After-school childminder

galvanizersbaby

sarahs999 wrote: »

Some childminders still charge full fee even in holidays. I know my current one does.

A relative of mine is a childminder (not a very good one in my opinion) and her contract states she charges for holidays and christmas day (apparently that is what Ofsted recommend her to do)

One of the boys mothers queried charging full fee for christmas day and she stated that she was available to have the child if need be so the mother said she'd drop him round usual time! :eek:
She didn't in the end but the resulting panic on my relatives part when she thought she would have to look after him was quite substantial! :eek:

ceebeeby

sarahs999 wrote: »

Some childminders still charge full fee even in holidays. I know my current one does.

It is very difficult to get a good childminder to be honest.

We always looked at it in priority order:
-Care / Love the Child
-Cost

Unfortunately, in your 2 hour interview it's not always easy to clarify if you've got the first priority right, although it usually "felt" right. The second is easier as you can keep this pretty clear cut.

The problem is if your 'carer' turns out to be someone actually motivated more by the 'cost' as one of ours did - it can turn out to be exceedingly expensive to untangle yourself from the person for the sake of the children.

We have had fantastic, brilliant relationships with all our children's child-minders, all over the UK, but unfortunately Bucks was the one county where we felt let down with the majority of minders (that we interviewed - accepting that it wasn't every single one in the county!!!) prioritising cost over care - and in our personal experience the council very much encouraged that attitude.

With perseverance though we were lucky and found a dream lady who remains a friend to this day ... so it is possible.

BTW - we negotiated a fixed monthly fee regardless of school time or holidays, whether they were there or not ... and stuck to this rigidly. This helps if you've got Busy Bees vouchers as well!

gabyjane

Hi Sarah yes i am felxible and often have the kids before or after when i should do, imo its part and parcel of the job! think this is where it was good for me when my dd went as i didnt know exactly when ide be back some days and ide just pay the extra, the thought of panicking because the nursery were shutting and finding someone was not for me!

As for the xmas day and holidays bit as only skipped through..i charge half for my holidays and half for parents, from a selfish point of view we went away one year and i really could not afford the wages i was on to be lost so decided to charge, on the other hand i have no limits on parents time off as such so they can benefit this way!

As for the loving a child bit when meeting i think this is very hard to judge tbh, some kids are fine some aren't, a strange house, person/s can amke them go either way..just becasue your child doesnt seem keen shouldn't be a deciding factor as far as im concerened.

Good luck with your choice x

dangers

I love the comment about charging for Xmas Day. I would never dream of doing this as I want the day off, therefore I am unable to care for the child. Because of this, I can't see how anyone could justify charging. I would love to have seen the c/minders face if the child had turned up!

ladybez

I have to say that I am very lucky with my childminder. She has, at some stage, minded all 4 of my children and she is brilliant with them. She charges £60.00 per 3 day week (Wed to Fri) for before and after school and during the school holidays £115.00 for 3 of them all day for 3 days. She has always been very flexible as regards dropping off and picking up, which is good bearing in mind I start at 07.30 when on an early and my OH rarely finishes before 17.00

Elliesmum

Hi - just to add. I live in yorkshire and I pay £10 for DD's childminder to collect her from school (at 3.30pm) and I collect her at 5.30pm. This includes her evening meal and is a term time contract only.

HTH's

Thanks EM xx

galvanizersbaby

dangers wrote: »

I love the comment about charging for Xmas Day. I would never dream of doing this as I want the day off, therefore I am unable to care for the child. Because of this, I can't see how anyone could justify charging. I would love to have seen the c/minders face if the child had turned up!

I think the childminder had been advised to do this but obviously hadn't considered what would happen if the child had actually been with her on Christmas day (she is quite new to childminding).

I can only assume the parent concerned was just trying to make a point by saying that she would be taking her up on childcare christmas day

Caroline73_2

jimexbox wrote: »

My wife earns £4 an hour. Considerably less than I or many folk get, and I get paid full pay for my holiday, not half, which is the retainer fee. So parents in my eyes are getting a bargain.

Surely that is £4 per hour per child?

sarahs999

Caroline73 wrote: »

Surely that is £4 per hour per child?

I was going to point that out too but I didn't want to get into an argument with him!

jimexbox

Caroline73 wrote: »

Surely that is £4 per hour per child?

She has one child, hence £4 per hour.

Its funny how many parents moan about childcare costs considering that their children are the most precious of people. Its not like trawling the internet for the cheapest TV supplier....