Childminders at soft play

Can anyone on here enlighten me? I’ve visited a few childminders on my childcare hunt recently and when you start to question them they don’t like it. I met a lovely childminder last month and when I emailed her afterwards about her dbs/ tv policy she didn’t reply. I think these are just basic questions that a parent needs to ask. it’s not the first time it’s happened. When you want their ofsted reports or similar they don’t reply either.

I am surprised, when my kids were small most of the childminders wouldn't pay to enter soft play centres and preferred mother and toddler groups where you paid for 1 child and others came in for free. The groups were bedlam as the childminders happily chattered and ignored the kids are relied on others to police their brood!

If I could see it.

If I could see it.

That's not normal. They are all cleared by Ofsted and they must have all their policies, none written except safeguarding and SEN though. There is no such childminder I know that would avoid answering questions or hide their information. Also everything is available online including the Ofsted reports of childminders.
Prepare all your questions and ask them during your face to face interview. You will find the one you like. Not everyone is for everyone. Because one or two did not meet your expectations, that doesn't make the population, that's just an exception.
Also if you haven't returned promptly, they may have already filled the vacancy as childminders have very few vacancies. Another option is they didn't like you or prefer not to work with you remember when you are interviewing them,they are also interviewing you
However, in all cases, they should return your inquiry with and asnwer

What are you asking about her DBS?

Can anyone on here enlighten me? I’ve visited a few childminders on my childcare hunt recently and when you start to question them they don’t like it. I met a lovely childminder last month and when I emailed her afterwards about her dbs/ tv policy she didn’t reply. I think these are just basic questions that a parent needs to ask. it’s not the first time it’s happened. When you want their ofsted reports or similar they don’t reply either.

Can anyone on here enlighten me? I’ve visited a few childminders on my childcare hunt recently and when you start to question them they don’t like it. I met a lovely childminder last month and when I emailed her afterwards about her dbs/ tv policy she didn’t reply. I think these are just basic questions that a parent needs to ask. it’s not the first time it’s happened. When you want their ofsted reports or similar they don’t reply either.

What on earth has Snapchat got to do with anything?! I thought that for teenagers.

My childminder and childminders she works around are absolutely amazing and I am extremely happy to have found her. My children love going there and when asked always say best part of their day was when they are at hers. Your reasons and Snapchat do not prove anything about the whole population of amazing childminders

I'm not being demeaning, not at all, and being a good hairdresser is not only skilled, it can lead to huge earnings for the most skilled. Like being a chef, you can be a chip shop cook or Rick Stein. I'm suggesting you can start without a degree.

Well I don’t consider having my child in the care of someone who isn’t likely to let them come to harm is job well done to be honest, it’s an extremely low bar! I do expect them to notice when my child’s nappy needs changing, stop them from lamping other children or intervene fairly if they are the lamper, I do expect supervision when eating, I do expect them to be engaged and interested and help my child if they need a hand up the slide etc etc. And actually a lot of small children DO need an adult on hand in these spaces, not as glue but as someone to help them, comfort, assist and advocate for them whenever necessary.

A lot of childminders get away with the above because the parents only hear what the childminder tells them or the pictures they are sent.

I also (as a nanny) work with no break or adult interaction most days but it’s not like I didn’t have a choice of what progression I went into, you make it sound like childcarers are working in an incarnation facility.

Enough of us on the thread have first hand witness accounts of what the OP described in the very first post. Go to any soft play or playgroup provision or park Monday-Friday during working hours and before long you’ll probably see it yourself.

I am a good nanny but I know there are plenty of rubbish ones. To deny that would be stupid.

It takes 2 years of training and college (with qualifications at the end) to be a hairdresser

They are only professionals because they are not the child's parent and they are being paid. That's as professional as child minders get. All the ones I knew when my children were small were thick and doing it because they had small children and needed to be paid for doing something. Nursery workers are the girls who failed their GCSEs but are just about capable of looking after a baby, children minders are mainly appalling. One day people will wake up and realise what they are doing with their precious child

Not all are crap, but it is a job women do when they lack qualifications, like being a beautician, hairdresser or dog groomer. No one, even themselves, expect much, certainly not a career.

good for you

I expected my childminder to tell DD to stop crying as well

You may tell your own children to stop crying but I’m sure a lot of parents feel the same as me and don’t find this appropriate and definitely isn’t from an external care provider.

there was a child recently at the park who was with a childminder, she spoke to me as a child in her care was taking food off my children. She said this was okay and continued for him to eat my girls Pringles and sandwich. I did not have an issue with this but she definitely should have done

I told my children to stop crying regularly. As for being allowed to eat food from strangers? Wtf , how would you know they are strangers?

A male nursery worker has just been charged with rape and abuse. And some people still think nurseries are the safest option.

I think this is sooooo common and made me so glad I did not use a childminder!
I go out to play centres/ parks/ groups most weeks and have rarely seen a childminder who I would be comfortable looking after my children.

Ive seen some quite concerning things too where children are ignored crying, told to stop crying, being allowed to eat food from strangers. The list goes on xx

Not a popular view? It seems to be the most prevalent view it seems to be when it comes to nurseries on here.

And do you actually know what the definition of institutional care is? When you refer to institutional care it means large residential settings, where people live or stay in large numbers, with low staff ratios to people and lack of personalised care. Institutions are routine and structured that is is based on the needs of the service not the people.

People who have institutional care are people who live in large residential care homes or psychiatric wards. A child who wakes up and goes to bed with their family and spends a few hours at nursery is not receiving institutional care. Nurseries are not institutions. Someone where they have free play, a choice of activities that can they choose to partake in and where for example their sleep routine is based on their home one is not an institution and its the height of ignorance to suggest otherwise.

The research isn't clear into the long term impact of cortisol in babies due to the fact there are so many other indicators that impact on mental health. And most of the research indicates that it is poor quality care at nurseries that are the primary problem.

Yes children going to nurseries isn't the same as hunter gather society and how we evolved. But equally a women being the main caregiver as a stay at home mum isn't the natural order of things either. Too often you read of mums who are burnt out, depressed, unhappy and exhausted with no support network, parenting on their own for large chunks of the day because as society we are told it's in the best interest of the child to be at home when really children don't benefit from exhausted, depressed parents. As we have moved on in society and don't have that village or tribe around us, many of us now need to pay for it.

And yes abuse can happen at nursery but it is rare. It's well known the overwhelming amount of child abuse cases happen at home by someone known to the child.

It's not a popular view but I agree with this.
An institutional environment is not ideal for babies and very small children.