childminder letting kids play xbox 18+

bigmomma051204

jp1964 wrote: »

I am an ex childminder, and wanted to make a few points, firstly that some childminders are registered to allow children access to some bedroom areas of the house and Ofsted inspect these areas to ensure safety, especially for very young children who may be using these areas as a sleeping area away from the rest of the house.

I only allowed access to the downstairs areas of my house, and a stair gate was in place to stop anyone going upstairs.

I am appalled that the children had access to these games, even though the childminder was unaware that the children had this game, it is her duty to check that all children in her care are supervised according to their age, so she should have first of all made sure that the activity they were doing was appropriate, and if this game was in the house, it should have been locked away whilst childminded children were on the premises.

I used to do a quick visual sweep of the house to make sure that there was nothing dangerous or inappropriate before the children arrived at my house, having teenagers, they did have older age games, and these were always kept away from the younger children whilst they were there.

I do think that older children are fine to play independently, and the over 8s I cared for did, and had a wonderful time doing so, but just letting them do whatever they please and be totally unsupervised is not on.

I laid on activities for them in the holidays and after school, that is part of my job, and they also had plenty of time for more independent free play with me just checking in on them to make sure all was well. In fact, I was often roped into the games!

I know you say that you have a contract, but it should specify the notice terms on it, and you say it doesn't? Poor paperwork by the childminder in that case, and if there is no clause about notice, you can withdraw your children straight away.

I do also have to take issue with another comment, I didn't take on childminding just because I love children and enjoy their company, it was to be able to be at home for my own children and earn money at the same time, the enjoyment of children's company and liking caring for them was just who I am, but if I had not needed to earn the money I wouldn't have done it. You can be a perfectly good childminder without necessarily loving your job, just as in any job you can be aiming to provide a high standard of service and do it well.

Of course you have to like children and understand them, but to present it as some kind of saintly calling is a bit of a misrepresentation.

When I gave it up, it was a real sense of freedom, it just didn't work any more as my kids got older, I still love kids but don't need or want to do it any more.

^^^ An excellent post with well made points :) ^^^

FBaby

But as I said previously.. childminding is a JOB, no more or less

Well as far as I was concerned I looked for a childminder who considered her job more rather than less and I was very fortunate to pick one childminder for whom it was a calling. She didn't need the job financially, she did it because she just loved to be around children and it showed in every way. Unsurprisingly she was very popular and I was very lucky that she was able to have my son when I needed a childminder.