Message from childminder

When my childminder quit, I got a phone call! So yeah, pretty rubbish IMO! The least she could have done is a telephone conversation!

@SecondUsername4me I know what you mean on ratios but I still didn't realise how little it is for responsibility for a child.

OP six weeks notice is good.

I would value direct and clear communication of that nature. Also without more facts, you don't know for what reason they can no longer continue, it could be something that's very upsetting for them even. Dealing with your disappointment is the real issue maybe?

Yes, because they can look after several children at the same time and they all pay it. Can bring in good money if you have a few.
I think it's understandable that 6 weeks into it, she's making adjustments to her work life balance and having only one other child to look after isn't worth it financially, and wants that time with her own child

I get it's annoying as your son has just started and you may have looked at several cm and now have to find another one

If only your son it's really not worth it for her for £18

But she has given you notice as I'm sure per the contract so that's life

That's a perfectly reasonable reason on her part. Fair and understandable.

Annoying for you, of course.

Do you think she's hoping you'll take your son out early so she's freed up?

Nobody is going to put them through the hell of settling a new child in for £18 a week if they have no intention of carrying it on.

So, a situation outside of her control means she needs to move the slot. Take it or leave it. I don't know why you are so annoyed about this.

I think you will find that neither childminders nor nurseries are going to be particularly happy having a child one afternoon a week - it is hardly worth the admin cost that come with it, and you might find that they give you notice because they have a full time child instead.
but if your child was the only one that afternoon I can see that it would not be worth her time.

It’s a bit suspicious I think - she’s free to operate as she chooses of course but you’d think she would have offered a different slot instead.
I say she has someone who wants more hours and you are getting dropped. To be honest around here none of them would take such few hours as you block a space that makes more £.

She should have told you in person, the texting is shit (the notice itself is ok).

Where does the OP say she pays less when she drops off late? She doesn't.

It’s shit the fact you only started there 3 weeks ago
strongly suspect this was in the pipeline when you started and she knew you needed Friday afternoons

if you’d been there ages and she did this it would be fair enough

Because you don't just have one child.

My cm charges £4.50 pH per child. She has 3x full time 8am-6pm all week (£675 per week) plus she does 5 days "wrap around" for another 4 children same rate, 3-6pm (£270 per week).

She doesn't charge for the 4x weeks she takes off, so that's about 45k pa. Obvs a significant amount of that is then eaten up with food, activities, toys, fuel for the car, insurances and first aid etc, utilities for having them in the house all day etc.

But it's not peanuts.

So if you leave your job and hand in your notice then I guess you must be unreliable too?

don’t be ridiculous. No one’s obligated to do a job, everyone has the right to hand in notice at any time.

One half day a week is nothing. Maybe she's had an offer from a parent for full time Mon-Fri but can't take them on because Friday afternoons would be over ratio? Why would she turn down a full time paying spot to keep her 20quid a week from you?

Also, to the poster who mentioned NMW it doesn't work like that with CMs

I'm honestly shocked at how low the pay is. It makes me wonder why anyone does it - they must have very specific employment needs to work for so little.

I think it's annoying especially if your DS only started 3 weeks ago! Different if he's been there a fair amount of time and she's changing her hours. But ideally she wouldn't have taken your DS on if she had any inkling that she's be giving notice after 3 weeks.

You can't just not pay for hours booked because you turn up later than booked, madness.

I think it's a shame for a child to be palmed off on someone else for one short afternoon per week, on the grounds that said person is "cheap".

It's crap for the child, and it's crap for the CM to be branded "shit" because she doesn't want to/can't do it.

OP doesn't seem to be interested in her child building a relationship with the person who's in loco parentis. Maybe the CM found this distasteful?

Why? It's 3 hours per week, and he's only been going there for a couple of weeks. Hardly a life shattering change?

Might be that her own child is finding the childminding hard going, so she has cut her hours to only those that are financially worth it. Who knows? But she has given reasonable notice.