Poorly child

thankyou ifmama
there are some very odd people on here, that's for sure.

I've worked with children nearly 20 years and since being a childminder have been appalled at the way some parents think the can treat us! they are leaving their most treasured possessions with us but yet squabble over the odd pound or two and think its fine to leave ill children in our care and not pay on time...
all in all i have had enough and hope to give up this year.

did mum collect btw? was she at work orhome ill? i would have been inclined to deliver child to her but obviously that's nother fair on other children....

outraged, you have a very selfish attitude - don't you think it matters that op, her children and other children in her care are now likely to get ill - resulting in another set/sets of parents being unable to go to work and op losing income as her children will not be able to go to school?! You have to think about the knock on effect.

We are not nannies. We are childminders. We work from our own home, are self employed and therefore set our own terms, including whether or not we chose to care for sick children. We have more than one set of parents to consider.

op, i feel your pain. some parents are extremely self centred where childminders (and their children are concerned) I would be sending home too. My job is not looking after ill children. Ill children should be at home with their parents.
A nursery would send home - why shouldn't we?

Don't worry about Outraged, she has a bit of a chip on her shoulder about childcare it would seem

Fair enough

'surely that would be cause for concern'

and who better to care for the child than a professional, qualified, first-aid trained childminder?

That's why parents pay you instead of using an au pair or teenager. You can deal with this sort of situation. You say you've worked through it now, so it was doable and neither parent has to walk out of work!

Oh and I saw this bit 'Mom and Dad are both full of cold and told me they feel awful (as in not well!!)', but my thought was, if they're well enough to go to work then the baby, who has the same cold, is well enough to go to childcare.

i agree with leeds, she has a cold and grumpy - not a reason i would call my boss and say come home

she is not throwing up or has high temp (both of which parents should collect)

yes you are a cm and not a nanny, but does it say in your sickness policy that if has a cold/unhappy that parents will collect

yes you have others to look after,assuming 2 others if have 3 under 5, but sounds no different to my day if have one charge under the weather/teething etc and they need a bit more tlc - the other 2 have to understand it

...but the child has a cold? If it was throwing up or running a dangerously high temperature, fair enough, but to leave work and come home immediately because the child has a cold and is unhappy?

I respect your right to run your business how you see fit, but I can see why this would be a problem for the parents.

I don't think that's fair, Outraged. You pay a childminder for shared care, not exclusive care. You take on board that she needs to balance the needs of all the children in her care. So you take the chance that if or when your child is poorly enough to need constant one to one attention, that it will have to be you who provides that. It's just not fair on the child, the childminder or any other children there to try to keep a sick child happy when they really need a parent for comfort. I also think most parents would want to be there for their baby in these circumstances.

Bearing in mind the number of colds and stuff children get, that makes you very unreliable childcare.

I wouldn't expect a childminder to ask me to collect a child just because of a cold and "not being happy". I assume the Mum is working so can't just drop everything for a non emergency

I wouldn't call a parent home from work because a child had a cold and wasn't happy!

Is that standard practice for childminders?

Have you a baby carrier or sling you can pop child in so you can get a few things done and give cuddle? I know its not ideal and Mum is being an arse, but unless youre prepared to get properly shirty with her and justify it you havent got much choice apart from to put it down to a bad day. After that though you might want to have a think about whether this is a good working relationship or not. If its a one off I would let it go, but if Mum is like this in general then have a word.

Did you say she needs to collect or just that she wasn't her self? Don't give the option of not collecting, I've toughened up now after a grandma wouldn't collect a child with a temp of over 40 and a history of fitting!