Vetting a childminder

We are going to see a potential childminder this w/e. Is there anything in particular that I should be looking out for? She has mentioned that she will show us all the registration papers etc and will spend some time at her property to have a look around.

Ask her what her holiday charging policy is.

Serious mode – I’d be asking for references and the opportunity to speak to other folk who have had their kids looked after by her.

Ask her what her holiday charging policy is.

Ain’t that the truth lol

Still makes me laugh we pay for her holiday days.

A registered Childminder has been thoroughly checked out by the Local authority, including any adults living in the house, but the advice above is sound.

Thanks.

If I assume correctly you have to pay them over the holidays even though the kid isn’t there? Didn’t know that!

She has been recommended by a friend but will try to get some more references.

If I assume correctly you have to pay them over the holidays even though the kid isn’t there? Didn’t know that!

Don’t assume anything. Ask them to spell it out. Worst case scenario is you end up paying when you go on holiday AND when she chooses to go on holiday. Get it down in black and white to avoid being shafted any confusion later.

Is she ofsted registered?

CRB checked? How long ago?

If they are properly registered then they will have regular Ofsted inspections.

You can find their latest report on the Ofsted website

We don’t pay our cm when she’s on holiday, I thought that was normal? We pay if we are, but not her.

Check her approach to discipline etc is similar to yours. Does she have a network of other cms she can rely on if she is sick, or would you have to take emergency leave if she was? Watch how she interacts with the other children in her care while you are there, as well as with yours.

I think it’s really important to go by gut feeling, no matter how well vetted etc by ofsted, if something niggles with you, you won’t feel comfortable leaving your child with them. I turned down a CM when I was looking because something didn’t sit right, and I have since come across her at a playgroup and seen her in action so to speak and it has reinforced the decision for me.

Geoff – I wasn making the assumption based on the info on here. I’ll check it out and get the details in wrting, thanks.

Yoss – Not sure who she is registered with so will check the paperwork when we meet. What is CRB?

Criminal record bureau – list of convictions. If she’s ofsted registered she should already have this but they are only good up to the date that it was done.

Yoss – Not sure who she is registered with so will check the paperwork when we meet. What is CRB?

If she’s childminding in the UK she has to be registered with Ofsted, check her out on their website and if she’s not listed then be very very careful.

CRB = Criminal Records Bureau (police check to say she can work with children)

It’s illegal to pay a CM if they are not ofsted registered, so if she’s not walk away straight away. It means they’ve not done the correct first aid, EYFS stuff etc etc.

Yup, we pay ours when SHE goes on holiday… and of course, when we do too.

If my lad is sick… we pay…

if CM is sick, we don’t i think.

Ask them if they have a folder with qualifications and stuff in. Spend an hour or so when there are kids there to see how they get on as well.

There’s a website with lots of profiles of pretty babysitters.

I think it’s called Bangbus or something similar. Probably worth checking out.

Thanks for all the advice

i know we’ve been through all this. but this is still mental IMO

weeksy – Member
Yup, we pay ours when SHE goes on holiday… and of course, when we do too.

If my lad is sick… we pay…

if CM is sick, we don’t i think.

we’ve just finished with our child minder and our youngest son’s nursery.

Combined saving is £930 a month 😯

New bike time yoss!

I’ve never heard of paying while a CM is on holiday! I know some do half when they are and half when you are, but never full price for both. That’s bonkers! No-one I looked at does that.

Also (depending on what sort of job you do obv) ask about fees for late collection. Some charge for a full hour even if you are just 15 mins late, ours just pro-ratas.

i know we’ve been through all this. but this is still mental IMO

It’s really nothing more than perception. All parents who use them pay for their childminders holiday time, it’s just hte charging structure that varies. Those who don’t charge during their holidays simply charge more the rest of the time to compensate. Or to look at it the other way those who do charge for their holidays will do so to make their weekly charges seem less.

It’s really nothing more than perception. All parents who use them pay for their childminders holiday time, it’s just hte charging structure that varies. Those who don’t charge during their holidays simply charge more the rest of the time to compensate. Or to look at it the other way those who do charge for their holidays will do so to make their weekly charges seem less

Agree totally…

Don’t forget ‘we’ get paid when we’re on holiday… same thing really.

Happily… mine comes to an end this month…. not as much as above.. but still over £500 a month savings 🙂

New Ducati 1098 on the cards.

those who do charge for their holidays will do so to make their weekly charges seem less

I doubt this very much.

Welcome to and goodluck with THE most heart wrenching, fear inducing, time consuming, nightmarish decision you will ever have to make.

Every fibre in your body will be fighting appointing anyone to this role and that’s before you get into the ignomy of being royally fist #$}*~$~$ over a barrell as to how much it will cost!

We don’t pay ours for holidays but we do pay when we take him out. We also pay for the 20% of the time he’s not with her because we bring him home early or shift work allows us to spend the day with him.

We didn’t even entertain anyone who had the tv on when we arrived to meet them (when they had kids in their charge. I don’t need to pay you to sit my son in front of a telly for eight hours a day!)

A good child minder is a teacher as well as a carer and honestly you can’t really pay them too much if you find someone you genuinely trust and is like a second member of the family. When they become indespensible ie when your life wouldn’t work without them, then it’s time to see the money as well spent and not extorted.

you can’t really pay them too much if you find someone you genuinely trust and is like a second member of the family. When they become indespensible ie when your life wouldn’t work without them, then it’s time to see the money as well spent and not extorted.

exactly this.

Also meant to say big +1 for mrsflash’s comments.

Mrs Melon has been doing most of the looking at nurseries and CM and this is the first one that I’ve been asked to go to see as well so hopefully we will get the answers we seek for all of our no doubt silly questions. It certainly is a huge decision to make. It definately will not be based on cost but how junior feels and how we would feel about leaving him there

Ours we went and saw, and she seemed nice, which is the big thing. Other than that, the house was clean, they get outside to do things, and walk round the town when they need to go out, rather than being driven everywhere, so lots of outside time, which we liked. Oh and not too fussed about early years learning framework and all that target driven teaching stuff which personally I think is a bit of a waste of time.

We also talked to someone we know who runs baby activity groups, which this childminder happened to go to, and she said that our childminder was very active and involved with their kids there, whereas a lot of the childminders were more just taking the kids to the groups and sitting back and having a cup of tea. So I guess people who know the childminder would be a good one.

Worked out great for us. Lovely childminder, Rose has a great time, and they know up at the childminders to unleash her outside a lot which means she comes home tired, which is impressive as tiring out Rose is a
bit of a mission (eg. when I had her on Thursday, we did: picnic and bike riding and tree climbing and jumping in a lake in the woods, then an hour and a half of swimming after lunch, then another bike ride after dinner, and just about managed to tire her out enough that she wasn’t asking for more playtime at bedtime.)

Joe

Joe, that was exactly what it was with the CM I mentioned, when I saw her at the playgroup I didn’t see her interact at all with the children in her care.

Blindmelon, no question is too silly when it comes to looking after your children, surely?

Leaving Ted to come back to work is easily the hardest thing I have ever done, and the fact that I don’t have the slightest worry about him when I am at work speaks volumes for my cm, and the relationship Ted, Rich and I have not only with her but her whole family.

Blindmelon, no question is too silly when it comes to looking after your children, surely?

Fair point.

Mrs F do you mind me asking if you work FT or PT? Mrs Melon really wants to go back to work but is overcome with guilt at the thought of leaving junior and it seems unlikely that PT will be an option with her employer. Also how long did it take for you to become more comfortable leaving Ted with the CM?

I have just changed to pt actually, I did return ft and did that for just over a year. I originally asked to come back pt but my request was refused, I knew it would be as I didn’t have the kind of job you can do pt unfortunately, and me not working at all is not currently an option.

He was 7m when I went back and I did phase it in using holiday, so the first month I did 3 days a week, and then the second month I did ft, but with1 day a week from home. It probably does depend on your jobs as well, but I have a job with fairly unpredictable hours, and I work a long day to start with (our core hours are 8.30-5.30) but when it’s busy we were often not picking him up till 7pm. Rich works long hours as well (standard time for him to get home is 7), and I think it really only works if one of you is doing that kind of hours, not both.

I’ll be honest it was really tough, but of course you do get used to it, and the childcare is key to that because you really do need to know that they are settled. We did a few settling in sessions (afternoons) before I went back to work, which went really well, so I never actually worried that he was unhappy with her. We were also lucky in that he never got separation anxiety, so didn’t go through the whole tears at drop off etc which is one good thing. And as I said above after a month or so, I never needed to worry about him when I was at work as I knew he was in the best possible care second to him being with one of us.

However, the guilt that he spent more time with her than with us was pretty horrific – and actually got worse rather than better I am afraid – partly as he got older and more aware and partly due to stress within my job affecting my pre-existing MH issues, which is why I am now part time! I am really lucky that an opportunity came up for a different role within my company, so I now do 3.5 days a week which is working great for us.

Sorry, I’m probably not doing much to reassure your wife am I ? I do know plenty of people who work ft and get on fine, and I am aware that a lot of my guilt about it is due to circs in my childhood and resulting ishooos so I may not be the best person to ask if truth be told. I think if she actually wants to go back to work that is a pretty good starting point, so she may be fine, and I’m sure will do better than I did.

See (justified) fretting like this is one of the main reasons we went for a nursery over a childminder 😀

Vetted and supervised staff. Ofsted inspected. Clear fees. Sickness cover. Social skills and no “second mummy” syndrome.

There’s pros and cons though GrahamS, I didn’t like the staff turnaround you get in some nurseries and also wanted him to be in a family home rather than nursery setting.

There’s pros and cons though GrahamS

Oh yeah, absolutely agree.

Not claiming I’m right (unusually for me) – just saying that the above concerns played a big part in our decision. Obviously YMMV.

stw member in admitting they are not always right shocker 😉

I’ll turn in my login credentials immediately 😀

Thanks Mrs F. Very similar circs here in terms of age of junior and Mrs M being unlikely to be able to work PT. The hours would be 9 to 4.30 and fortunately shouldn’t vary much from that.

Graham Mrs M has been looking at nursery as well however the seem to be mostly staffed by 16 year olds who don’t appear to be very mature. But we will explore all options.

Graham Mrs M has been looking at nursery as well however the seem to be mostly staffed by 16 year olds who don’t appear to be very mature. But we will explore all options.

Yeah quality seems to vary a lot. Check the Ofsted reports.
You can search all “Non-domestic Child care” in your area and read full reports.

We were lucky enough to have a nursery in the next village that was scored as “Outstanding” across the board.
Staff turnover is low there and there are older staff as well as the late teens.
Needless to say our little one has flourished there.

Interaction with your child and others is important, as long as they are on the ofsted register that area should be fine. The woman we used was the only one that asked to hold our daughter while we talked! She became a reasonably close family friend after 10 years and both our children attending.