A ? For Daycare Moms (And Working Moms) About Transporting to Preschool

I did family daycare for 20 years and I would not transport to or from preschool because I provided preschool for the children in my care. Many of my friends who did family daycare did transport children to/from preschool. The only thing is they did charge for the time the child was in preschool because they would not be able to fill the spot for that short time period.

I think it's always, always fine to ask. The key is just to phrase the question in such a way that the person feels equally comfortable saying yes or no.

She may not transport as there are many providers here in MN (and other states) who don't due to the liability. Its a grey area of knowledge for most providers and parents as well. If you have not been to many trainings, as a provider, you may be very confused on the insurance issue.

But every single training I have been to says without Commercial insurance policies, your "regular" insurance (whether they know you do Dc....or even say you are covered) can and likely will dispute such a claim if it were to happen. There job is to NOT pay out, and the argument on their part would be that if an accident happend while transporting DC kids, this was during the course of a business trip, not a personal one, therefore a business (commercial) policy should have been in place. Also parents can not sign anything saying they won't sue the provider, blah blah, holding them liable or whatever for the trips to preschool...anything of that nature.

Aside from the obvious inconvenience of transporting...having up to date car seats, a vehicle big enough to transport ALL of the DC kids, the required MN State Transportation Safety training certification...they also HAVE to take every child out of the vehicle when going into the building to drop of and pick up the child....unless a school official is waiting at the curb with the child in hand (as far as I know none operate this way..parents/caregivers are required to go into the building and sign children in and out). A provider can lose their license for leaving a child in a vehicle unattended. Consider this for a winter scenario as well. Lots of snowsuits and boots and in and out of a (??) Minivan, etc...

I am not sure why you would want your kids to go to DC on days you don't work (unless you pay for those days anyway)? If you have T/Th off...this seems ideal for a preschool 2 days a week situation, and daycare the other 3. I guess I am confused why you would need to change that (I guess I am assuming this M,W,F thing is your schedule now?) So why are you being asked to change things so much? It sounds too drastic of a change for your schedule...too much for a provider to ask to make things easier for her or to accomodate another families schedule (just my opinion as a licensed daycare provider of 14 years here in MN)

Good Luck!

You could certainly ask, but this seems like a lot of "juggling" just to stay with a provider. I don't think there's anything offensive about that question, but with the requests SHE's making, she should be prepared for you to find another more flexible sitter.

As a provider, my guess is that while your provider wouldn't be offended, she might decline because this would put her out of ratio if her helper left. If you are working hard to accommodate her needs, however, I don't think it's horrible of you to ask. She might charge extra for this.(?)

One option might be to find another preschool family and ask if they want to arrange a carpool situation, wherein you pick their child up in the morning and drop the child off at preschool and that parent picks up your child when preschool's over and takes them to the caregiver's house.

I don't understand a lot about this. First, why not keep your kids home with you if you are not working Tues/Thurs??? They can learn a lot more being with you than being in preschool a couple of hours. Second, if they are not at daycare Tues/Thurs, why does it matter to your provider if they go to preschool then? Or are you saying the M,W,F daycare schedule does not work for your provider? That she wants your kids to come to daycare a different schedule than the current one?? It is confusing. Third, as a long time daycare provider, I would not be willing to transport to preschool. I offer a lot in my own program that if a parent wants them to do an activity outside of my program, they can find the transportation themselves. Does your provider not provide any preschool activities?? How old are your kids?? I don't think it is too much to ask her if she would drive, but I don't think that is your best solution. As others have said, she has to be within ratio at all times, have training, insurance, car seats, bring all the kids with her or hire someone to stay with the kids not going, the other parents have to agree to have their kids driven around, etc, etc. I think the cons outweigh the pros by far. If you REALLY want your kids in some kind of program outside of daycare, look into ECFE (early childhood family education). They have evening classes you can attend with your children and be a part of the program. And seeing that you are home part time, you could find a daytime class that might work with your schedule. IMO both you and your kids would get more benefit from that.
S.

I'm a bit confused. You say you want your child to go to preschool on the two days that she doesn't go to daycare since they are your days off. So how exactly does that affect your daycare provider?

Have you checked with the preschool? When my son went to preschool, they provided transportation to and from for a small fee. I know some do and some don't. It is worth checking into and if not I would politely ask your provider and maybe add like 2.00 extra everytime transportation is provided.

Our preschool asked parents if anyone could car pool. I used to pick up and drop off a little boy that was in a daycare 2 houses down from me.

I guess I need more information.

My thoughts:
Home care providers usually can't transport kids due to regulations that state children under 12 cannot be in the front seat at any time. They may have 3-4 children and they can't fit in a regular car. If they have a van then each time they get in the car/van they must have a signed field trip/transport permission release form in the vehicle. I would have to say no for those reasons. Plus their vehicle insurance has to be changed to accommodate transportation of children for a business.

If it is a center then if they have full staff and the school is very close by then I would consider it. I actually did this for a few weeks because the boy stayed until about 6pm and I got a full day pay for him. My gasoline cost went up and I had to drop him. His School was several miles away and it added up more than I thought it would. Plus he was half day and didn't eat at school. That added another meal and then the gas cost was nearly as much as I was getting paid.

Sounds like she's already doing a lot to accommodate people. I think you can ASK, but you also have to wonder what happens to the other kids while one of the providers is off doing carpool. And you'd probably have to pay more. Maybe you could inquire at the preschool and see if there is another parent who, for a small fee, would drop your child off at daycare? Or maybe that parent could use you to take her child to preschool on a day that is convenient for you. A lot of people are bartering these days - check it out.

When I was in daycare years ago, my provider took me to and from pre-school and K too! I don't think it would hurt to ask one bit. If nothing else you may have to come up with option #3.

Our former daycare provider did transport from preschool but only if she had the space in her van. We also live in Iowa and regulations may be different here than in Minnesota. But since you did say that you were already changing the preschool schedule around to accomodate your provider, I would ask. I don't think it will offend her (or at least it shouldn't) and the worst she can say is no.

I am not sure if I am understanding your post. You currently work Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday? and go to preschool Tuesday, Thursday?

I guess I am trying to figure out what changes you are making and what changes your preschool is requesting.

If your preschool is asking you to make a change to accommodate them, that you cannot make because of transportation, then it is not unreasonable for you to ask them to meet you in the middle with transportation. If these changes are all on your end then you need to figure them out.

I am a day care provider and do transport kids with my vehicle (have the proper insurances and car seats) but I would not take a day care child to preschool. The reason is because I would have to bundle up the rest of my kidlets in the car and then unload them to take the one child into school. TO much work, even if you paid extra. You could ask your provider but don't expect her to jump at the chance to disrupt her day just for your child.

Does your current provider offer preschool type lessons? If not, you might want to consider finding a new provider who does and then you would be taking care of everything.

Good luck,

Does the preschool have a daycare program that you can use when the preschool is not in session? I'd think that that would be better & easier than bouncing your DD back & forth & stressing & negotiating over transportation.

I'd think a daycare provider caring for kids in the preschool age range would have a preschool program, so as not to lose clients. She doesn't want to transport to a preschool, but she doesn't offer a preschool program? I think I'd be finding someone who did, personally.