then its a good thing that you had the authority to change the policy to make it work better for you. Most child care workers don't have this luxury.

• They were not 'abusing' you because they were still with in your operating hours. The daycare my son goes to has in the handbook that no child is allowed to be in their care for more then 10 hours in a day. Having that in writing gives them more power to do something about parents leaving their kids there all day then just having operation hours. I am one of the parents that picks my son up right after I get off work but it is not uncommon for a parennt to run to the store, get gas, go the bank etc in between work and the daycare.

• I don't think the parents were abusing your hours if they picked up on time. I have had to finish up work phone calls while sitting in my babysitter's driveway. Maybe she was on the phone. It is not professional to have crying kids in the backround of an important phone call. Even not crying but mommy mommy in the backround, I don't think looks good.

  I don't drop my kids at day care on my day off and I don't drop of as soon as possible and wait until the last minute. But I am guilty of running to the store really quick. My kids are 2 and 7 months and it is winter here right now so I felt it was better to run in really quick. But I've only done that twice.

  I think if contracted hours work best for you than you should do that. Also, try to get a back up day care set up to help you and take a day off every once in a while. My lady does this and I really think it helps her out. I know I am not cut out to watch several kids at one time and a day here and there helps my sanity at work I'm sure it could help you. Not to mean that your sanity is in question. Just a day here in there is good for everyone.

  My husband has had me drop the kids off if he has stayed home for being sick, just another thought to consider.

• What you have described, I dont really find to be daycare hour abuse! Abusing the hours at a daycare would be if you closed at 6 and they didnt come pick their kid up til after 6 on a regular basis. If you charge people a flat daily rate then why shouldnt their child be there as long as your open??? Maybe they get off work at 4:30 and have a 20 min drive, but need to run to the grocery store first, as long as their there by 6 what makes the difference?

• That wouldn't have worked for my family at all. Sometimes my mom had to work overtime and other times things would come up at work and she would have to get something done after her "set hours". Yes it's easy for you to want things done right when they're supposed to be but that's not always possible all the time. If your hours are from 7am-6pm then why if someone gets off at 4:30 do they HAVE to get their kid right away? It doesn't seem right. They are paying you and if those are the hours your operating then why does it matter? Yes that guy sitting in the driveway for 5 minutes is probably in the wrong but maybe he has a hard day at work and is stressed out and just needs a minute to relax. Remind him nicely that he needs to try to get their earlier but you also need to be more lenient with people's working hours. Not everyone has the "wonderful" hours of 9-5 every day. Most people I know work 2 jobs to support their children here because the economy frankly sucks. I have a friend who gets to see her daughter for like 1 hour a day. She hates it but she has no other choice. Sometimes she leaves her with me because she daycare provider she had previously yelled at her for being late and she's just doing the best job that she can.

  Maybe if people are going to be late you could tack on an extra late charge if it's getting excessive with the lateness. Or maybe find out if people need special accomodations and welcome them once in a while depending on circumstance. People would find you much more giving.

• After work I'd go to the gym, I couldn't do it any other time. I was paying for daycare so I wanted to take advantage of the hours offered to me. I was paying for a full day not a half day, so I made sure I got my moneys worth. It's not abuse of the workers or business unless they overextend their child's stay, I was always charged $5 for every extra 10 minutes I did not pick him up, so they did get monetary compensation if I was ever late, which was rare.

  It's unfair and unrealistic to dictate to a parent that they cannot use the full hours they've paid for. Sometimes people are late, sometimes we run into emergencies, sometimes there is traffic, or situations we can not be there right on the dot. Other times we might take the day off because of a sickness and take advantage of the fact we can be home and lounge around until we need to pick up our child ensuring we get enough rest as possible. However, by changing your hours, a lot of parents will take their children somewhere else. Why pay you x amount of money for less hours when somewhere else is the same amount for MORE time? I went to work at 6 am and some days didn't get out till 6 pm, 4:30 would be unrealistic for me, so I'd end up taking my business elsewhere.

• You give no clue as to how many children you have. But if you have more than 4-6 you should hire someone to help at least on a part time basis. Most daycares have to comply with the rule of one care giver for every 5-6 children.

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  RE:

  Why do parents abuse daycare hours??

  I used to be open 7am-6pm, and one or two parents who said they worked from 8-5 (only 20 mins away) would drop off at 7am on the dot and pick up at 6pm on the dot!! So irritating. Sometimes she would sit in my driveway at 555pm, and wait until 6pm to come in to get her child. It really upset me...