working with time can be tough. If it's one or two people inputting the data
I would Make 4 columns:
C1 - Name of Child (look under validaton to create a drop down list of the
kids)
C2 - Date/Time In (set the format the cell to Date & 3/14/01 1:45PM)
C3 - Same as C2
C4 - C3-C2 and set the format to custom >> [mm] this will give you the
number of minutes the child is present.
Does this help?