Wish childminders could just mind children.

Any chance you could tell this to OFSTED? I'm a cm and at the moment I have my own 8 year old, another 8 year old from his school and I collect his sister from a nursery at 4.30.

She is tired when I pick er up and there often is not much time to do an activity as I am getting their tea ready as on 2 days we have to get to my son's swim lesson at 5 and the older 2 go to football training at 6-7 on another.

I have had days when they just don't turn up and with no notice so my activity/prepared dinner goes right out the window!!! . We work on our own, how on earth are we supposed to observe, take notes etc and play with a baby? Nurseries are ok, they have other staff to help, we haven't. I take my children out in the holidays to parks to let off steam.

My only problem is the child making me late for school (he walks the 2 min walk and I text to let his Mum know) and the parent doesn't seem to care, should I leave for school or make my child late which is not fair.

as ever with these things it's surely a fine line? CMs give you greater flexibility (IME), but with that is the danger that your child is "fitting in" with the CM's other chores of the day...so whilst at nursery a visit to the shops is definitely going to be a learning experience (because it's structured) a visit to the shops with a cm might be because she'd forgotten to get dinner that night and needs to stock up... it's only the prospect of Ofsted that prevent this being a regular occurrence... Or make it into a learning experience because she can do an observation at the same time...
A good cm is exactly what you are talking about OP, and one that can do observations without the kids noticing, and does regular feedback to the parents. Sadly they are few and far between and i wonder if ofsted etc make the notsogood cms pull their socks up a bit and realise they are looking after Another Precious Child, even if it's not their own.

Agree with Nannynick and pippin26. In fact, even though I'm accredited, I've often felt pressured by the parents to justify what we've done all day (just because they don't have a pretty picture to take home does not mean they haven't been learning).

You only have to read some of the other threads on here to see that an awful lot of parents want us to be more structured and nursery-like (complaints about taking the child shopping, for example, and wasn't there a thread very recently where a parent asked what her childminder did all day with the kids?).

My parents have previously been used to me using the Foundation Stage. One or two are finding it difficult to understand that their children are still learning with me because the EYFS is not nearly so rigid and structured.

Disclaimer for those who worry about such things: I work with my husband and I'm having a coffee break. The children are not unsupervised while I'm on MN. Thank you for your concern.

ooh NannyNick could I have a copy of that document please.... i am doing my dissertation that sounds like it would come in very handy.

In answer to the OP - I do 'just mind' children like parents do. The children never know I am doing an obs. The rarely see the planning and organisation.
We go out, we do stuff in the house, we don't have activities planned for every second of the day - we very much go with the flow.

I think we have covered the history of childminding in the past. I have a document from someone who covered the history as part of their doctoral dissertation.

Regulation has been around for quite a long time now... 1896 trial and execution of Mrs Dyer prompted the need for legislation. Major legislation was in 1948 - there were some bits of law before this but it is the Nurseries and Childminders Regulation Act 1948 which is the major one.

What I expect you are not liking about the current legislation, is the things to do with EYFS. The educational element is something most childcare providers do as part of their day anyway... the EYFS just makes it more formal.

As lifeinagoldfishbowl says, nannies are exempt from EYFS, so that is the current way of getting away from the education side of things. However a nanny will be doing educational things with your child anyway - like you would... such as counting objects, looking at shapes, colours, money, cooking, playing with various toys.

What a good description! A Redcoat! That's exactly why I am no longer a childminder. I loved all my mindees and I believe they and their families love them being here. Never had an outstanding from Ofsted, but always got an outstanding from parents and kids! I never went without work for over 10 years and I didn't advertise once, so I must have been doing something right,

Sadly, Ofsted said I wasn't doing enough observations and organised play and didn't have rules and regs on the wall and clean towels for each child and menu plans and so on and so on....

So, I gave up!

Absolutelty, I completely agree. I take mindee to one play group or pop in a day (that is for my sanity as well as his enjoyment) and then we spend the rest of the day doing 'normal' things, school run and shopping or a play date at one of my friend's houses. At home I potter around and mindee has access to loads of toys that I rotate to keep his interest. But I am new, this is only week 10 for me and while I do a daily diary for him, and for my part time mindee, and I do observations and try to do eyfs, I am worried how our routine will be viewed by ofsted when i have my first inspection.

Why should i feel like i am failing if i don't have activities planned for every second of the day?

I think there are a few around tbh but OFSTED have made it very tricky for them I think.

I'm a childminder and I wish I could just look after the children without worrying about the paperwork side BUT otoh I do see how in time we will be respected a bit more than we currently are because it will be seen as a profession rather than people thinking we are just doing it to stay at home and earn a bit of pocket money plus now I have put simple systems in place it isn't actually as much hard work as it was first made out to be, although I would be happier if we could write less down because we are only writing it down for the benefit of OFSTED who come out every 3 yrs, it is not for the childs benefit imo because when you work with a small group of children you get to know them really well and without needing anything written down you know instinctively what comes next but I write it down anyway!

There is nothing wrong with providing stimulation, learning opportunities, building on something a child is really interested in etc you can do it in a very relaxed manner, it doesn't have to be in a structured way, children learn though play if you provide enough different things for them to play with, show interest, praise them, answer questions - all things parents do without realising imo. I personally am not at each individual childs beck and call because I am not a nanny looking after one child I have a variety of ages and a number of children so I need to ensure all children are treated fairly and equally so can't give 100% attention to every child, they have to share my time which I do think I manage to do very well and was actually graded outstanding in that aspect in my most recent inspection.

If you would like a childminder that is willing to do less obs and activities then visit quite a few and make your views known, it may be that they are relieved they can agree with you and are happy to work with you, if you don't ask you don't get as my mum always used to tell me.

A nanny can/does all do this but it costs more.