Mumsnet logoby parents for parents
home search join my Mumsnet recipes reviews local sites blogs member discounts shopping classifieds contact a mumsnetter games
log in

Find discussions: search for messages topic list last 15 minutes last hour last day new messages unanswered threads
Active Convs: active conversations customise talk board hide & show threads & topics
My talk: threads I'm on threads I'm watching threads I started my registration log in
Useful stuff: getting started acronym list disclaimer contact mumsnet newsletters frequently asked questions
moon
Mumsnet members get a 10% discount from Boden (including free returns and free delivery), The White Company, sweaty Betty, Luxury Family Hotels, JoJo Maman Bebe, Siblu, GLTC, Bump to 3 (the official online shop for Grobags) and more. Click here for more info Join mumsnet here. DiscPart
Mumsnet Discussions: Childminders, nannies, au pairs etc : CM Club: Meeting all the childrens needs when one is overly demanding. (4 messages)
Add a message Watch this thread Flip this thread Add new thread in this topic
Contact the poster Contact mumsnet about this post By SammyK on Fri 21-Nov-08 10:31:15
Can anyone offer me any tips or ideas?

In an afternoon I have DS (4), mindee (3), and mindee's baby sister (8months).

Oldest mindee is a lovely sweet girl, but very demanding wants the paints out, plays with them for two mins, wants a game out, wants the playdoh out, wants me to find a missing marble, and so on. Normal to a certain extent but cannot wait! Wants everythng and wants it now!

I figured it would eventually sink in that she may have to wait a few minutes, I always explain for example, I just need to change this nappy, or baby is having her bottle right not, but the asking continues every 30 seconds until I am ready (usually a few minutes).

Have spoken to mum andis the same at home. Between the 2 mindees DS does not get a look in.

I am also becomming frustrated as older sibling mindee is purpousely disrupting the babies bottle time, distracting her from her bottle and then elling me 'oh X does not want her bottle now can we do xyz now?'.

These are my afternoon mindees, they are both lovely, and I want to work through this, but at the moment it's grinding me down a little, as I feel bad for older mindee, baby, and ds, as I just seem to be dashing between them!

Sorry that's quite an essay, thanks for reading. smile
Contact the poster See this person's profile Contact mumsnet about this post By mumlove on Fri 21-Nov-08 11:37:19
When I had a young mindee who needed a bottle I used that time for reading to the mindees. So they would all choose a book and we would all sit on the settee together, bottle in babys mouth and I would then start to read the books 1 at a time with the mindees taking it in turns to have their book read 1st.
Contact the poster Contact mumsnet about this post By coolj on Fri 21-Nov-08 11:58:16
Hello, dont know if I can be of much help really. I used to look after a 5YO boy and he had the attention span of about 1 minute. It is very wearing so I really sympathise. The only time he sat for more than 5 mins was when he was eating. So perhaps your mindee could have a snack at the time when your feeding or ask her to keep your son amused or to help you with the baby, ie get you wipes/nappy ready.

Or perhaps give her a doll to feed/change when you deal with the baby.
Contact the poster Contact mumsnet about this post By SammyK on Sat 22-Nov-08 19:06:06
Thanks for your replies ML and coolj, I do the reading a story whilst giving a bottle, have tried snacks. Friday afternoon actually went really well, the children were all lovely so hopefully we will come through it. smile


Add your message here

Message
Emphasis: To bold a word, surround it with asterisks, so *hello* will display hello. For underline use _ , so _hello_ gives hello. For italics use ^, so ^hello^ gives hello. To strike out a word, surround it with two hyphens either side, so --dog-- gives dog

Links and smileys: To insert a smiley face, , type [smile] or :)
For a big grin, , type [grin] or :o
For a wink, , type [wink]
For a shocked face, , type [shock]
For an angry face, , type [angry]
For an embarrassed face, , type [blush]
For a sad face, , type [sad] or :(
For an envious face, , type [envy]
For a sceptical face, , type [hmm]

Links The simplest way to insert a link is to enter the link itself, surrounded by [[ and ]]. So if you type [[www.mumsnet.com]], the link will display as http://www.mumsnet.com. If you want your link to display text other than the web address itself, leave a space after the address then add the text before the ]]. So "Look at [[www.mumsnet.com this page]]", would display "Look at this page".
Nickname:
Password:
To post a message you need a valid mumsnet nickname and password. If you have forgotten your nickname, click here for a reminder. If you are not yet a member of mumsnet, you can join here.