Convinced childminder is smoking in the presence of my child

v1c

Being an ex smoker I cannot stand the smell and whenever I pick my child up from the childminder I am convinced i can smell the smoke on my child.
Is this even legal?!
I am unsure how to approach the subject with the childminder and don't want to throw accusations around in case I am wrong (though i am positive i am not)
There are a few other childminders in the area but there are no spaces.

Savvy_Sue

She may not be smoking during working hours, but if she is a smoker then the smell will be on her clothes and potentially in the house too, and your child could be picking it up that way.

I would hope that there is something in the Ofsted registration and inspection process which makes smoking during the hours of childminding a big fat no-no, but I can't be sure.

FamilyLife

If it was Scotland you could ask care commission to pay a visit, telling them your concern. If it's England there must be an equivalent? If I were you I'd put my name down for the other child minders now, as an ex-smoker you will know the smell and I doubt you are wrong!

FL xx

FamilyLife

If it was Scotland you could ask care commission to pay a visit, telling them your concern. If it's England there must be an equivalent? If I were you I'd put my name down for the other child minders now, as an ex-smoker you will know the smell and I doubt you are wrong!

FL xx

onlyroz

A smoker doesn't have to smoke to stink of it and to pass the smell onto her possessions and the people she comes into contact with. We've got a smoker staying with us at the moment and his room stinks even though he only smokes in the garden.

ash28

v1c wrote: »

Being an ex smoker I cannot stand the smell and whenever I pick my child up from the childminder I am convinced i can smell the smoke on my child.
Is this even legal?!
I am unsure how to approach the subject with the childminder and don't want to throw accusations around in case I am wrong (though i am positive i am not)
There are a few other childminders in the area but there are no spaces.

I'm a smoker - not a childminder - and haven't smoked in the house for years and even though I go outside I imagine I still smell of smoke.

Below is from Ofsted......the bottom 2 lines are the relevant bits I guess.

It looks as if childminders can smoke if there are no looked after children present or about to be present....perhaps she or someone else smokes when there are no children present, but I imagine you would smell it as soon as you walked through the door - it does tend to linger.

How old is your child? Are they old enough to ask?

Childminders must ensure that no person smokes, or consumes or is under the influence of drugs (including medication that may have an adverse effect on the individual’s ability to provide childcare) or alcohol:
 on the premises at any time while childcare is provided, or
 in the presence of a child receiving childcare

Seanymph

Convenience over the best interests of my child?

I'd be looking for another childminder rather than seeking reassurance that what I thought was wrong.

You could ask her if she had any visitors who were smokers during the day yesterday because when you picked up your child you could smell smoke.

But the truth is you know it, you aren't happy, so you have to find somewhere else.

jetplane

If you are convinced then nothing will change your mind and you will need to find another childminder. So no point in speaking to her as you wont believe her if she says no. Is she listed as a smoker on her profile?

barbarawright

You are seriously going to sack your childminder because she *may* have smoked when off duty or associated with people who smoke? Are you going to insist that none of your child's teachers smoke?

(Non-smoker myself but really? Sooner or later your child will come into contact with smokers just as other children came into contact with you when you smoked. The didn't die of it)

duchy

I don't think you can argue against a rabid ex smoker who is evangelical in their quest to keep their child away from smoke. It really doesn't matter if the OP is imagining it or not-the trust between parent and childminder is now gone and the sooner a new arrangement is made the better.
Find another childminder-even if you were to ask the childminder and they denied it-you wouldn't believe them anyway.

Although I feel minded children shouldn't be exposed to smoke I'm a little bored with the overkill and lack of rationality especially by ex-smokers . I wish we were so vocal and aggressive in dealing with alcohol around children as we are smokers.

barbarawright

duchy wrote: »

I don't think you can argue against a rabid ex smoker who is evangelical in their quest to keep their child away from smoke. It really doesn't matter if the OP is imagining it or not-the trust between parent and childminder is now gone and the sooner a new arrangement is made the better.
Find another childminder-even if you were to ask the childminder and they denied it-you wouldn't believe them anyway.

Although I feel minded children shouldn't be exposed to smoke I'm a little bored with the overkill and lack of rationality especially by ex-smokers . I wish we were so vocal and aggressive in dealing with alcohol around children as we are smokers.

I wonder if OP will vet the child's friends' parents. And teachers. And everyone the child ever comes into contact with