Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Or switch to a daycare that doesn't have this rule

Like infant spots are so easy to find?? Like that won’t disrupt the child who doesn’t have anything to do with this? Plus, some of us care about building a relationship with providers, not quitting in a fit of pique every two months.

Difficulty of switching is exactly why new/prospective prospective need to be aware of such a rule -- and its negative implications, which might not be obvious -- before committing to a daycare.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I honestly think it's BS too, OP. You're likely paying a ton of money and they treat you as if it's your privilege to be there.

Dr's appointments must happen. I'd just take the kid to daycare and if anyone says anything, shrug my shoulders. It's their frickin' job to watch your kid for the day.

Or switch to a daycare that doesn't have this rule

Like infant spots are so easy to find?? Like that won’t disrupt the child who doesn’t have anything to do with this? Plus, some of us care about building a relationship with providers, not quitting in a fit of pique every two months.

Anonymous wrote:Because their nap time starts probably at that time

And my kid sleep shouldn’t be disrupted because you didn’t read the handbook.

ALL daycares are like this, don’t interrupt the babies schedule or the teachers routine


Wtf

Wrong! I have been at seven totally daycares over three kids and never run into it. It’s weird and overly controlling.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Director here. Our policy is 9:30 in general and 11 for appointments.

It is disruptive to other children and staff and can really mess with ratios so we are pretty strict about it. It is explained to parents at intake and those who don't like it are free to enroll elsewhere.

I make my own children's appointments in the afternoons so that it's a non-issue with my child-care provider.

"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.

OR they could be trying to free someone up to work on curriculum for next week, start a project that will take 3-4 hours at one time, to do administrative work that day, to help other teachers with a planned activity, etc... and then when your kid shows up in the middle of that, it's really annoying to have to just stop in the middle of something big.

This. Director PP here. We do not SEND staff home so that we don't have to pay them. Like the immediate PP said, staff may want to leave the classroom to work on planning, training, or another activity. Sometimes staff may be rewarded by being allowed to leave for the day (paid) when numbers are low.

I mean this sort of thing can be dealt with by parents being asked to notify the center when they are dropping off late. That way staff can plan to be there when needed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shouldn't the daycare be staffed for the total number of enrolled kids?

Do daycares assume a certain number of absences and staff down?

I think so. It's similar to the airlines that oversell seats, assuming at least a few people won't make the flight.

I got the impression daycares tended to staff up to ensure they meet ratios in case of a staff member calling in sick, to allow for vacation days, etc. At least that is how it seems at my DD's daycare. Can't say for sure whether the floaters get sent home if there are not enough kids, but it's not something I've observed and this daycare has low turnover at all levels of staff, including floaters/aides.

Yeah ours is usually staffed "above" the bare minimum so they can shuffle around and still make ratios in case an emergency happens.

Op why did you think this rule wouldn't apply to your kid?

Anonymous wrote:I honestly think it's BS too, OP. You're likely paying a ton of money and they treat you as if it's your privilege to be there.

Dr's appointments must happen. I'd just take the kid to daycare and if anyone says anything, shrug my shoulders. It's their frickin' job to watch your kid for the day.

Or switch to a daycare that doesn't have this rule

Yes both our in-home daycare, and our center based all day preschool had similar rules. The in-home had the rule because it upset the rhythm of the day and most importantly, it was very hard on the kid to not have a set schedule. She would have been totally fine with the occasional doctor's appt and out of sync drop off though. She strongly discouraged people from making it a habit. And I know she did ask one family to leave because they couldn't commit to set times and would just drop their kid off whenever (I think the mom was a SAHM?). It wasn't a good fit, so she said good bye.

Our bigger center is similar, though it hasn't come up as much. One time I had to pick up early during nap time, but I let them know ahead of time so my DD could be quietly taken out of the room before I got there.

But yeah, if you don't like the rules, find somewhere else.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Director here. Our policy is 9:30 in general and 11 for appointments.

It is disruptive to other children and staff and can really mess with ratios so we are pretty strict about it. It is explained to parents at intake and those who don't like it are free to enroll elsewhere.

I make my own children's appointments in the afternoons so that it's a non-issue with my child-care provider.

"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.

OR they could be trying to free someone up to work on curriculum for next week, start a project that will take 3-4 hours at one time, to do administrative work that day, to help other teachers with a planned activity, etc... and then when your kid shows up in the middle of that, it's really annoying to have to just stop in the middle of something big.

This. Director PP here. We do not SEND staff home so that we don't have to pay them. Like the immediate PP said, staff may want to leave the classroom to work on planning, training, or another activity. Sometimes staff may be rewarded by being allowed to leave for the day (paid) when numbers are low.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shouldn't the daycare be staffed for the total number of enrolled kids?

Do daycares assume a certain number of absences and staff down?

I think so. It's similar to the airlines that oversell seats, assuming at least a few people won't make the flight.

I got the impression daycares tended to staff up to ensure they meet ratios in case of a staff member calling in sick, to allow for vacation days, etc. At least that is how it seems at my DD's daycare. Can't say for sure whether the floaters get sent home if there are not enough kids, but it's not something I've observed and this daycare has low turnover at all levels of staff, including floaters/aides.

Then you're at a good daycare! A daycare that wants to pare staffing down to the bone - by setting a strict drop off cut off and then sending extra staff home when not needed to meet legal ratios - will see much higher turnover.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shouldn't the daycare be staffed for the total number of enrolled kids?

Do daycares assume a certain number of absences and staff down?

I think so. It's similar to the airlines that oversell seats, assuming at least a few people won't make the flight.

I got the impression daycares tended to staff up to ensure they meet ratios in case of a staff member calling in sick, to allow for vacation days, etc. At least that is how it seems at my DD's daycare. Can't say for sure whether the floaters get sent home if there are not enough kids, but it's not something I've observed and this daycare has low turnover at all levels of staff, including floaters/aides.

Anonymous wrote:Shouldn't the daycare be staffed for the total number of enrolled kids?

Do daycares assume a certain number of absences and staff down?

I think so. It's similar to the airlines that oversell seats, assuming at least a few people won't make the flight.

Shouldn't the daycare be staffed for the total number of enrolled kids?

Do daycares assume a certain number of absences and staff down?

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it's not obvious to new parents that personnel spend is the biggest expense for a daycare, and an easy way to cut costs there is to send caregivers/teachers home when it appears that they won't be needed to maintain the legally required ratio. But even if the daycare always remains compliant with the ratio, split shifts + unpredictable hours are extremely negative for employee retention. So a daycare that imposes a strict drop off cut off to cut hours will, unsurprisingly, tend to have higher staff turnover -- not great for your kids.

In our case, there seemed to be a hierarchy of caregivers at our center. There were older, long-term caregivers who had been with center for many years and they had defined schedules that didn't vary (example: 730-430 everyday). These are the people who regularly communicated with us, gave us updates, reminded us of stuff, etc.

And then there were younger caregivers who worked as floaters and it seemed they would have their hours cut on short notice, when necessary. They were also the ones who would stay until closing time and do clean up & prep the rooms for the next day. I'm not sure where the floaters came from. It seemed like our baby's classroom had a different floater every week. They were all typically young women (18-22) and I'm guessing they were doing this as part of their certification. They certainly were not as skilled or detail-oriented as the regular caregivers.

It was just weird seeing new people in the classroom all the time. I couldn't keep track of their names or even really understood their schedules.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And to be clear I am not defending the daycare’s rule. I am defending their right to run their business as they please.

They have the right to have the rule.

Prospective parents have the right to be informed of the unsettling, negative implications of a daycare with such a rule.

Parents who sign up knowing about the rule have the right to continue to bitch about it.

And everyone else has the right to tell you that you have no valid basis to bitch if you knowingly signed up with this rule in place.

As new parents who were struggling to find daycare for our child before maternity leave ended, we signed up with a daycare in NW DC with this rule. Due to our ignorance as new parents and lack of sleep, we didn't understand what it actually meant from a practical standpoint - gaming ratios, cutting hours for caregivers with little notice, and also just the impracticality of always trying to schedule doctors' appointments at the "approved" times.

I would never put my kid in a daycare with this rule, now knowing what I know. We've since switched to another, better daycare center that doesn't have such policies.

Here's your solution, OP. Easy peasy.

PP here: it was not an "easy peasy" solution. We were only able to switch daycare centers because we unexpectedly got off the waiting list at our preferred center, which is closer to our office and significantly cheaper.

We got very lucky. Most working families in DC don't have the luxury of switching centers.