I Feel Terrible!

[Kabob]

It's not your job to give her this kind of heads up. She's not an idiot, and could easily have stayed home, whether or not you were closed. Her getting angry at you becase SHE chose to go out and SHE didn't drive carefully enough NOT to get stuck , that's ALL on HER. Maybe I'm a little insensitive to that, because we don't close in CO and these parents always whine when the schools don't as if the fact the schools close or don't close ties their hands with whether or not they can make their own decisions. In fact, there is NO penalty on a questionable day if you keep your child home for safety reasons. (aka EXCUSED absence and not counting toward your attendance record)

Still. I feel stupid for letting her have the option to choose to put dcg through that. Poor dcg seemed very scared when she got here. I normally would've closed but figured I'd wait and see since the schools had not closed yet so I felt maybe I was overreacting. My bad there but yeah...when she saw the snow drift I don't know what possessed her to drive into it....usually she's the first to tell me she's staying home at the first sign of bad weather...never again will I give anyone the option of coming here in bad weather. Poor dcg...

[cheerfuldom]

The mom's reaction is completely rude and overreacting. You don't have anything to feel bad about. Just because you are open, does not mean that others do not have to use common sense in going to your house. I mean, just because a person can do something, doesn't mean they should. There is no way you can police families to use common sense so any acts of stupidity are not your fault.

Same scenario happened to me and a family tried to get here from a few blocks away and caused $1400 of damage to their car when they flew off the road. Not my problem. They should have stayed home! We live in the same neighborhood. Just because daycare is open, doesn't mean you have to go or have to try and kill yourself to get there. I didn't feel bad at all about it. Dad should have used common sense. I consider the $1400 stupid tax.

[melskids]

The mom's reaction is completely rude and overreacting. You don't have anything to feel bad about. Just because you are open, does not mean that others do not have to use common sense in going to your house. I mean, just because a person can do something, doesn't mean they should. There is no way you can police families to use common sense so any acts of stupidity are not your fault.

Same scenario happened to me and a family tried to get here from a few blocks away and caused $1400 of damage to their car when they flew off the road. Not my problem. They should have stayed home! We live in the same neighborhood. Just because daycare is open, doesn't mean you have to go or have to try and kill yourself to get there. I didn't feel bad at all about it. Dad should have used common sense. I consider the $1400 stupid tax.

Exactly. Walmart is open 24/7. Its not their problem if someone drives there in a snowstorm and wrecks their car. We're no different.

[TwinKristi]

This is the perfect example for someone who complains about you closing. You close and make the Jones Family mad, you don't close and the Smith Family is mad that they had to drive on an unplowed road and get stuck and walk. You can't please all of the people all of the time! I think this is a good lesson for ALL inclimate weather providers that deal with this. I know there's an old thread that was resurrected about snow closure and this truly is why! Employers need to understand this, parents need to understand this. There are too many people expected to be on the roads even when they're deemed unsafe and when schools, state offices, etc. close. If parents need to work, they need to find alternate care!

[TwinKristi]

The mom's reaction is completely rude and overreacting. You don't have anything to feel bad about. Just because you are open, does not mean that others do not have to use common sense in going to your house. I mean, just because a person can do something, doesn't mean they should. There is no way you can police families to use common sense so any acts of stupidity are not your fault.

Same scenario happened to me and a family tried to get here from a few blocks away and caused $1400 of damage to their car when they flew off the road. Not my problem. They should have stayed home! We live in the same neighborhood. Just because daycare is open, doesn't mean you have to go or have to try and kill yourself to get there. I didn't feel bad at all about it. Dad should have used common sense. I consider the $1400 stupid tax.

All to make sure they didn't give you an extra $30-35 (whatever your daily rate is) you didn't really work for, right? That's like the dad who was planning on bringing DCG even though he didn't work Monday since they paid anyway... it would have cost him like half of what he pays me in gas to drive here and back twice anyway! Ugh! He didn't end up bringing her but blamed it on her being grumpy and spared me from her misery, like he's doing ME a favor!

[Kabob]

I consider the $1400 stupid tax.

:: You guys crack me up.

Well I still feel bad for dcg regardless and I should have removed my personal feelings from it and just closed. And hopefully she learned a lesson. Should I count on that? No. I'll still close in the future should this come up again.

But hey...hopefully current and future readers can learn from this mistake (hers and mine) and use this as an example when/if they need to close for weather.

[racemom]

I don't think you should feel bad at all. It is not your responsibility to decide if grown ups can get to your house or not. In fact I would put it all on them. Send out a notice that in the future you will be open even on snow days and it is their choice to try and make it or not. Because you work at home you have no way to know if the roads are passable.

[TwinKristi]

I don't think you should feel bad at all. It is not your responsibility to decide if grown ups can get to your house or not. In fact I would put it all on them. Send out a notice that in the future you will be open even on snow days and it is their choice to try and make it or not. Because you work at home you have no way to know if the roads are passable.

YES!!

I think you should write a "general letter" to all the families that in the future you will be closing for liability reasons and that unfortunately since you work from home, you have no way of knowing the road conditions or safety of the roads. She'll know it's pertaining to today's events even if you don't specify it's her. If it's even possible that the schools will close, you'll close. Maybe offer a 25-33-50% discount on those days or something IF you have complainers? :confused:

[e.j.]

She was mad. She said she got stuck when she tried to turn from the main road to my road because of a 4 ft drift (I couldn't see that from my house). Then she angrily said I should have called her to tell her they didn't plow my road yet. I apologized and said that I assumed she wasn't coming as other parents chose not to come because their road wasn't plowed and that I felt bad closing so I thought I'd let her make the decision this time since she made the decision not to come last few times. She said her road was plowed so she decided to come and said she expects me to call her next time.

Just another example of an adult who refuses to take responsibility for her own actions. Give me a break!

I remain open during storms because some parents are expected to be at work regardless of the weather. I also stay open because my contract states parents don't pay if I choose to close. To be honest, I can't afford to close everytime it snows. I expect parents to use their common sense. Their choice to drive out in a storm is independent of my decision to remain open.