Problems With Daycare Parents

[texascare]

I know cell phones are beginning to replace home phones but I never give my cell number out for this reason. They have access to you 24/7. If I have a parent call after hours I choose to answer it or not. If they were texting me I think that would drive me nuts. I also think this texting your problems to the provider is ridiculous too. I have noticed alot pf parents text complaints to their providers. It's like the texting has taken over our way of communication. JMO....... I always email or have a face to face conversation.

[Hunni Bee]

I get so many phone calls before and after work, it ridiculous. I just don't answer, unless I just left work or am on the way.

I tried to tell everyone on their way out that I am on vacation next week and it's been on the calendar for the past month, but I know I'll still get some calls.

[Unregistered]

A parent's perspective

You absolutely have the right to not respond during vacations.
But, it may not be malice or greed causing them to disturb you.
Many daycare parents (myself included) may work in business/tech/other fields where there is no real concept of "off" time as pertains to email and text. I get emails at midnight, on the weekends, on holidays.. I write them at 3 am after I've been wakened by the baby.. when I go on vacation, I do not go physically into the office, but I still get emails. For these busy and stressed parents, it truly, honestly, might not have even occurred to them that they are invading your off time. They are so used to just sending work related emails at any time, on holidays, evenings, weekends, they don't remember that for "normal people" these times are off limits. I myself apparently pissed of a daycare admissions officer by texting her on labor day, asking to schedule a call. I didn't expect her to write back on the holiday, I was just writing them because I had a minute to do so, and those minutes are few and far between. But it angered her enough I can't get an interview now.
Honestly, these parents may mean no harm and may simply need a reminder that off time is truly off. That may not be the case in their work worlds.

[Blackcat31]

You absolutely have the right to not respond during vacations.
But, it may not be malice or greed causing them to disturb you.
Many daycare parents (myself included) may work in business/tech/other fields where there is no real concept of "off" time as pertains to email and text. I get emails at midnight, on the weekends, on holidays.. I write them at 3 am after I've been wakened by the baby.. when I go on vacation, I do not go physically into the office, but I still get emails. For these busy and stressed parents, it truly, honestly, might not have even occurred to them that they are invading your off time. They are so used to just sending work related emails at any time, on holidays, evenings, weekends, they don't remember that for "normal people" these times are off limits. I myself apparently pissed of a daycare admissions officer by texting her on labor day, asking to schedule a call. I didn't expect her to write back on the holiday, I was just writing them because I had a minute to do so, and those minutes are few and far between. But it angered her enough I can't get an interview now.
Honestly, these parents may mean no harm and may simply need a reminder that off time is truly off. That may not be the case in their work worlds.

That makes it understandable but it doesn’t mean it’s acceptable.

I don’t mean to sound harsh but your reasoning is basically “it truly, honestly, might not have even occurred to them”

.....and that’s precisely the issue.
Parents need to think beyond themselves.

[Snowmom]

I 1000% agree with Blackcat.

This is an issue that gets under my skin so much. Just because you can send a text at 3am, doesn't mean you should. If you are up at 3am and don't think you'll remember to send that text about little Jill's schedule, why not just set a reminder in your phone to touch base during business hours? You seriously won't ever have 2 minutes to spare between 7am-5pm, M-F?

Unlike some others, I refuse to add on to my expenses by purchasing an additional phone line just to deter disrespectful people from contacting during off hours. There's already too little profit to justify that added luxury.
I also refuse to turn my phone off- I need it on for family members with medical issues.

So ultimately, if a family or prospective client doesn't respect my personal time, I won't take them on.

[Josiegirl]

Honestly? It ticks me off way more when phone calls/texts come from ad companies or other places that have no right at all, to my phone number.

I'm retired now but if calls came in that weren't within an acceptable time frame, I would wait until I could or wanted to answer. The dcfs with whom I had a closer relationship, I always kept in contact with. But with me, I had no kids or family at home(for many years) that also needed my attention so that definitely played a part.

OP is from 8 years ago.

[Pandaluver21]

None of my parents actually have my cellphone number. They contact me solely through the childcare app we use. I can choose to respond or not. This is a big reason parents don't have the number

[CeriBear]

I work in a center and our policy is NOT to give the parents our personal emails or phone numbers. They can contact me through the center phone during business hours or through the app we use.

[AmyKidsCo]

I do give out my cell number, but only respond during off hours if I feel like it. Usually a quick response is enough, but if a parent just won't quit I stop replying.

I figure that KinderCare's teachers and administrator don't respond after hours or weekends so I don't need to either.