Child Care and Carseats is this ok to tell parents

mburks26

New member
I am thinking about doing some babysitting and I want to give the parents a list of things that I will do regarding naps, eating, baths, washing the clothes if they get dirty, and going somewhere etc.

let me know if this sounds ok for the car seat section

I do have own transportation and if we go anywhere car seats will be used 100% of the time and used right. Child Car saftey is a major concern that I do not take lightly. Please do not ask me or ok me to put a child under age 5 and under 40lbs in a booster seat or a child under 1 and under 20lbs forward facing. We can discuss this more in detail. I will not take your child anywhere without written permission unless its a real emergency and you can not be reached.

I will provide a more in depth child care plan (things I do now with my daughter from naps, eating, activities, baths laundary etc) and what ever you do not feel comfortable with just let me know. I will respect your way of doing things ( talking activities, eating, etc) except the car seats they will be used thats for the saftey of the children. Please don't take that the wrong way but I have seen what can happen if the child is not restrained the right way for age weight etc and anything can happen at any time when in a car.



that above is what I will be includeing in the conset forms so to say anything I need to say or not need to say.
I stress the fact that seats will be used as in TX so many 2yrs olds and up are in nothing but the belt or boosters with the shoulder belt behind them. I also plan on giving handouts with ERF and EH.
I shouldnt be watching anyone over age of 3 as well.
I know its recommend to keep them rf longer but if the parent has a forward facing seat only the child is 1 and over 20lbs I will have to deal with that for now until I can afford a ERF seat. I shouldnt be going anywhere with a child younger then 2 any way. unless its a emergency.
 
ADS

SusanMae

Senior Community Member
Before you go any further---check with your state lisencing agency. I know in MD, if you keep kids in your home without a lisence---it's $1000 per day per child fine. And then you can't get a lisence.

As for a contract...see what your state requires...I can't do wash. I send dirty/soiled clothes home in a plastic bag.

I put in my contract that we follow best practice for car seat safety.

Susan
 

mburks26

New member
If I watch just 1 at a time I dont think I need anything since Its not like a daycare. I can only watch just 1 at time due to thats all I have room for in the car is a total of 2. I know the people that watched dd cousion just watched her and their own and didnt have to check with the state. Kwim.
 

cryswilkins

New member
This is what I would change it to. :twocents: I personally would have been put off by the tone of how it was written before. Also check your grammar and spelling, I know that this is a rough draft, but it really matters on the final copy :)

I have my own transportation and if we go anywhere car seats will be used 100% of the time and used correctly. Car safety is a major concern and I do not take it lightly. In our vehicle I will always follow best practice (more info can be provided upon request) and state law. Your child must always be dropped off with an appropriate restraint in case of an emergency.

I will not take your child anywhere without written permission unless there is an emergency and you can not be reached.

I will provide a more in depth child care plan (things I do now with my daughter from naps, eating, activities, baths laundry etc) and what ever you do not feel comfortable with just let me know. I will respect your way of doing things.
 

aisraeltax

New member
This is what I would change it to. :twocents: I personally would have been put off by the tone of how it was written before. Also check your grammar and spelling, I know that this is a rough draft, but it really matters on the final copy :)

I have my own transportation and if we go anywhere car seats will be used 100% of the time and used correctly. Car safety is a major concern and I do not take it lightly. In our vehicle I will always follow best practice (more info can be provided upon request) and state law. Your child must always be dropped off with an appropriate restraint in case of an emergency.

I will not take your child anywhere without written permission unless there is an emergency and you can not be reached.

I will provide a more in depth child care plan (things I do now with my daughter from naps, eating, activities, baths laundry etc) and what ever you do not feel comfortable with just let me know. I will respect your way of doing things.

i agree. this sounds much better.

but, do the parents have to leave a seat with you each day or are you going to have your own? honestly, if i were watching a child, i would want the parents to provide me a seat i have w/ me always, or charge a fee of $100 or something to purchase your own seat. taking a seat in and out every day seems like a lot of work on everyone's part.

good luck..i am so glad i dont have to deal w/ this (btw, where i am, you can watch up to 3 kids w/o state licensing).
 

mburks26

New member
ok gottcha if I follow the law anyone over 36 inches regardless of age can be in a belt only though and thats just not safe and that is what eveyone does around here. I want to inform the parents if thats what they choose to do in there car so be it but mine I dont think so.
 

aisraeltax

New member
yeh, i know. :(

i think you get to cover it in your brochure though b/c you are saying "best practice"...you can discuss the particulars of what that means...if they send the kid in a booster or whatever you can explain that for transporting in your vehicle, you cant do that or whatever (it will be simpler for you to explain face to face than to turn off parents w/ language in your original post, if ykwim?). It just "sounded" confrontational (not saying thats your intent, im sure its not since you are looking for business...but thats how it came across).
 

mburks26

New member
on the parnets leaving seat for now yes they will have to leave a infant bucket or a rear facing. ages 2 and under 40lbs I have an extra seat. If I find I will have a rear facing one all the time then if they still fit in the cosco scenera how ever you spell it I will get one of those they should be easy to install in my truck 2003 ford f150 i have yet to find anything that wont install good. and its priced in budget Im going to try not to do booster kids right now but if something happens to come up and the child is over 40lbs and my dd is still under I still have my Cargo for dd and then GN for the other
does that make sense dd is climbing all over me right now. oh I just relized I have an Evenflo Victory that expires Dec 31 2009 that could handle rear facers if they are big enough. I just hate that seat its so hard to adjust and the straps are twisted. it was made in 2002 forgot the month but it does have do not use past Dec 31 2009 so is that a typo cause 6 yrs would be 2008. just wondering if I had to use it I could.
 
Last edited:

abacus2

Well-known member
If I were you, I would plan to have your own seats so that you can always transport the children safely without having to worry about confronting a parent who provides an inappropriate seat. I suggest this wording:

I will not take your child anywhere without written permission unless there is an emergency and you can not be reached.

If we go anywhere car seats will be used 100% of the time and used correctly, according to the AAP's best practice recommendations. Unless you prefer to provide your own, I will provide a car seat appropriate for your child that can stay with my vehicle.

I will provide a more in depth child care plan (things I do now with my daughter from naps, eating, activities, baths laundry etc) and what ever you do not feel comfortable with just let me know. I will respect your way of doing things.


I realize you can't provide a link in your written materials as I have, but the chart on that page gives a good summary of AAP's recommendations. Notably, it says rear-facing as long as possible is best, boosters should be used after a forward facing seat is outgrown (so if you have a harnessed seat the child fits in, it would be used), and that boosters could be needed as late as age 12.
 

carseatfreak

New member
I would leave the clause in there saying you won't transport them without reliable transportation and then figure it out on an individual by individual basis. What I mean is maybe you have a certain number of carseats and you will need to get one or two parents to leave them when you need them until you can grow your stock of seats). Unless you plan on not knowing ahead of time you will be using them. But, I believe if you are licensed you need to inform parents before you take their children anywhere and get signed permission slips so you can't just take kids somewhere 'as needed' or in emergencies. Plus...a lot of parents like to know ahead of time if there children will be somwhere other than your house. In addition...you do need to check with your homeowner's insurance b/c you may need to add a childcare rider to protect you while children are in your care and you are transporting them. Good luck.
 

SusanMae

Senior Community Member
It's required for me to say that I will transport them in a vehicle that is owned by me.

As for lisenseing----in MD...it has to do with how many hours, not how many children that determines if you need a lisence.

And for what it's worth---if I didn't do daycare and we had to put our child in daycare---I wouldn't go to an unlisenced person. I like knowing that the person caring for my child has inspections from the state, the fire marshall, has to have certain classes and has to do continueing education.

Susan
 
I supply my own seats so I don't have to explain how they are transported. I just state that they will be transported according to law and my standards exceed the law. ;-)
They sign a paper too ok'ing me to drive them.
 

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