On the Time Clock With Day Care

MELVA ATAYDE, Mother of two; social worker, Northridge

I work in Pacoima and drive to Northridge to pick up my 6-year-old son from his after-school day care. Then I rush out to Sherman Oaks to pick up my 4-year-old daughter, and then I drive back home to Northridge. I have been late as much as 45 minutes to pick up my daughter from day care. At my son’s day care, being late can be pretty expensive: $2 for the first five minutes, then $1 a minute. This is payable in cash only, so if I don’t have it and have to stop at the ATM, I’m going to be even later and have to pay more. At my daughter’s day care, it’s $10 for the first 15 minutes or any portion thereof; anything after that is $20.

Unfortunately, I’ve been late a lot of times. Sometimes, it can’t be helped. As a single parent, I’m it, I’m the only parent they have to pick them up. I don’t have any family nearby who can help. There are times when I take my kids to work with me because I know that I will be working late and the alternative is that I’ll be late to pick them up. My biggest fear is that one day I will arrive late and find that they have left my child at the police department and charged me with child abandonment. That was the policy at one day care center I had my child in.

I feel a lot of guilt when I arrive late. I always wonder if my excuse is good enough. Should I embellish more? Do they believe me? They have to understand that if I could avoid being late, I would. They should take into consideration that things happen--traffic, accidents, being held over at work. It’s not just me being irresponsible. If I can anticipate that I will be late, I will call to let them know. But other times I find myself hoping and speeding. In the end though, the guilt I feel is not with the staff so much as it is with my children. They become fearful and start asking questions.

I pay a good portion of my salary for child care to be able to work and make a living. Without child care, I wouldn’t be able to do it. A lot of day care centers close at 5 p.m. or 5:30 so I am very fortunate that the one for my daughter stays open until 6. Only recently have I had the flexibility at work to leave early. I rely on the staff at the child care center. I have developed a relationship with them and trust them with my child. I couldn’t go through my day and function if I doubted them. They provide a valuable service and aren’t thanked enough. Should parents be faced with monetary charges when they arrive late to pick up a child from day care? Inevitably, there are many obstacles in a rushing parent’s way--traffic jams, forced overtime at work, errands to run. Is it the child care provider’s responsibility to stay with the child? What else can parents do? MAURA E. MONTELLANO spoke with a parent and a child care provider.