[Personal]

I will calmly remind the parent about our pick up policy and the need to be on time. I will ask the parent about the reason to the frequent tardiness. I will remain empathetic, but I also will be firm about the need to be punctual in the future or extra charges will be applied.

[miranda]

make sure the child is reassured they are coming. Once the child has been calmed down, find an activity to distract them.

[miranda]

Talk with the parent about their schedule. See if there is an afterschool program for her child. Make sure her child is safe and secure for that time.

[Ellie]

Explain that the child was very scared, and that the staff would appreciate some communication so they can properly reassure the child. Being late is understandable, but past closing is unacceptable.

[Jeanine]

I think it’s important to always approach scenarios like this with empathy and understanding, explaining to the parents that you totally understand where they are coming from. Also, having the support of admin will allow you to consider the agreement in contract that they’ve signed and helping acknowledge that agreement comes with specific timing standards. I believe approaching a situation like this with the help and presence of admin, will help the severity of understanding this time constraint with the parents.

[Maribel]

I would request to have a meeting with the parent so that we may discuss the recent tardiness. I would start off by trying to understand the reasoning (if the parent is willing to go into detail) behind the late pickups, and offer solutions to help the parent pick up at a reasonable time. I would share what the staff has been doing to help ensure that their child is well taken care of, and ask if there is an alternative parent/guardian who is able to pick up the child on days where the parent wouldn’t be able to arrive on time. I would then remind the parent of any policies in place regarding extra incurred fees for late pickups, and let the parent know we are willing to work to help resolve the tardiness.

[Scion]

I would most certainly get my Director or Lead teacher involved in this situation, because this would not be something for me to take up as a teacher’s assistant. If I were the Director or Lead Teacher myself, I would think of this from the family’s perspective first. I absolutely know what it’s like to have your hands full with work, or if you have a large family and have a lot of things happening in your personal life. I would want to come across as calm, level-headed and supportive as possible because the only thing I can think of to ask in this situation is to ask if anything is wrong, and if I can better provide help or a solution. I would first want to find out what the cause of her picking her child up so late as often as she has been lately. And whether or not I got an answer, I would suggest potential solutions, such as ‘You seem so busy, maybe instead of yourself coming to pick your child up, maybe someone else can pick up the child?’ I would use the technique of opening up to families’ emotions as well, during this exchange. I would want to make this all about the child and their safety and wellbeing. Not that the child wouldn’t be safe at my facility, but I do believe leaving your child alone at a school for a long time is not as safe as if they were to be picked up before it became too late at night. If I were the Director or Lead Teacher, I would bring up our late-pick up policies and how keeping the child over the designated pick up time affects the child negatively. It’s not fair for the child to have to wait so late, and it very well make them feel scared or uncared for by their parent. After reminding her of the policies,I would offer to help Mrs. Hopkins find a reasonably priced babysitter to come pick her child up and take the child home and stay with them until Mrs. Hopkins could come home. And that is with making the assumption that iMrs. Hopkins’ work really was keeping her from being able to pick her child up in a timely manner.I would most certainly get my Director or Lead teacher involved in this situation, because this would not be something for me to take up as a teacher’s assistant. If I were the Director or Lead Teacher myself, I would think of this from the family’s perspective first. I absolutely know what it’s like to have your hands full with work, or if you have a large family and have a lot of things happening in your personal life. I would want to come across as calm, level-headed and supportive as possible because the only thing I can think of to ask in this situation is to ask if anything is wrong, and if I can better provide help or a solution. I would first want to find out what the cause of her picking her child up so late as often as she has been lately. And whether or not I got an answer, I would suggest potential solutions, such as ‘You seem so busy, maybe instead of yourself coming to pick your child up, maybe someone else can pick up the child?’ I would use the technique of opening up to families’ emotions as well, during this exchange. I would want to make this all about the child and their safety and wellbeing. Not that the child wouldn’t be safe at my facility, but I do believe leaving your child alone at a school for a long time is not as safe as if they were to be picked up before it became too late at night. If I were the Director or Lead Teacher, I would bring up our late-pick up policies and how keeping the child over the designated pick up time affects the child negatively. It’s not fair for the child to have to wait so late, and it very well make them feel scared or uncared for by their parent. After reminding her of the policies, I would offer to help Mrs. Hopkins find a reasonably priced babysitter to come pick her child up and take the child home and stay with them until Mrs. Hopkins could come home. And that is with making the assumption that Mrs. Hopkins’ work really was keeping her from being able to pick her child up in a timely manner.

[Ashley]

Discuss pick up and drop off times with the parent. Ask the mom why she is having problems picking her up and discuss other options for the mom such as an after school program or possibly another family member picking her child.

[El Sollman]

I would first empathize with Mrs. Hopkins by telling her I understand that things come up that make it difficult to follow through with commitments such as getting here on time. Then I would bring up the three separate, specific incidents where her child wasn’t picked up at the agreed upon time. I would explain to her that her child can become upset by being the last child here and it also causes our staff to stay longer than they should have to because they have other obligations as well. I would end by telling her that we love having her daughter there but for her child’s benefit it would be best to pick her up on time so she may remain in the program.

[Tim]

Engage parent to discover reason(s) for being late and if everything is OK with parent/family–especially is this is a change in parent behavior.

Remind parent of contract with pick-up times and importance of keeping commitment to pick up child on time, giving clear guidance for fees or other steps that may need to happen if late pick-ups continue.

[Hadiya]

I would check in with the parent and make sure everything is okay first. See if there is an outside factor causing the tardiness and discuss how we can support them. Maybe we could reach out to another family member that the child is allowed to be released to and see if they could pick the child up.
I would ask them to make sure they are proactively communicating with us so we can be prepared to provide extra support for the child since 20 minutes can feel like an overwhelming amount of time to them.
If the parent is unable to make a change, I would then discuss with them that picking their child up earlier could be an option. Overall, we shouldn’t have children here after hours and I don’t want the child to development any negative connotations about the center because they may feel like they’ve been left there when the parent is late- this could create a difficult drop off in the morning as well.

[Maria]

In the beginning, I would have found out the reason for their lateness, then I would have tried to sympathize with the parents, but I would have told the parents that the child remains alone in the group and it becomes harder for him to stay alone. And I’ll ask them to find a way to pick up the child early

[Fang]

Personally, I would start by inviting her to a sit down meeting if she is consistently late. I would want to talk to her about a plan we could both work on in order to ensure that her child is picked up on time in the future.

[Tawna]

I would check to see if everything is okay. I would ask the parent if there is someone else who can pick the child up at the correct time. I would also remind her that it does cost extra to keep the child later.

[Haerin]

First I would let the mother know that 20 minutes may not feel long to an adult, but for a child 20 minutes is a long time and it affects the child to always be the last one to get picked up. Then I will proceed to ask what the cause of her frequently late pick up is and see if it’s a thing that the center and the parent can work together to come up with a solution.