Pick Up Times: Who Decides?

Pick up times for children can be a source of conflict between parents and family child care providers.

Sometimes parents want flexibility about pick-up times:

“I want to pick up my child between 5 and 5:30pm.”

“I want to drop off and pick up my child anytime during the hours you are open.”

“I get off work at 3pm, but I want to pick up my child at 6pm, your normal pick up time.”

How do you respond to such parent requests?

The short answer is: Any way you want!

As a family child care provider you can establish any rules you want about pick-up times.

Here’s how some providers handle this:

•    Allow parents to pick up any time during the day.

•    One provider is open from 7-5:30 and will take a child for any nine hours during the day. Any time after nine hours is billed at $15 an hour.

•    Set a range for pick-ups (5–5:30pm).

•    Set a specific pick-up time and allow parents extra time if they are notified in advance.

•    Charge a late fee if the parent is one minute late.

•    One provider requires parents to set their schedule a week in advance. She sets a maximum of 45 hours per week and charges $1.50 per minute beyond that.

•    One provider will terminate a parent if they are ever late picking up their child!

•    One provider doesn’t want to care for children if the parents can. She allows parents 30 minutes to pick up their child after they get off work. If they can’t follow this schedule she will terminate the contract.

You get the idea that providers handle this in a variety of ways!

You can have parents sign contracts that have different drop-off and pick-up times. This is not illegal discrimination as long as you are not discriminating based on race, sex, religion, ethnic background, national origin, or disability.

You can require earlier pick-up times for some parents because you want fewer children as the day goes on and you become tired. You can set your own drop-off and pick-up times to avoid children being interrupted during meals or naps. You can set your own schedule to meet your own needs and the needs of your family.

Sometimes providers find it difficult to respond to parents who want more flexibility than their contract allows.

You can say – “No. That’s not something I can agree to.” You don’t need to explain your position other than to say that you are comfortable with the current arrangement and don’t want to change.

Or, you can decide to change your contract with a parent and accommodate the parent. You can charge an extra fee for your accommodation. “I will allow you more flexibility in your pick-up time, but I will charge $25 more per week for this.”

Whatever rules you establish regarding your pick-up times, enforce them! If a parent is late to pick up, charge a late fee ($1 a minute is typical). Or, tell the parent they can pick up late no more than twice a month or the contract will be terminated.

If you are not willing to enforce your rule, the parent cannot be expected to follow it!

Providers who enforce their rules generally have fewer problems with parents. I have never met a provider who regretted consistently enforcing her rules. I have seen many providers who are stressed because parents won’t follow their rules and they won’t enforce them.

For a good discussion of the issue of drop off and pick up times, see a discussion on the  Daycare.com Forum.

Tom Copeland - www.tomcopelandblog.com

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/photos/family-people-parent-mother-mom-2595327/

For more information see my book Family Child Care Contracts and Policies.