[Closed] Childminders and Paying them through holidays

To earn money so you can feed, clothe and house them.

Then don't have children, would you have a pet if you couldn';t afford to look after it?

Whats a sexlife???

It's the scandanavian version of Westlife. Isn't it? :-/

Then don't have children, would you have a pet if you couldn';t afford to look after it?

I can afford to look after my child.

I think Flippinheckler is giving DrWato a run for his money today.

I think Flippinheckler is giving DrWato a run for his money today.

It won't be long before he criticises stay-at-home mums (and it will be mums) for not contributing to the economy...

t won't be long before he criticises stay-at-home mums

Nah Mrs FH stayed at home to look after our children!

Did she get a special badge off Naddine Dorres?

Did she get a special badge off Naddine Dorres?

No just an air of smugness 😉

Yep, it's a pretty hard one to swallow this. Our first CM demanded full wack whilst on holiday too - see my original (now closed) [url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/childminder-question-ref-holiday-entitlement ]post here.[/url]

She needs (targets) to earn £xx thousands of pounds a year. If you can find a childminder who doesn't charge for holidays, then she's either adding that money to your normal bill, or she's struggling for clients (read not very good).

So you just gotta suck it up!

Whilst I can see how easy it is to agree with your sentiment, what you're actually stating is complete BS. Little monkey is now in the care of an awesome CM (30 years in the game) recommended to us by a friend and everyone who knows her at the local pre-school nursery. She charges half the local going rate, won't accept anything for when she OR we are on hols, and only asks to be paid for the time she does. So if we were to pick monkey up at say 3:00 instead of 5:30, she wouldn't expect us to fork out for the 'un-used' 2.5hrs ... I would still pay the full wack in that instance though because she's great and we're fortunate to have her.

EDIT: Also, there was one occasion where she was rushed to hospital overnight and couldn't take monkey the following day. Her daughters, who are both lovely (and in their 30s) stepped in and looked after him for the duration. They both have kids aged 1-5yrs and they all get on great.

Scamper - Member
Seems cheaper than a nursery, any how.

Think / chose carefully before that becomes your decisive factor. Kids can benefit a lot from social interaction with other kids, and they still need to be taught structure, numbers, alphabet, lifes lessons etc.

Its much easier for a childminder to be irresponsible in that regard / looking after your kid on thier own removing the social gains, than it is for a nursery.

I had to question this when I first heard about it (paying them through Holidays) but it is standard practice and finding good childcare is a nightmare, this issue quickly falls of the agenda.

Lots of recent media coverage suggests that Childminding is barely profitable but I would have thought it is a good gig assuming you are up to the job.

Nah Mrs FH stayed at home to look after our children!

Sponging off hubby and the state...

Oh, I agree Kryton from all the `classes' our 9 month old does already. Although there are also benefits of one-to-one.

Sponging off hubby and the state

Rather pay the Mrs than some stranger to look after my [s]monkeys[/s] Children. How can she sponge off the state every child got Child allowance regardless of income, she also works in a school now to fit around the children.

Are you familiar with this minor little niche ideology that some people have been dabbling with, at all?

[url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism ]CAPITALISM?[/url]

Its a totally mad thing about supply and demand governing things. I know. I know. Bonkers, eh? It'll never catch on

CAPITALISM OUTDATED!

This threw a rat amongst the pigeons!

As someone said, kids going to a good childminder is actually a really good part of growing up and learning, we chose ours because of reputation and the fact that they get a lot of creative and learning time, nurseries dont offer that, they pay kids min wage to baby sit and spend all their time chasing the brats so if you have a good one they get less attention.

My original question was regarding pay, and how she could charge for both her and our holidays, ours at full whack and hers at full, nothing more, not trolling (whatever the hell trolling actually is - Im sure the only ones that fully understand what it is are the ones doing it, but hey, separate discussion). Anyhow she has since apologiesed for a mistake and its now half pay when either are on holiday, which is fair!

Bringing up a newborn with a 1 year old isnt easy either, those that were bitching clearly havent done it.

And yes people can earn a decent wage for childcare, 2 people doing it, at home or swanning about all day doing their own thing with kids in tow when they want can have 4-6 kids so £2-3k month, plus extras for school run and after school.

£44 for a 10 hour day around here in a nursery. We pay for 51 weeks a year (we have to look after have our own children at Christmas

I never understood this, well Christmas day OK, but why do nurseries not open Bank Holidays or weekends?

Our Nursery shuts down for two weeks over Christmas. TWO WEEKS.

We still have to pay them the full rate.

Our Nursery shuts down for two weeks over Christmas. TWO WEEKS.

Jeez! That scuppers the Christmas holidays!

The lazy workshy bastards! How dare they?!!! Wanting to spend Christmas with their own children instead of looking after yours, eh? 🙄

Two weeks? I can't afford to take a week off work over Christmas.

They also decided to build an extension (to cram extra new customers in) and said 'due to upgrades we are now raising prices'.

Nice.

Two weeks? I can't afford to take a week off work over Christmas.

Yes you could. You just choose not too. Don't be so melodramatic.

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As someone said, kids going to a good childminder is actually a really good part of growing up and learning, we chose ours because of reputation and the fact that they get a lot of creative and learning time, [u]nurseries dont offer that, they pay kids min wage to baby sit and spend all their time chasing the brats so if you have a good one they get less attention.[/u]

Yep, IMO a good CM will do exactly that. Can't agree with you re nurseries not offering that though - way too much of a generalisation. I'll admit we didn't feel comfortable with the first few we visited so we looked further afield and found an awesome one. Fantastic staff + indoor environment + outdoor environment + excellent food + special activities as well as days/evenings for parents to join in.

Yes you could. You just choose not too. Don't be so melodramatic.

I've got 17days carried over from last year and haven't used any of this years yet. I can't afford to take the time off. My employee is more than happy for me to take the time off but in these times its difficult to do so.

How can anyone in a salaried job with holiday entitlement "not afford" to take time off?

Hora. You're always buying bikes and bits. You've just got a new car. You were posting about organising your Alps trip. That's fine. That's your prerogative, and reflects your priorities

So please spare yourself the embarrassment of doing the woe-is-me routine and pleading poverty. Its demeaning for everyone involved

I've got 17days carried over from last year and haven't used any of this years yet.

So you have the time available to you...

My employee is more than happy for me to take the time off

...and your employer is happy for you to take said time off.

but in these times its difficult to do so.

What, you're so busy in "these times" that you can't take time off? Garbage. You just don't want to take the time off that's all.

Two ways for the same result but will probebly go down the Child Minder route partly for some reasons outlined by Bland, and have some promising recommendations but want to get more feedback on the local nurseries. Use of grandparents, changing my working patterns and we are probebly looking at 2 or 3 days. My Wife cannot cut her hours and does flexible 3x12hr shifts so some of that time may go unused.

Its a dirt-cheap lease car, works tight and Alps was cancelled due to costs. Its staycation this year!

How can she sponge off the state every child got Child allowance regardless of income, she also works in a school now to fit around the children.

So you took child benefit, yet your wife didn't pay any tax. Sounds like a benefits scrounger to me...

It's a serious point: in Norway, they've worked out that state-funded child care brings a net benefit to the economy because the costs of providing it are less than the additional tax accrued from working parents.

bland - sounds like the nurseries near you are s*ite. Or you didn't look hard enough. Why as soon as people become parents do they insist on "knowing" how best to raise a child!!?? Its all guess work and every kid responds differently - make your choices and live with it. Don't criticise options that others choose.

Our Nursery shuts down for two weeks over Christmas. TWO WEEKS.

OP I wouldn't want to piss off the person who looks after my kids. Pay her double, keep her sweet.

OP I wouldn't want to piss off the person who looks after my kids. Pay her double, keep her sweet.

Even if I slapped her around, took all the money out of her purse and paid her nothing I'd expect her human nature/the reason why she went into becoming a Childminder would mean she'd treat the child as one of her own.

Why would you expect anyone in modern society to have any less mercenary an attitude to their paid employment than.... oh, I don't know... a recruitment consultant maybe?

Shrugs, you could describe most private companies of any size mercenary to a degree. We pay taxes, corporate/business rates etc...

I wonder how many companies linked to the bike trade pay properly/proper payrole with proper contracts of employment... I wonder how many are casual workers or cash in hand/classed as casual labour

I'd expect her human nature/the reason why she went into becoming a Childminder would mean she'd treat the child as one of her own.

Even if I slapped her around, took all the money out of her purse and paid her nothing I'd expect her human nature/the reason why she went into becoming a Childminder would mean she'd treat the child as one of her own.

You're clearly not a smart as you look.

You're clearly not a smart as you look.

I'd never use a childminder. At least in a nursery there are other workers present/about..

Doesnt stop the occasional blip in the news but still any physical shoving etc would be picked up by another nursery worker or Manager.

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