A Mother Cried Profusely for Arriving 1 Minute Late at a Front Desk of a Daycare that Charges $15 for Even the Slightest Late Drop-offs
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The original poster has a 2-year-old daughter that she takes to a daycare.
The daycare has started charging a $15 late fee for dropping off. Yes, we are talking about giving $15 for a 1-minute late drop-off and not being late for picking up the child. And the thing is, they do not tell you; you just get charged. OP has already been charged a few times, yet she says she does not know for what exact days.
Difficult Financial Times
OP and her husband have been in a sticky financial situation, which has started draining them. Her husband was out of work for some months, which had them turn into their savings, which they exhausted.
This whole financial crisis and her job are stressing her out. Sometimes, if you are in such tough situations, little triggers could make you break down, and that’s precisely what happened to OP.
So, OP woke up this morning, and her child is struggling to wake up. The child refuses to get dressed and does not want to walk out of the door. OP admits this is just a child being a child, but she couldn’t control herself. She quickly got mad and yelled at the child, “We’ve got to go!”
Her child started crying, so OP took some time to comfort her.
Letting it Out
She says she was just scared they would be late for the daycare and didn’t want to be charged another $15.
When she arrived at the daycare’s front desk, she was 1 minute late, meaning she had to part with $15. Feeling broken, she started crying. No, it was not a silent cry of frustration. She let out all her stress and despair in a sloppy messy cry. She couldn’t just hold back.
She later apologized to the front desk staff for not holding it together.
Redditors Weigh In
Is late drop-off fees a thing at daycares?
Redditors agreed that late pick-ups needed to be charged, but the case should not be the same with late drop-offs. One commenter said, “This is incredibly odd and frustrating. While our daycare says it’s best if kids are there for a certain time when programming formally begins, I have never heard of being charged for dropping off late- only being late to pick up. I am so sorry this is the case for you. You don’t need this on top of everything else!”
Another commenter seemingly sees some reason with the daycare charging late drop-off fees. They say, “My daycare doesn’t let your kid in if you’re even one minute late. At that point, all teachers are in ratio, and no one can open the door. So I can somewhat understand the reasoning here.”
However, the above logic does not make sense to another Redditor who said, “The issue with this logic is that there’s no one to cover teachers’ lunch breaks or any other breaks (including the bathroom!). Also gives the impression there’s no support staff at all. Just seems like an excuse on their part.”
Another commenter thinks there should be more flexibility as handling children and getting them ready can be unpredictable, “Respectfully, no. It’s a daycare with small children, who can be unpredictable, poop at the last minute, etc. They need to have at least an iota of flexibility. What if there were an emergency? This policy is bonkers.”
And lastly, someone who works in the field said, “I teach preschool and never heard of this. The schools I work at usually say you need to drop off by a certain time to not be disruptive, but just let them know if you are because of appointments or something. My kids’ school says if you drop them off after 9, you can’t take them to their room, but you’re not banished from attending that day. And $15?!? Late pick-up is $1 or $5/min, sometimes just 15 for 10. But 15 per minute. {Gosh}, someone had a stick up their **s the day they made that rule.”
What do you think about charging $15 for late drop-offs? How about charging this amount for just one minute of lateness?
