Looking after Grandchild

slowcoachme

I am looking after grandchild , full time from 8am to 7pm 5 days a week. Anyone else do this?
I'm recently retired so have the time and offered to do this but only till the end of the year when I expect other arrangements to be made. Grandchild is 2.5 years old. What do you do with them all day? Do you get paid?

pinkshoes

Crikey!, that is very generous of you! I certainly would never ask that of my parents, even short term!

Do you have a good local library with a children's section? or a nice indoor play centre you can take them to?

At the very least you should be given money for food and activities!

skylight

I wouldn't ask my parents to do this either and I certainly wouldn't let it happen for free. Have you made it quite clear its only until the new year and have you asked about what plans are being made? You HAVE to ask - it might get forgotten about......

Apart from the park, lots of church halls have play groups/coffee mornings as do local libraries. Get mum to join the library anyway (or you) and thats a trip out - library in the morning with a packed lunch and stop at the park to eat/play afterwards. Local museums can be free, bus trip (do you have a bus pass, LO should be free at her age) so at least you can go places; a bus trip can be better than a car as you can interact with LO and they take longer so use up the time! Swimming, parent and toddler sessions (means carer and toddler really).

Other mums/nans etc nearby?

onlyroz

That does sound like a lot of hours. Is there a contingency in place if you find it too much?

At that age the child should be spending as much time as possible with other children to learn socialisation skills. Are there local play groups you can attend?

And if you are not "paid" directly then at least your expenses should be covered. You are after all saving the parents at least £1000 a month by taking on this level of care.

duchy

If you are caring for a child in your home for pay (money or in kind) on a regular basis then you need to be registered as a childminder and you also need to declare the income for tax purposes.

If you don't want it to be a long term arrangement Id also suggest you make sure they are already making the new arrangements now as often there are waiting lists especially for the length of day you are currently doing.

pollypenny

A number of my friends do the same. Not for money, but for love and to help out.

They take the little ones to various activities, like gyminies and toddler groups, where they meet up with other grandparents doing the same.

It is a big commitment, though. I think I'd like two days free.

My gorgeous boys are in the USA, so no chance for me.

Nicki

duchy wrote: »

If you are caring for a child in your home for pay (money or in kind) on a regular basis then you need to be registered as a childminder and you also need to declare the income for tax purposes.

If you don't want it to be a long term arrangement Id also suggest you make sure they are already making the new arrangements now as often there are waiting lists especially for the length of day you are currently doing.

You don't need to register as a childminder if the only child you are looking after for money on a regular basis is your own grandchild. The rules are here to set your mind at rest. You could even as a one off look after a non-related child for payment whilst looking after your grandcchild (eg if you made a friend at a mother and toddler group and then took their child for a morning whilst they attended a medical appointment)

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/466135/Registration_not_required.doc

You probably would have to declare any income for tax purposes though, but you could deduct all your expenses from that income, so probably wouldn't be a massive tax bill

penguin83

Wow that is massively generous of you - especially at such an 'active' age!


My youngest is 2.5 and his favourite things at the moment are soft play, jumping in puddles - the muddier the better!, feeding ducks, farms etc. There should be lots of Christmassy things coming up.

GwylimT

At that age we were doing the following, not all in one week though!

Local baby sensory group
Toddler group
Swimming (once a week)
Park visit
Walk around the area with the dog
Library story time
Reading (daily)
Counting (daily)
Drawing/trying to write basic things eg name (daily)
Alphabet songs (daily)
Running around, football etc daily in the garden
Making lunch together (daily of course)
Loys of toy play, always followed by tidy time
Art time basicallt making a huge mess
Making stories

RiaMac_2

My grandson is 4 and I have looked after him every day since he was 3 weeks old when his mum went back to work. My son stays at home so the little one is here every day and at least 2 overnights a week. The only 2 days "off" I get is when my son is not at work. He does shifts so he might be off on a Tuesday and Friday one week and other days the following week. His shifts are made up 3 weeks in advance but can be changed the day before so I never know when I will have a day to myself! I too never receive any money from the mum even although she gets child benefit, tax credits etc. I do this for the love of my grandson and not for money although I will look at the link Nicki has given. Thank you Nicki :A.
She now has another baby whose dad she claims, pays her a lot of money each week and my son should pay the same. She also TOLD me I would need to look after her new baby but this time she wasn't going back to work but needed some time to herself :eek: Needless to say I 'politely' said not in this lifetime. My son would be minus £14 each week if he did pay the same so that could never happen. He is really good though and contributes as much as he can to the house finances even though his wages are obviously not good and he also pays for his sons's food, clothes etc.
We are lucky that everything is on our doorstep. Within 5 minutes we can be at the carer and toddler group, nursery, library, soft play, the woods, park and the local city farm. Thankfully it is only the soft play we need to pay for as I could not afford to take grandson to many paying activities. Sometimes I think I should give her a cloth to polish her brass neck :mad:

pattycake

I looked after my two granddaughters from around 9 months to school age. When the big one started school, the little one had arrived.

I only did two days a week and believe me, it was enough. The first child was relatively easy. Good natured and amenable. Number two knows her own mind and likes her own way. Enough said.

I never took a penny from my daughter even though both she and her husband have excellent well paid jobs.

The younger child started school in September and I must admit I heaved a huge sigh of relief. At the end of the two days I was totally wiped out. That is why 60 somethings don't give birth IMHO. You cannot do the things you did in your 30s with your own children. It is so much harder and they are NOT your children so you have other rules to adhere to.

I adore both my little girls and we do after-school pick up so get a couple of hours of quality time with them and there will always be illness etc when we will need to step in but I am glad my days of child minding are largely behind me.