Daycare charges parents $1 for every minute they are late for pickup, dad disputes $96 in late fees because daycare clock is 8 minutes fast: ‘They had me late on 19 days’

Should a daycare have the power to charge parents for late pickups? 

There is an argument to be made that looking after other people’s kids for a living can be almost as taxing as having them yourself. Childcare is an essential service that almost all moms and dads need at one point or another, and a lot of them have an unfortunate tendency to exploit those who provide it to the best of their ability.

No doubt about it, lazy, demanding, or perpetually late parents can be more taxing for daycare staff to deal with than the kids. It doesn’t help that their salaries aren’t usually all that impressive to begin with. 

At the same time, parents often pay significant amounts to have their children looked after by other people. It is only fair for them to expect the service to give them value for money, and not try to swindle them out of more of their hard-earned dollars. Most parents have no choice but to work, so the very least that their daycare provider can do is assure them that they are doing the absolute most to make sure that they have a fair deal in the establishment they have chosen.