Conference moira::parenting_v3

    I use in-home care for little Jake and a daycare center for Paige.
    
    Both charge $1 a minute for being late.  I don't know if the in-home
    care provider would really enfore this (I haven't put it to the test)
    but I know that the daycare center only enforces it if it is a cronic
    problem.  We have been  late once by 15 min. and they did not charge
    us - although we offerred it to her anyways as we felt bad.
    
    The daycare center contracts states that the late fee should be paid
    in cash on the spot to the staff person who has stayed late to attend 
    to your child 
    
    Seems reasonable to me. 
    
    -ali

I've used 2 daycare centers thus far, and both have late fees policies.
I think the old daycare's was $10 for each 5 minutes you were late.

My current daycare's policy is more lenient, altho I can't remember what
it is.  Maybe something like $1 for each minute you are late.

I have no idea how strictly they were/are enforced, since I always pick up
my son at 4:00 and have never even come close to being later than they're open
for.

� �ori �

    The daycare center that we use closes at 6:30, and charge $1.00/minute
    for each minute after 6:30, payable in cash when you pickup your kid to
    the person who stayed.  They said that they won't watch them after
    7:00, so I assume that at 6:30, they would call your 'alternate'
    contact to come get your kid .... we used this once, and they were
    right to the minute with the money.  We had called them ahead and said
    we'd be there @ 6:45 so they didn't call anyone else.
    
    

   Here's our centers policy:
    
    "Any extra time over my cild's schedule is $4.00 per hour."
    
    "If my child is at the school after 6:00PM, there is a $10.00
     late fee for each 15 minutes."
    
    These are direct quotes from the agreement that I signed at the
    beginning of the year.
    
    The extra time will be billed monthly, they note the time of pick
    up each night and will bill you if you are late.  The late fee for
    after 6:00PM pick up is suppose to be paid when the child is picked
    up in cash to the care giver on duty. 
    
    I try to pick Sam up between 4:00 and 4:30, but have always paid
    until 5:00 PM so that I'm not dashing down route nine trying to make
    the 4:30 deadline. I feel more comfortable just paying for the extra
    cushion.  I have on occassion, probably less than five times in 4-1/2
    years been 5-10 minutes late, picking him up at 5:05 or 5:10.  I have
    never been billed for extra time but I think that it's because it is
    truely rare that I'm late so the women just mark us down for a 5:00 PM
    pick-up.  I know they do have problems with certain people ALWAYS being
    10-15 minutes late and I believe they charge these parents the extra 
    hourly rate - It is not here's a $1 I'm fifteen minutes late - it's
    always a full hours charge.
    
    In the 4-1/2 years we have only been after 6:00pm once and that was
    a winter storm that hit late afternoon and everything was a sheet of
    ice. I'm not sure to this day what time Mike got to pick up Sam that
    night but NO ONE was charged a late fee because of the storm. 
    
    So that's our experience!
    
    Kathye
    	

    Steven's daycare had a similar policy, but it wasn't really
    enforced for people who had an emergency or were only late once in
    a while.  It was there mostly to protect them from people who
    wanted to extend the day regularly.  
    
    --bonnie

    At the day care centers I've used in Colorado, they stay open until
    6:00 p.m.  Late charges are $1 per minute after that.  It's tough for
    those of us who get stuck working the occasional 6:00p.m. shift.
    
    Nanci

    The daycare that Joshua attends is open from 6:30am-12mid. Mon-Thurs.
    and from 6:30am-2:00am on Fri. and Sat.  They charge $16 for a 7-10
    hour day for regulars and $2.50 an hour for anything less or over
    the 7-10 hours.  We have not had to use any other care provider
    (other than family) due to the great hours of daycare.  We are able
    to use them as babysitters for nights out, weekends of work, etc.
    I only wish they opened at 6:00am.  Guess we're never happy, huh?;-)
    
    Pam

While this is off the topic a bit, I'd just like to mention one thing that one 
family we knew did.  Some nights, they hired one of the teachers at the 
daycare center to drive their kids to their home and wait there until they 
arrived.  It was expensive, since they paid a relatively high hourly rate, as 
well as a flat rate for transportation, but at $1 a minute, it wouldn't take 
long to be cost effective.  Not to mention the fact that it saved wear and 
tear on them, sweating out a traffic jam, bad weather, or an important meeting 
that ran late.

Clay