No Pay = No Play

[littlebear]

Problem is, we close at 5:30 and a lot of the parents call at 5:50 and say they're running a few minutes late & i'm thinking 5 maybe 10 minutes at MOST and here comes the mom FOURTY minutes later in her casual clothes so I know she didn't work! We have a really good relationship with our mommies and we love our kids but how do we get this to stop?! She's state paid so she doesn't pay to begin with so we don't ask her for more money. But a lot of the parents come 15 minutes after we close, we don't wat to have to ask them to leave...can i get some advice?!

[daycare]

What does your contract/policy state?
Do you have late fees?

[wdmmom]

I close at 530pm. Close means, shut down, turn off the lights, lock the door, etc. Parents need to have their child picked up and out my door by 530pm.

Consequence is $1.00 per minute. State paid or not, you're responsible for late fees! End of story.

[Mom_of_two]

Sometimes people are a few minutes late, they call etc, it is fine- I know that stuff happens!!

But if it is a persistent problem I would not continue to work with them. I love my families and am understanding about a few min here and there! And even longer in certain situations (bad snow we had etc.)...BUT in my handbook/contract I specifically state that I don't do late fees, if a family has repeated late pick ups I just will not continue to work with them. I am not willing to deal with that as an ongoing issue.

[Abigail]

Problem is, we close at 5:30 and a lot of the parents call at 5:50 and say they're running a few minutes late & i'm thinking 5 maybe 10 minutes at MOST and here comes the mom FOURTY minutes later in her casual clothes so I know she didn't work! We have a really good relationship with our mommies and we love our kids but how do we get this to stop?! She's state paid so she doesn't pay to begin with so we don't ask her for more money. But a lot of the parents come 15 minutes after we close, we don't wat to have to ask them to leave...can i get some advice?!

Some states have rules on what the state will pay and when. A lot of states only pay when the parent is working, so you need to get work schedules for one and also call who deals with your state payments and ask questions about what they can be liable for as far as payments, late payments--if any, etc. You may be able to charge the parent late fees, but not the state. I would definitely review your contracts and add late fees of $1 per minute before and after contracted hours. Then you can decide if it's too regular then you can enforce those fees.

[permanentvacation]

Charge EVERY parent your late fee - to be paid at the time of pick up on the day they are late - and paid in cash only. Begin sitting outside on the steps with your children waiting for their parents to pick up. When the parents arrive say something about you being in a hurry to get to some place - doctor, dentist, your child's activity, whatever. Say something about how you expected them there 20 minutes ago (or whatever length of time they are late) you are going to be late now and you have to hurry out. Go to your car and pull off while they are still getting their child in their car. Maybe they will start realizing that you have a life after work and need to be able to schedule your evening activities according to your expected closing time. Start advertising to replace the kids who are always picked up late. If your hours of operation have been a problem for some or all of your current parents, then either you have to (1) if you know that they really could be at daycare on time and are just taking advantage of you, then you need to enforce your closing hours and stop letting them use you (2) If they really can't get to your daycare on time, or simply refuse to, then you will need to find parents who are able to get to your daycare on time by advertising and replacing the late arrivals (3) If you really want to keep your current children whose parents arrive late, then you can simply get used to and expect that they will arrive at their usual time that they choose, or you could announce that it seems like the majority of your parents need a bit longer hours, so you will stay open til 6 (or whatever time seems to work for the parents) from now on.

[permanentvacation]

I live in Maryland. I had a child that was left with me 6 HOURS late!!!! It was during her first week in my care. The mother was supposed to arrive at 6pm. At 6:15, I started calling the mom. No answer. I began calling her emergency contacts at 7pm. I continued to call mom - never an answer, and not an answer from her emergency contacts til 11pm!!! Grandmom finally answered her phone at 11. She lived about 1/2 hour away and had NO CAR!!! She said she would try to find a ride and arrived around midnight to get the child! When she arrived, I asked if she had gotten ahold of the mom(her daughter). She said yes, the mom had gone out, gotten her hair done, and went on a DATE!!!!!! So I handed grandmom a termination letter effective immediately that I had typed up throughout the evening and asked her to give the letter to mom and I asked her to tell the mom TO NEVER COME BACK!! The next day, I told my supervisor about this and he said I could have called Child Protective Services and given the child to them on grounds of abandonment by the mother. So I have now put that in my contract. It states in my contact that if no one arrives within a resonable time after the scheduled pick up time, I have the right to release the child to Child Protective Services. I have had a couple of parents ask me about that little paragraph while on interviews and I tell them about this incident. I let them know that I expect the children to be picked up on time and if they are too late especially with no phone call to let me know what's going on, if the child is here too long after scheduled pick up time, I will call Child Protective Services and I don't know what they do with the child or what the parent has to do to get the child back from them. I haven't had any trouble with late parents since I put that in my contract.

[wdmmom]

I live in Maryland. I had a child that was left with me 6 HOURS late!!!! It was during her first week in my care. The mother was supposed to arrive at 6pm. At 6:15, I started calling the mom. No answer. I began calling her emergency contacts at 7pm. I continued to call mom - never an answer, and not an answer from her emergency contacts til 11pm!!! Grandmom finally answered her phone at 11. She lived about 1/2 hour away and had NO CAR!!! She said she would try to find a ride and arrived around midnight to get the child! When she arrived, I asked if she had gotten ahold of the mom(her daughter). She said yes, the mom had gone out, gotten her hair done, and went on a DATE!!!!!! So I handed grandmom a termination letter effective immediately that I had typed up throughout the evening and asked her to give the letter to mom and I asked her to tell the mom TO NEVER COME BACK!! The next day, I told my supervisor about this and he said I could have called Child Protective Services and given the child to them on grounds of abandonment by the mother. So I have now put that in my contract. It states in my contact that if no one arrives within a resonable time after the scheduled pick up time, I have the right to release the child to Child Protective Services. I have had a couple of parents ask me about that little paragraph while on interviews and I tell them about this incident. I let them know that I expect the children to be picked up on time and if they are too late especially with no phone call to let me know what's going on, if the child is here too long after scheduled pick up time, I will call Child Protective Services and I don't know what they do with the child or what the parent has to do to get the child back from them. I haven't had any trouble with late parents since I put that in my contract.

That's insane! I would have terminated on the spot too!

I had a family a couple years back...dad worked 3rds, mom worked days, dad didn't have a license and they only had 1 car. Kids came 3 days a week. DCM brought kids in sick as can be on Thursday. I called her at work. She basically told me "oh well" she couldn't leave because she had taken the day before off work as a vacation day. (Here's my thought: Not my problem!) She came and picked up DCB to take him to the doctor but left DCG in my care! Suppose to be picked up at 5pm, didn't come til 6:37pm! I was sooo pissed but I maintained my composure and said, "See ya tomorrow".

Next morning rolls around and they are no call, no show. So I call the mom. no answer. Call the dad, no answer. I waited about an hour and called again. Mom flips out on me for calling her at work and says I'm psycho for making her miss yesterday when the DCB wasn't sick. (I highly doubt this!) I tell her that that's not how my policy works. I close at 6pm and with her work being 3 miles from where I live, she needed to be here everyday by 515pm or late fees would be imposed. Then I got the "what if I need to go to the grocery, what if I have a doctors appointment", etc. I told her that everything would be looked at on a case by case situation and I needed notified in advance but I would no longer watch her kids for her to go out and have dinner and get groceries. They never came back! Worked for me!

Now my late policy is set in stone. You have 15 minutes beyond your designated pick up time. If you are late, it's $10 every 15 minutes. If it's after closing time (530pm) it's $1.00 per minute.