CM Club - Genuinely curious, how long do the drop offs/pick ups take at your house?

[saltire]

I'm not looking for a row, just wondering. This morning mindee 1 (yes, him again) appeared at 8.47. We were all ready to leave the house, if I hadn't had to go back for Ds2's lunchbox, we would have been on our way. We weren't late though as it only takes 5mins. Then mindee 1 and mum appear. She did the usual "oh you're my baby I love you so much" tons of kisses and cuddles. Then he wanted to hold her hands and bounce, (which he does when she drops him off sooner) so he had a few of those, then he wanted to do runs at her so she could pick him up and swing him round, then more hugs and kisses. Finally at 8.55 I had to say "I'm sorry but we really need to leave now. If you want you can wait in the house for me until i get back". No, she said she would go, but just " a couple more kisses for my baby".
This is the mum who has the longest drop off and pick up of all mine, mindee 2's mum get a big hug and a kiss off her DS on the doorstep, and he's away playing, and the other 2 mindees are the same.

So, how long do drop offs take in your house? Are they a quick hug and kiss, or do they take ages?

drop off vary between parents, normally 5-10 mins as theyll all off to work/uni.pick ups are another matter!..i have to steer them out of door normally!..i would leave a little earlier than normal time, say your watch is fast, tell her school have changed start time for you LO and you have to be out by x time.

i would personally do a newsletter with other things in but stating although you can appreciate how hard it is for some to leave their child, time keeping and dro[ off/collections must be kept as discussed otherwise your and your mindees day will be upset.good luck, think youll need it!

haha
i'm off this week so just have an image of yu rushing out this morning

i have a mindee mum like yours she come in at 9.10am and sits him on her knee saying mummy loves you and i dont want to leave you bah bah bah
funny thing is that she brings him if she has a week off and doesnt do the "i dont want to leave you" story

Pinkchick, you obviously haven't read my comments in other threads about about mindee 1! I'm actually paid from 8am till 6pm, which means a drop of any time between 8am onwards and up to 6pm. She drove all the way to work with him one day and had to come back, then on Friday she turned up at 3.30, "I was planning to finish early anyway, so my boss let me away even earlier", Hmm, but you didn't tell me you were going to finish early.

When she picks him up it's the same, whereas other parents come in, listen to anything I have to say and go!

ah, i knoew which one you mean now!..god lost cause i think

Even if you are paid from 8 til 6 IT DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE AT HER BECK AND CALL or that your time is free for her to take up as she wishes you still have things to do places to go and people to see!

Bein paid from 8 til 6 means you will care for her child/ keep the space for her child.

I really wouldn't like to have my routine/ plans messed about, i have no problems with children being dropped off late/ early/ different days etc what i would have a problem with is parents thinking its ok to do all that without consulting me first and without notice.

When I drop DS off, he runs straight into the playroom to see who is already there and I have to shout him back if I want a kiss. So generally pretty quick. Pick ups take longer because I have to nag him into his shoes and gather up his possessions. Although on Tuesdays when we have to get to swimming pronto, she generally has him ready with his shoes on. She's lovely.

LMG, I'm used to this pair by now, I have been their CM for both their children for 4 years! DH describes them as "dippy" in the nicest possible way. I recently posted on here about the fruit the child gets sent with, or the time that they didn't turn up to collect him wehn i had a hopsital appointment, and we had to take him with us. DH had to adjust the car seat, because the straps didn't go over the child's shoulders, they sat mid arm. It's almost as though they are trying to do the very best for their child, but not quite succeding. I have no doubt that she loves her children , it's obvious in the way she acts when she drops off/picks up.

Dippy or not it wouldnt just to phone and let you know their plans even if not much notice. They would drive me mental!

Some drop offs are really quick- the older children's parents don't even get out of the car! Thankfully, my drop offs are currently all quite brief goodbyes and any delays are due to mum giving instructions/explaining been up all night or whatever.

In the past I've had some challenging drop offs. One that sticks in my mind is one of my first mindies - the mum would sit down & play and then ASK her child if it was all right for her to leave. when he said no she would say "oh okay 5 mins more then". She would stay for a good hour some days.

Prolonged goodbyes can make it harder for the child to settle. I'm getting a bit better at encouraging mums to make it brief, i make more of a point of discussing our approach when we do the contracts before they start.

all drop offs really quick - less than a minute Id say but pick ups can range from 5 to 10 mins!

I collect mindee1 on way to school so it's nearly always less than 5 mins while he gets shoes on. Mindee2 usually gets called back to kiss his Mum then is away up the stairs to find my ds. Mindee3 takes about 5 mins or so while Mum or Dad give me a run down on the last couple of days as she only comes once a week. All 3 are stress free.

Pick-ups, however, are slightly longer and more stressful. All mindees get collected at the same time and it gets very noisy and I heave a huge sigh of relief when everyone has gone!! Everyone wants to "do diaries" or I give them a run-down of our day and everyone wants Mum's attention (especially my ds!!). I'm working on a strategy that seems to be partly working so far! I've started dropping one mindee to her own home and if mindee1 mum got home on time would be able to drop him off too on my way home! Like I said, I'm still working on it!!

I did have one Mum who collected at 2.00 which would leave me with an hour to tidy up/have my lunch while other mindee slept before having to do the school run. But she'd always hang around for up to an hour chatting! It used to drive me nuts but I never had the heart to tell her to leave!! Sometimes I'd have mindee ready on the door step so there was no opportunity to come in (is that mean?).

Mine all take under 5 minutes, AM and PM. I also have a note in my proceedures that I leave the house at 8.30 sharp for school and if you are later than that, you'll be sitting on the door step until 9. It obviously isn't written quite like that - but everyone got the message!

No, thats the right thing to do. I tell all my parents that if they want to talk to me about anything, to ring me after dinner. Kids are all hyped up to see parents and they are just dying to get home, so its not the time or the place for a chat. I also get kids ready for parents, so they don't hang around. You're desperate for the day to end too of course!