A: Tours are available for prospective "traditional care" families by appointment only. You can schedule a tour by emailing us. Walk-in care families are encouraged to show up 5 minutes early on the first visit to peek around and ask questions.
Q: Is there a cancellation fee for cancelled or missed back-up care reservations?
A: Yes, all drop-in care and back-up care reservations will not be finalized or confirmed until payment is received. Should a cancellation take place, a prepayment will be returned minus a flat $20.00 cancellation charge for all reservations over three hours in length. Should the Hour Kids office need to cancel your reservation, 100% of the prepayment will be returned.
Q: You provide walk-in care "on demand," so why do I have to register my child?
A: As a licensed child care center, Hour Kids is required to register every child we accept into care, whether they will be with us for an hour, a day, or a week. All registrations must be done online, prior to check-in. Please ALLOW UP TO 15 MINUTES TO COMPLETE THIS PROCESS. Registration is only required once annually, no matter how often you may use our care in the future.
Q: What if my child has special needs?
A: Hour Kids strives to be accomodating and inclusive. Children with special needs will be considered on an individual basis, but is wholly dependent upon your child's specific care needs and our ability to accommodate the request. Children with diagnoses or social barriers that cause unprovoked aggression, and/or extreme negative behaviors towards other children are generally not a good fit for our highly-stimulating setting.
Q: Are children required to be vaccinated to attend Hour Kids?
A: Yes. We will verify vaccines for children at the time of registration. We do not accept children without vaccine histories, regardless of 'why'. Due to the nature of our program having many children coming and going, illness prevention is a priority that starts with vaccines. We also serve infants, so we need to make sure we are keeping them protected from preventable illness whenever possible.
Q: Do you do "sick care"?
A: No - Hour Kids does NOT accept sick children. Hour Kids can NOT accept sick children for care under any circumstances. If your child is being excluded from another child care program or daycare provider due to illness, we are not a care option until your child is well; this means your child needs to be free from fever, free of rash, diarrhea, vomiting, etc. for 24 hours prior to drop-off. Masking a sick child's symptoms with over-the-counter medications will warrant a call to pick up immediately. Families that attempt to (or knowingly) bring in ill children will be deemed ineligible for future care services. All drop-in children are temp-checked upon arrival.
Q: How does billing and payment work?
A: Your charges for walk-in care are based upon the amount of time you schedule for care at check in. You are required to pre-pay at drop-off. If you do not know how long your visit may be, we will ask for an estimate to charge against. For traditional care, billing will be quoted at a flat rate based on your care needs. These charges are invoiced and paid through our automatic billing system.
Q: What do we do at check-in, for walk-in care?
A: If you have already completed your child's registration online, your first check-in will take about 5 minutes. We will ask you for a bit of information related to your child's care routines. You will check in and sign our waivers.
Q: 'Oh no, I'm running late and can't pick up my child when I thought I would, are there late fees?'
A: Yes. Should you arrive later than scheduled, you will be charged a "Late Pick-up" fee of $2.00 per minute. This is based on your quoted pick-up time. For example, picking up 15 minutes past your stated pick-up time will incur an additional $30.00 charge at pick-up. Please plan your pick-up times with traffic and weather in mind; even if you paid the full day rate and only used care for 8 hours, but pick up past your stated time, you are still subject to this fee.
Early drop-off: Children may only be checked-in up to 5 minutes before a reservation is to start. These rules are in place because we must maintain specific staff-to-child ratios. Late pick-ups or early drop-offs mean we would be unable to check-in the next family or all scheduled staff may not be in place yet.
Q: What about food and/or bottles?
A: Hour Kids includes breakfast, and afternoon snack in the price of care for all children present during these times. We will allow children to finish eating if they are sent in with a parent provided meal during a non-scheduled meal/snack time. Center-wide lunch time is scheduled at 11:30 am. If your child will be with us for lunch, plan to purchase a lunch for your child. If your child has already eaten, let us know and we'll provide an alternate activity. Eagan provided hot lunch for traditional care and recurring care children. Drop-in children can bring or purchase a lunch. Our St. Paul location provides breakfast and snack, parents must provide lunch.
For infants and toddlers under 16 months old, parents must provide bottles (if applicable). All bottles and caps must be labeled with your child's first and last name. No initials, please.
Q: What if my child has allergies?
A: Hour Kids stores and serves items that contain wheat, eggs, milk and nuts. If your child has food sensitivities or ALLERGIES to these items, please plan to provide all their snacks and meals. Upon registration, the office will direct you to our form called "ICCPP-Allergy Form" to complete in our Parent Portal. Or you can bring it in on your first visit. Staff will be specifically trained on your child's allergy needs at every visit for drop-in children and monthly for traditional and recurring care children.
Q: How does nap work?
A: Each classroom offers a scheduled rest period. For children that do not nap, or don't need to, they will be provided alternate activities. Parents of children over age 16 mos. that will be napping at Hour Kids are encouraged to bring in a small blanket for their children. Infants will nap as their individual needs dictate. Parents of Infants can send nap items such as pacifiers for their children. Hour Kids follows nationally recognized safe sleep practices for infant in care, and all classroom teachers are trained in SUIDS and AHT prevention.
Q: What about my child's personal belongings? Pro tip: LABEL EVERYTHING
A: Each child over age 16 mos, even our walk-in friends, will have a coat hook just outside their classroom where they will keep their belongings. Personal items such as sippy cups and toys may not be brought into the classrooms. Please plan to keep these items inside your child's bag or leave them at home. Infants will have a hook for their diaper bag and outerwear just inside the Infant classroom door. Hour Kids requires ALL belongings to be clearly labeled; hats, coats, shoes, bottles, pacifiers, diaper bags - EVERYTHING.
Q: What if I need regular weekly care, do you have openings?
A: Maybe. We are often full for these spots because we have some of the most affordable rates in the Metro. Occasionally, we do have openings for traditional Monday-Friday, FT and Part-time schedules in each classroom. We have a high quality, 4 Star Parent Aware-rated program. We are professionally equivalent to any other licensed child care center in MN and operate mostly the same with strong beginnings ratios. For traditional enrollment questions, please contact: Office@hourkidsmn.com for our Eagan location and Northstpaul@hourkidsmn.com for our St. Paul location.
Q: Do you offer sibling discounts?
A: Yes, a visit for two or more children will receive 5% off oldest child's total at the time of check-in. Only one discount can be applied for any visit.