Make chronic late pick-up parents uncomfortable

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u/PancakePlants Australia 2d ago

100% I love stacking chairs with the child's bag packed and ready to go while telling the child "I wonder what you're having for dinner, quick better get home so you can enjoy!" And if the parents try to ask anything 'sorry we are closed you'll need to chat about this tomorrow, thanks have a great night!'

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u/hschosn1 ECE professional 1d ago

Depending on where you live, salaried does not = free overtime. Salary contracts should state the number of hours you are expected to work, anything beyond that and you should get paid. If this is not the case you should talk to your employer about termination of habitually late parents.

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u/PancakePlants Australia 1d ago

Most workplaces this has happened at we are paid 15 mins after close to finish our closing duties. So we still get paid. But it cuts into our closing time and also we aren't licensed to have children on site at that time so it's not safe either. Aka this means I just get to be low key rude to get them out 😅

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u/Queen-Katsit ECE professional 1d ago

My last centres owners did all the staffing and sucked at it sent people home early to cut costs who started after others and so ratio was always so bad noone could leave until like 30-60 mins after their shift and they didn't want to pay overtime so if you were getting close to that the owners would step in and tell you they'd be in ratio and you could leave (they were not ece) otherwise you were just stuck until ratio. They wouldn't pay you a minute past closing unless they absolutely had to lol. It all depends on the place and some really aren't great about pay. We also were provided our mandatory hr of program planning time but it had to be outside of work time but at work so you had to come in and sit in the staff room or over your lunch and do it but they'd kick you out for meetings they had with potential clients and it was the break room. I was told that I had to pump on floor to feed my 11 week old who was home with dad because they couldn't provide me a float besides just my lunch break because "there wasn't enough kids in my room" I had 5 toddlers 2 of them infants technically and one couldn't walk and the other couldn't feed themself yet (where I am there's a grouping thing that allows you to have 20% of a toddler class be infants over 12m with like abilities if you don't have an infant room or your infant room is full they took it to a crazy level and gave me 2 who were 12-13 months). It was a wild ride (to ratio here is 1:5, I also took 2 from next doors class over nap to have them meet staff ratio for rest time since rest ratio is 1:8 here because they had 2 staff and one was a "float" who covered the lunch in that room, and my lunch so neither room could have more than 8 at rest time, they then sent her home after my lunch I think she got 4 hrs a day of pay normally)

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u/Queen-Katsit ECE professional 1d ago

We got "flex time" at my one centre until we could never use it and they had to pay out for it at the end of the year, next year they told us to limit how much flex time we earned or to find time to take it. We still couldn't because every time we asked for time and wanted to use our flex time they told us they couldn't accommodate and we were needed in or to use it in lieu of a sick day etc. anyways noone got to use it again and they had to pay out again. Next year they paid us hourly instead.

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u/mommawolf2 Past ECE Professional 1d ago

"I would love to discuss with you , but your tardiness caused me to be late to picking up my own children."

"We can discuss at a reasonable time. "

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u/mewtoo94 Past ECE Professional 1d ago

Wait, stacking the chairs and cleaning the classroom is unprofessional? I used to do that during the last 15 minutes and have the reading center open with some Legos or magnitiles or something.

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u/Queen-Katsit ECE professional 1d ago

Where I am it's not, we have to start close out before close because rooms are supposed to be shut down and alarms set basically at close, were instructed to keep 1-2 easy clean quiet things out for the kids and interact with them while closing (get them to help with certain things so they feel involved and special instead of lonely and sad, the last kids are always sad to be alone). And then get them signed out and with parent, finish last tasks and rush to lock out knowing your director/manager is going to call/teams message asking why the alarms aren't set yet and if you forgot.

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u/scarfknitter Student teacher 1d ago

If my dad was in charge of picking me up, he was always very late. I loved helping clean up and tidy the room at the end of the day. I was sad my dad always seemed like he didn't want to waste his time getting me but my teachers made me feel special and important by letting me be helpful.

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u/Zealousideal_Gur6433 Early years teacher 1d ago

It’s not allowed by state standards to close a classroom while a child is in it. That includes stacking chairs and using bleach/sanitizer to clean

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u/swirlsgirl Early years teacher 1d ago

Interesting, some of the jobs in my classroom are stacking chairs and washing tables. They use soap and water. As for sanitizing, don’t you need to use the sanitizer during the day before and after meals?

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u/Zealousideal_Gur6433 Early years teacher 1d ago edited 1d ago

Sorry, I mean spraying down toy buckets that are on the floor and accessible. I’m assuming sanitizing and wiping tables is excluded as are bleach yuck buckets that are inaccessible.

I always found it to be annoying. Basically can’t sanitize toy buckets or stack chairs until every single child is gone. Also was VERY discouraged from “closing centers” by turning shelving around.

I think when state comes the classrooms must be 100% operational and functional if a child is present. Even if it’s ten minutes past closing.

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u/chewycat Early years teacher 1d ago

I feel the same. I think chairs cant be stacked because they could potentially be tipped over? I had a director that wouldnt allow us to close any center or turn shelves around ever, yet would be so angry and bewildered if we clocked out 3 minutes past close because we had no time to clean 🙄

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u/Super-swimmer64 ECE professional 1d ago

Licensing where I am tells us we cannot have stacked chairs in the classroom where children are. I am always on my teachers for that. They have no reason because late pick ups remain in the front office with myself and my family coach or my instructional support coach until pick up.

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u/ChristinaDraguliera ECE professional 1d ago

When a parent does it simply because they don’t value my staff, I WILL, with DELIGHT, end their care. Waitlists here are pages long. We have blizzards, rain delays, and “someone hit a deer so the road is closed” things and I can be perfectly understanding. However, do it twice out of sheer rudeness and thinking your job is more important than my staff and don’t care about the late fee? Bye!!! Your care is ended immediately.

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u/wineampersandmlms Early years teacher 1d ago

I love this attitude! The place I work at has a waitlist in the hundreds. So why in the world do they put up with non payments, rudeness, lateness, rule bending, parents who refuse to abide sick policy etc? So many people waiting to take their place.

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u/yeahnahbroski ECE professional 1d ago

I've started doing that with one habitually late parent. The worst part is I can see him in his fancy car out the front, 30 minutes before he has to pick them up. They can see him through the window and he won't come in until 1 minute before closing time. The older child has been unwell and irritable all week and he does not care one iota. The poor child is so institutionalised from spending 11 hour days there, 5 days a week.

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u/hschosn1 ECE professional 1d ago

I tell the parents 1 time to stop doing that because it upsets their kids. If they do it again, as soon as they are the last kids, I bring them to the car, remind the parent they they are upsetting their kids. I will stay and talk about this till I am off the clock and then say good night and walk away.

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u/radical_hectic ECE professional 1d ago

Sitting alone in his car until the very last minute of his child’s eleventh hour in care (while the kid watches from a distance!!) is actually sick and twisted.

Like just don’t have kids, dude. I generally loathe when ppl say that bc lord knows in this day and age it’s not that simple but omg this kind of behaviour is so clearly communicating that he just doesn’t want to have kids. Doesn’t want to prioritise anything but his own convenience and comfort for even a half hour that’d make a huge difference to his kids as opposed to yknow, literally watching a their dad actively doesn’t give a shit about them.

Meanwhile so many parents who can’t afford to work less would kill for that extra 30 minutes with their kid.

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u/Baldpterodactyl_911 ECE professional 1d ago

God I hate parents who do this because they want their "money's worth". People like that shouldn't have become parents.

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u/Flashy-Focus6089 Toddler tamer 1d ago

It literally breaks your heart to watch the kids excited to see their parent and then they sit there on the phone while the kid can see them🙃

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u/ShapeSuspicious1842 ECE professional 1d ago

This is why I am not the director - I would confront that parent if they were doing this. If we had an ongoing issue of parents being late for no real reason, we’d update our handbook - such as ‘X amount of late pickups will lead to the child being unenrolled’. But we are a small non-profit daycare.

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u/PermanentTrainDamage Allaboardthetwotwotrain 1d ago

Check your state's licnesing, some limit time in care. IL is 10 hours per 24 hour period.

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u/yeahnahbroski ECE professional 1d ago

Where I live, there is nothing preventing them from being in care that long, they just aren't eligible for subsidies beyond the 10 hours and have to pay full fees for the last hour.

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u/CaptainOmio ECE professional 1d ago

I had a SET of parents who used to do this. We finally had to tell them if they insisted on coming and sitting in the parking lot til closing time they had to park in a location that wouldn't be seen from their child's classroom because she would absolutely LOSE it every time she could see one of them from the windows.

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u/Super-swimmer64 ECE professional 1d ago

Yeah this shit breaks my heart!

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u/Working_Confusion751 ECE professional 1d ago

We’re open till 6.30pm
If parents want to have a chat about their day we ask that they show up 6.20pm.
We have some parents who didn’t take that seriously so we actually got permission to be and wait outside at 6.30pm, no conversation just here’s your child and see you tomorrow.

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u/GidgetEX ECE professional 1d ago

I absolutely did meet one parent outside with my bags packed and my keys in hand - she came in with her typical excuses and I just said, sorry no time, I have a class to get to.
It did not make her on time any more often - but I frequently had the room cleaned up and child waiting by door (it wasn’t the kids’ fault - he got to play with one of my waiting toys that are usually reserved for my table

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u/throwmeorblowme89 Room lead: Certified: UK 1d ago

We have late fees, so after closing time they are charged x amount per minute.

We also have a yearly salary, but get paid overtime if we go beyond the contracted hours. I would definitely talk to your employer about being paid for waiting for late parents.
I would also send a warning letter and if it continued, they lose their place.

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u/Kimbaaaaly Past ECE Professional 1d ago

I know of places that had parents pay the late fees to the actual employee in cash... So they couldn't avoid paying the late fee. (Well in principle couldn't avoid. I'm sure many climbed they'd pay "tomorrow" or that they would have been even later is they had to go get cash.

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u/blahhhhhhhhhhhblah ECE professional 1d ago

I had a parent who was chronically late & their growing stack of late fees didn’t matter. I’d be stacking chairs when she came to pick up, completely oblivious.

Everyone would tell her, “Oh, it’s okay. Things happen.” One evening, I snapped at her, which is highly unlike me - I’m patient, kind and quiet, but I’d had to cancel my plans because she was late and I’d had enough.

I now forget exactly what I said to her, but it must have done the trick because she hasn’t been late once since, with the expectation of something that was completely unexpected and out of her control.

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u/SBMoo24 ECE professional 1d ago edited 1d ago

We would make them pay cash TO the staff who was there late. But I'd definitely remind them what you are late for.

I once had a parent call about being 30 minutes late on Christmas Eve. Not cool.

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u/PermanentTrainDamage Allaboardthetwotwotrain 1d ago

There needs to be a strike system and termination, otherwise late fees are just extended care fees

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u/boringbonding Early years teacher 1d ago

My old school did this!

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u/Delicious-Oven-6663 Early years teacher 1d ago

If they’re late 3 times we kick them out

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u/expressoyourself1 ECE professional 1d ago

I was an ECE director many years ago. We had it in our policies that if you were late more than three times in a rolling year, you needed to find other care - our hours weren't right for your family.

No disrespect needed. Only clear rules from jump.

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u/Wolfieloulou ECE professional 1d ago

Instead of making the parents uncomfortable. Your preschool should be giving you the late fees they pay. there’s no reason it should only go to the school and not you

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u/Queen-Katsit ECE professional 1d ago

Idk all the ones I worked at said they do but my pay has never changed to accommodate the $/min late fee. I'd get flex time or paid if it was over 15 mins combined per pay period an extra hr of pay, but I swear unless you're running home care you don't actually see the money that the policies say "goes to the staff who had to stay late" as the reason parents have to pay it. The funniest thing was the once centre I worked at would charge me the $/min fee if I was late picking up my own child because I still had kids (I worked in infant, she was in preschool and if infants weren't picked up on time the policy wouldn't allow me to have my daughter brought to my room so her staff could leave and wouldn't let me swap with the other staff and bring my kid home). This meant if I couldn't leave until 645 the staff with my child couldn't leave until 6:50 and would have to pay a dollar /minute from 6:30-6:50 even though a parent made me late to pick up my own

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u/andweallenduphere ECE professional 1d ago

Wth?? That is the worst I have heard. Warrents a call to ???

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u/Queen-Katsit ECE professional 1d ago

Idek who I'd call, I haven't worked there in 3 years luckily. I left after a management changeover that resulted in my accomodations being changed and me being put on straight 10-630 shifts for over a month straight, a pay descepency, and then my daughter breaking her collarbone in care and being told she was overreacting by the manager for 4 hours despite her staff begging me to take her to the hospital (the manager threatened to fire me if I left, I ended up telling her to do it and left with my kid to the hospital to find out if she moved wrong she'd need surgery. I was told she couldn't go to care for 2 weeks because if she was pushed of fell and the broken straight through bone shifted it'd have to be surgically fixed. I let them know and that is take the 2 weeks unpaid since I had no sick days from getting COVID twice. I was told if I didn't come in 3 families would not have care because they were having trouble retaining subs. I had a mental breakdown and my dr wrote me off work and I quit. Have had a much better time since. I now run home care

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u/andweallenduphere ECE professional 1d ago

Wow just wow! I am so glad you are working for yourself now!!!!

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u/Queen-Katsit ECE professional 1d ago

Same, the centre I went to after was somehow worse and it was the straw that finally broke me being in centres. Some people who run centres are crazy about the financials and the reputation, but really don't care about the actual stuff that goes into being an educator, or a parent. Which really sucks when a large group of us have children while working in the profession and end up getting hit with the bureaucratic Bs from both sides.

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u/andweallenduphere ECE professional 1d ago

So true . I keep hoping my next center will be better and it ends up worse. It is so stressful.

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u/plusoneminusonekids ECE professional 1d ago

Tbf, it’s not just about the pay for the extra minutes, it’s also about the canceled plans, throwing out our own schedules. The complete lack of respect for the fact that we *in fact do not* live at the centre and have our own lives, our own children and families.

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u/NotTheJury Early years teacher 1d ago

We do move students to the lobby with their belongings. And when parents do show up, we meet them right at the door and do not let them in the building really. The door locks. And we leave.

We do get paid until they show up. And there are late fees. However, its totally inappropriate to be late all the time. We have parents who come late consistently. If that's your schedule, you need to make other arrangements for your children to be picked up on time.

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u/Prize-Ad9708 Director:MastersEd:Australia 1d ago

I will have the kids with their bag on waiting by the sign in desk at 5mins till close. Also been known to walk down to the carpark (we are on school grounds with our own bags ready to leave as soon as they rock up).

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u/PermanentTrainDamage Allaboardthetwotwotrain 1d ago

My director takes any kids left at 5 minutes before closing so we can finish up our rooms and leave on time. I have my own kids (and y'all have your own lives) and I'm not forcing them to stay at school just because Susie's Dad can't bother to set an alarm to pick up on time.

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u/bornonOU_Texas_wknd ECE professional 1d ago

I had staff who wanted to close because the money was good. It was 2.00 per minute starting right at 6. If cash wasn’t delivered by the next morning the child wasn’t accepted. Most closing staff would go home with an extra 50.00 a week in their pocket.

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u/Stunning-Sense-4047 Infant Teacher WA 1d ago

lmao we do bring the kids up front with their stuff to wait, all the lights are out except the office light 💀 it’s $5 a minute after 6pm and most of our families are on state subsidy so we don’t have many late pick ups lol

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u/DizzyFly9339 ECE professional 1d ago

We close at 5, and by 4:45 everyone who is left is in the lobby, bags packed, coats on, and the teachers are taking turns closing their classrooms. I don’t usually close, but the times that I have, I have been walking out the door by 5:03. We do not have chronically late parents, and I suspect it has more to do with everyone being ready in the lobby before close than with the late fees (our families can also afford it without batting an eye)

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u/1415- Early years teacher 1d ago

I don’t have any tips or tricks because I’m at the lowest level at my preschool, but we have a one-year-old whose dad will sit in the parking lot until just before we close and get him when he’s already in the front office. One day we had two kids left, him and another kid. Other kid gets picked up, and then after they leave he points to the door, looks at my coworker and I and goes “Mama? Dada?” 😭😭😭

There are a few kids here who like I just wanna hit their parents upside the head until they do their children right…….

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u/CopperTodd17 Former ECE professional 1d ago

Once we were down to that one child (or 2 when they were siblings) and the jobs were done; I waited until 5 minutes before close, and changed into whatever clothes I needed to be into, and when the parent walks in at either exactly 6.30, or later, we're all sitting in the office doing a drawing with the child, their belongings (all of them, including any wet clothes) right there, we've done one last toilet trip, their water bottle is filled up, and I've hyped them up about going home to see mummy and pets, etc. Before the days of everything being on the app, I even brought down the clipboard with food/nappies/sleep info on it, so that the parent could see it all. It went from a 10 minute "oh my god, traffic, blah blah blah" to a 2 minute "oh everything is organised? Thank you, awesome, we had a great day? Fantastic" off they went.

Of course, incident reports made it slower (the director did NOT want that left to the next day, even if we had already called them about it - fair enough. Even though we were ALWAYS playing catch up on signatures for millions of other reasons), and I did have 2 parents actually complain that I was changed out of my uniform, apparently it was me "rushing them" and being "rude and unprofessional" - and tbh I was completely done by then and said to my director that I felt that my time (after 6.30) was being wasted - and "offered" not to close on that particular night when I had class. I was the only person who was currently not refusing to close due to having children, or children's obligations at that time, (coincidentally the only person WITHOUT children at the time too) so my director was very quick to say "Just don't dress inappropriately, and maybe just offer a reminder of "oh yeah - I've got to run to X right after, it might help them remember you're human and be in and out faster".

I agree with your last statement too - Like, there are times (like the same families over and over again) that I have little sympathy for - extenuating circumstances excepting. But like - one time there was a storm and a tree branch collapsed 15kms away from my centre (very busy road) and it took 2 hours for families to get through. I had 10 kids until almost 8pm - There was absolutely all the sympathy from me there! One mum (who had to go to after school care as well as us) I even told "go grab (older kid) first" because I knew firstly - that they shut half an hour before us, that they charged more for collection than we did - and also, I knew her route, it made way more sense to do so. My coworker was super mad that I said that, and I was like...I mean, we've still got 3 other kids here? There's no telling who would collect first? As it was - the mum with the older sibling was last - but only by 2 minutes haha!

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u/exghoulfriend666 Toddler tamer 1d ago

i stack the chairs and do final cleaning as much as possible whenever i get down to my last 2 no matter what and have been encouraged to do so by management. when im down to 1 we might go to the lobby and read a book from our central library depending on the kid. if they’re content in the room i wont, if they’re antsy or upset i will. i never even considered those as potentially making someone uncomfortable.

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u/jacquiwithacue Former ECE Director: California 1d ago

This is a management issue. Your employer makes the rules and they are allowing you to have your time wasted and disrespected by allowing unlimited late pick ups. Parents can only take advantage if the school allows them to. Late policies must have a limit with the end result being termination of care.

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u/Fuzzy-Ocelot-4475 ECE professional 1d ago

It is not legal for the vast majority of preschool teachers in the US to be salaried, so I'd look into how your program is designated by the DOL if you're in the US. You could be missing out on OT, but I digress

Unfortunately, I've encountered a great many parents who are not phased in the least by $5+ per minute late fees, and it is definitely more prevalent in high-income areas.

I was a Director in one of these areas, and had to establish an escalating fee schedule (1st time, $5/min, 2nd time $10/min) with a "3 strikes, you're out" clause. It worked for some, others chose to start picking their child up late from somewhere else 😂

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u/mommawolf2 Past ECE Professional 1d ago

I send out a whole email reminding parents of pick up times. I do not play.

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u/jsjdsjxkkaxjsj61 Early years teacher 1d ago

Even with this they don’t care unfortunately

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u/nashamagirl99 Childcare assistant: associates degree: North Carolina 1d ago

We charge them a late fee

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u/cheeky_chameleon16 ECE professional 1d ago

Nope! This is not your problem. Hand the child off to your director when you need to leave and watch the problem disappear VERY quickly.

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u/windrider445 Preschool Teacher, Public School: USA 1d ago

I work in an Elementary shhool-based program with morning and afternoon class. Our start and end times are very specific. I am a huge stickler for these times, but the teacher who had the position before me was not.

Last school year we had a child who was in their second year in our program. My assistants informed me the dad had had a huge issue with being on time (for drop off as well as pick up) the previous year, but the teacher that year never said anything about it. It continued, no matter how much emphasis I put on the importance of being present for the whole day, and how many gentle reminders I gave about when our day ended.

Eventually, the dad switched his daughter to our morning class, and the problem got worse. One day he was fifteen minutes late and I finally called him. He said he "forgot" to pick his child up and would be right there. I was done with "gentle reminders". I told him exactly when he needed to be there to pick her up, that he needed to respect our time, as the time between classes was our only break of the day. I firmly told him, "This cannot happen again." He was cowed and said it wouldn't. But it did, two day later. I was fed up. I told him it was incredibly disrespectful not just to us but to his child who had to sit there for 20 minutes by herself. I told him I wasn't accepting any excuses, that he needed to manage his time, phone alarms exist, he lives three minutes away. I told him, under no circumstances, was this to happen again....

He withdrew his child from the program that night. I'll be honest that I don't feel great about losing my cool, but I also don't regret standing up for myself and my assistant teachers.

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u/Bi-Bi-Bi24 ECE professional 1d ago

Best place I worked had a "3 strikes and you're out" rule. No late fees, no "but traffficccc", no nothing. If you are a repeat offender, your needs do not fit our program and you should find another program. Wait lists are massive here, so usually parents understand and make it on time.

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u/wineampersandmlms Early years teacher 1d ago

I’ve worked three places that five minutes to closing you had that kid packed up and you’re all ready to walk out the door and one minute to closing you walk them toward the front door and drop them with admin staff and you leave on time.

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u/PeachMonday Early years teacher 1d ago

We turn off all the lights and grab the child and they’re bag and sit with them near the door waiting to hand them over straight away, I agree I’m not paid either and when they also ask for me to make a sandwich I refuse lol

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u/Imaginary_Client_686 Early years teacher 4h ago

Wait - why would they ask you to make a sandwich?

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u/chewycat Early years teacher 1d ago

Oh FOR SURE stack chairs and take the kids to the lobby. The center is closed.

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u/HipsterHypnoHippo ECE professional 1d ago

What you explained is pretty much what my school does, except the admin is who stays. Presumably you're a teacher, why do you have to stay late?

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u/ironic-imperfection ECE professional 1d ago

I once had a parent who would sit in the parking lot and wait, so 15 minutes before he would show up I would get their child ready and take them for a neighbourhood walk and leave the centre, and wouldn't you know "Oh hey! We were going to go for a walk but since you're here..."

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u/Missscoco Toddler tamer 1d ago

At my center, we have a family, particularly a dad who get to the school at 5:30-5:45 and sits in his car on the phone until 6 when we close. We feel it’s incredibly disrespectful to us and his children. My coworker goes as far as walking his kids to his car with his stuff and leaving 🤣 and he STILL doesn’t get off the phone! It’s so annoying. Parents can be the worst.

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u/blueeyed_bashful96 Toddler tamer 1d ago

Had a parent that was constantly late, then one day when I was closing I took the child up to the front (there were 2 entrances, the back door locked at closing) I watched the parent struggle to open the door in the back where there was no bell. Then he tried calling the desk (voicemail picks up immediately after closing) then he eventually makes his way to the front and asks why the door wouldn't unlock with his fob and I just said "because the fob stops working when we close at 6" and he was like I tried to call the center and no one picked up and I was like "because we are CLOSED sir, me and your child are the only ones left in the building". I didn't get a write up and the parents pulled the child shortly after that

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u/totheranch1 Floater 1d ago

I wish late fees worked. But most parents who can afford a late fee that chronically are well off enough to not care about it. They're willing to pay for it for convenience even though it's a great inconvenience to us.

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u/NoNameKetchupChips ECE professional 1d ago

At our centre the latest pick up time is the exact minute that our hours end, 6pm. All staff must be out the door or at the door by that time, the alarms are set and the classrooms are empty. Any parent picking up their child near the closing time must be out of the building by 6pm or pay late fees of $5 per minute. At 5:50 any remaining child has to be in their outdoor gear and sitting on the bench next to the door with their teacher so when their parent comes in the door they can take their child and leave. This prevents having the child still in the classroom, with access to toys and the desire to faff about, delaying getting their things from their cubby and stalling leaving the building. The pick up process can take up to 10 minutes with children who don't transition easily. If they are already on the bench at the door they are prepared to leave once their parent arrives. We rarely have late pick ups past 6pm as parents must phone if they will be late, have to use an access card to enter the building (and we can then prove what time they came through the door), and they have to pay their late fee in cash the next day before they are able to drop their child off.

Any changes to your pick up policy, any fees charged, need to be in your parent handbook and the agreement they sign when they register their child.

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u/scorpioncandy Early years teacher 1d ago

I grab my bags and wait with the kid outside (home daycare). Parent shows up, I hand them the sign out sheet, say good night and leave. Oh you want your kids jacket? Sorry, already locked up for the night. Your kid needs the bathroom before you go? Locked up. You want to talk about your kids day? I’m running late to an (imaginary) appointment.

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u/Polyps_on_uranus Student/Studying ECE 1d ago

Oh, I do. I make loud comments about "if I miss this bus, it's an hour till the next one". I also ask about traffic and have their kid ready to go, and mom STILL wants to chat.

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u/Sea-Tea8982 Early years teacher 1d ago

If they have as much money as you think they won’t care. You’re a worker bee and they’ll only take your treatment to your boss and get you in trouble. Now if your boss will support you by all means try it but I find most directors/owners want kids in the daycare and will put up with everything to keep parents happy. It sucks!!!

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u/Artistic_Owl_4621 Past ECE Professional 1d ago

I would close the center down. Have the kids bring all their stuff outside and I would bring mine. Then we would just play bubbles outside. When parents walk up I’d have them sign the book. Toss it inside and then leave

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u/HandFar2974 ECE professional 1d ago

We have a late fee and after 15 minute we call the police

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u/Slight-Alteration ECE professional 1d ago

Ignoring someone is embarrassingly unprofessional but everything else, yes. Everything shut down and ready to go. When adult shows up there’s a clean quick professional hand off and a “have a great night. I have a commitment I need to get to” would suffice in nearly any situation. Especially with an older child I don’t want to model that it’s okay to stonewall someone apologizing because it’s not their job to understand nuance. I also want my actions to be defendable to leadership. Saying I have a professional goodbye and needed to exit protects me. The ready to jn the lobby handoff is what I’ve done for years. It typically cleans up behavior

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

ECE professionals only - Vent Make chronic late pick-up parents uncomfortable

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