Childcare at 7.45am

~Chameleon~

FBaby wrote: »

Just for info, OP's children would leave with her, the issue is that she would drop them off a few streets before the breakfast club for them to walk on their own, the equivalent of about 10 minutes walk.

The issue would still remain that over time somebody with less than than favourable intentions could monitor the routine of these children being dropped off at a certain place and time of day and intercept them on their way to the school. Whilst I wouldn't have a problem with it on the odd occasion (I walked to/from school alone from the age of 7 myself) I would have grave reservations about making this a regular habit.

FBaby

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

The issue would still remain that over time somebody with less than than favourable intentions could monitor the routine of these children being dropped off at a certain place and time of day and intercept them on their way to the school. Whilst I wouldn't have a problem with it on the odd occasion (I walked to/from school alone from the age of 7 myself) I would have grave reservations about making this a regular habit.

My view on this is that any children whatever the age are at risk of being kidnapped by someone disturbed in the head. My 14DD wouldn't be able to cope with a psycho who grabbed her and put her in her car as we've seen happened.

Unfortunately, it is a risk that society puts us in. We can remember the poor mum who got stabbed as she was out pushing her son in a pushchair, or the lady killed in horrendous situation whilst on holiday. The reality is that this is a risk we all face, fortunately, it is a very small risk and one that we can't totally protect ourselves against without seriously affecting our lives.

I know people won't see it like this, but I do and taking the emotion out of the fact that the younger the child, the more disturbing it feels, in terms of risk of kidnapping from a mad man, they are not more at risk than a 10 or 16yo.

QuackQuackOops

bylromarha wrote: »

I have a very sensible 7 year old and 9 year old. OH has just got a job :j:j:j:j:j So our mornings for dropping them to school will involve some sort of childcare.

School breakfast club opens at 8am.

Childminders who are associated with the school all take kids from 8am. I've rung the 3 there are who all apologised, and understood my predicament, but absolutely could not take them any earlier than 8am.

OH needs to be free to leave for work at 7.30am - this is flexible from day to day as his work is in different areas from day to day. Some days he won't need to leave until 8.30am, but we won't know this until the day before. We don't know at the moment the frequency of 7.30am/8.30am starts.

I need to be on my way to work from the school area at 7.45am to be at my job on time. There is no flexibility in this.

We have just moved our kids to this school after Cmas, so know no other parents to ask to have them each morning.

I see 2 options

1) Leave kids a 10 minute walk away from the school breakfast club - no roads to cross, strolling up the residential road, they take themselves in each morning - kids have been crossing roads, going to the shop alone and playing "out" for the past 2 years, so I have no qualms about them being without adult supervision for 15 minutes each day as they'd cope just fine and know what to do in an emergency.

2) Quit my job (which isn't really an option for the sake of 15 minutes, but I see no other options!)

How would you make this work?

It can only be your choice really.
Personally, I would never take a job that involved childminders.
If family are not able to help with children for these odd 15 mins here and there, then the job would be a no no.
I didn't have my children to palm them off to a stranger.

Everyone is different.

liney

QuackQuackOops wrote: »

It can only be your choice really.
Personally, I would never take a job that involved childminders.
If family are not able to help with children for these odd 15 mins here and there, then the job would be a no no.
I didn't have my children to palm them off to a stranger.

Everyone is different.

Gone are the days when Grandma was at home baking cakes all day, and Mother was scrubbing the step, laughing cheerfully, as the children ran down the road following father's bicycle because he had forgotten his dripping sandwiches.

Children aren't 'palmed off,' they are placed in suitable childcare so that their parents can earn a living and not rely on others to provide for the family they created.

Putting 'everyone is different' on the end of such blatent rudeness does not make it any less so.

quidsy

Quite & presumaby this poster will be "palming" her kid off to school rather than homeschool at some point?

bylromarha

QuackQuackOops wrote: »

It can only be your choice really.
Personally, I would never take a job that involved childminders.
If family are not able to help with children for these odd 15 mins here and there, then the job would be a no no.
I didn't have my children to palm them off to a stranger.

Everyone is different.

And if your family lived over 100 miles away?

Personally, I would never be so blatently rude and judgemental.

Everyone is different.

bylromarha

OH did a dry run last week as job has started today.

He got to breakfast club at 7.40am with the kids to see how it worked. There were already 2 kids waiting to go in (yr 4 and yr 5 according to our kids) As it approached 8am, more kids turned up alone or with siblings (one child without a parent was yr 2 apparently) others turned up with parents. The doors opened at 8am and the kids all went in alone and self registered. No requirement for an adult to sign them in.

There were 23 kids OH counted waiting outside the doors before they opened and 8 parents. As he walked away, there were more kids (both alone and with parents) walking into the club.

Secretary at school didn't know anymore childminders than the info I'd got from the LEA/CIS. She had no solution on how to find childcare prior to 8am.

Talking to a friend who's a childminder for a different school, she said she knew childminders who'd stopped childminding before school as a school breakfast club opened and undercut them, so they lost all their kids as time went on. There were a lot of kids using breakfast club, so I suspect that this is what happened in the past with this school. £2 per session at breakfast club is cheaper than the £3.50 all the childminders charge - who all start at 8am anyway, so offer nothing different.

Thanks again to those who offered solutions rather than judgements. BTW, for those who offered solutions such as to ask a parent to watch them for a few minutes, whilst I thank you for a solution, I perceive that as far more risky than kids walking alone up a street. The overwhelming majority of abuse cases happen when a relationship exists between child and carer - giving my kids over to an unknown/little known adult and showing my kids I put my trust in that adult, so they should too, is a much more dangerous situation to be in statistically.

OH and I have decided to drop the kids off at the school gate at 7.45am, rather than have them walk up the road for 10 minutes. They can wait with the other kids and parents on the school site for the doors to open. They're happy and excited to do so and know what to do should the majority of out of the ordinary things occur.

Thanks again for the helpful ideas which I hadn't thought of.

quidsy

A much better solution imo to drop them at the gate, it minimises the risks even further.

~Chameleon~

bylromarha wrote: »

OH and I have decided to drop the kids off at the school gate at 7.45am, rather than have them walk up the road for 10 minutes. They can wait with the other kids and parents on the school site for the doors to open. They're happy and excited to do so and know what to do should the majority of out of the ordinary things occur.

Thanks again for the helpful ideas which I hadn't thought of.

Is there anywhere undercover to shelter from adverse weather conditions? Would the school allow them to come in early if the weather outside was atrocious?

claire16c

Incase anything changes in the future did you ever look on childcare.co.uk like I suggested? Rather than only asking the school, I don't see why you'd use just the one source.

I find it rather odd you wouldn't ask another parent, are you not going to let your kids visit their friends houses either?!

Considering you yourself work with children all day that is a very strange position to take!