Our in home provider requested that if at all possible kids didn’t arrive or depart during nap time hours. Too disruptive for the babies and toddlers. It happened occasionally but as a rule we all wanted our little ones to get their naps n |
"Mess with ratios" is a red flag, if you mean that you send teachers home & pare staff down to the bare minimum based on the morning headcount. Cf. the discussion re: staff turnover. The pay will never be great, that's a reality. But split shifts and unpredictable hours are notoriously bad for service worker retention. |
+1 I would not go to a center with this policy. I pay tuition whether my kid shows up that day/morning or not, so the idea that they would be concerned about ratios raises a red flag. I also really don't buy the argument about disrupting the flow of the day. If parents might walk in at any moment, that keeps staff accountable and I personally wouldn't want to send my kid anywhere that had policies to discourage that (either from dropping off or picking up). |
+1 To both PPs. We pay for the time regardless of if my child is there a little later than usual. It doesn't mean staff should be sent home. I can also understand in a preschool classroom but in an infant room there isn't a set schedule or curriculum. Kids nap, eat and play at all different times from each other. |
Wow, I am so surprised at your daycare center. We have not had this issue at all with our daycare center. If we do a nap time pick up for whatever reason (and sometimes they request us to pick the child up if he/she is sick), they just put my son/daughter aside in the activity room with one of the teachers for pick up. That way, it didn't disrupt the kids.
I do think it's odd that they have this rule and I would bring it up with the director. |
We switched from one daycare that had no such rule to a new daycare with that rule (ours is an earlier cut-off time). We learned to schedule routine visits far in advance and either at 8am or 4pm and we now anticipate needing to take whole days off for middle of the day appointments. We ask in advance to bend the rules if we think we might miss cut-off by less than an hour, but it's rude to the teachers if we try push it beyond that. We do a lot more urgent care visits and have a dentist that does evenings, etc. |
Rude to the teachers? Routine visits only? No way. These are screaming red flags. |
Yup. You tell the daycare to pound sand. They are looking to cut staff hours to keep the ratios at a minimum. Which means they are likely violating the ratios during parts of the day. |
So you tour of daycare, you sign a contract and you agree to their terms and yet when a rule doesn’t work for you you make a big stink about it? That is entitlement all right! I am not saying I agree or disagree with the rule but if it doesn’t sign up for a place whose rules do not suit you. I would like to think that this forum is full of intelligent women so why not read before you sign? |
Yup. I think it's entitled to for a daycare to dictate when a kid can go to the doctor. The daycare exists to make the parents' lives easier - not vice versa. This policy is becoming more frequent with expensive private day care centers in DC. It is worrying. |
They are businesses that exist to make a profit. I strongly think that if you disagree with the way a business is being run then you should vote with your wallet and move your business elsewhere. |
If you disagree with the way a business is being run, you should also feel free to name and shame. |
+1 |
Sure! As long as you’re willing to sign your real name and stand behind the reasoning. Post on yelp or something. |
DP. The daycare exist as a business. To do that, it provides a service to you. It doesn’t provide a service to you on whatever terms you dictate. It especially doesn’t provide a service to you on terms expressly contrary to the terms they laid out. My daycare doesn’t have this rule and it would be a negative factor in me evaluating the daycare. But if they clearly told OP (and others) the rules and OP agreed to them, she really had no basis to complain at this point. |