What to ask a prospective childminder

@LucieLucie

I do agree with you, in principle, about holidays. In fact, I don’t charge for my holidays; I allow parents to take their holidays without paying me; and, like you, I work the school holidays for 1 or 2 families when it really isn’t worthwhile. I shall be working across new year for parents who are in essential services and if I’m not actually working Xmas day then I’ll be on standby because they are on call.

But in practice I would never criticise any childminder who charged. To compare self-employed holiday arrangements is pure cherry-picking if you don’t take account of all the other comparisons.

I’m sure every childminder in the U.K. would stop charging for holidays if they could charge £40.00ph like a (less qualified) plumber, or even £10 to £12ph like a completely unqualified dog-walker or cleaner who has virtually no expenses compared to a registered childminder.

Most self-employed people don’t do evening and weekend work for nothing. But I can spend 10 to 20 hours a week unpaid on planning, CPD, reviews, meetings, etc. Perhaps childminders should not charge for holidays, but perhaps we should charge for the hours put into writing progress reviews, 2 year checks, meetings with parents etc. ? Because other self-employed people certainly would. My joiner charged for his time spent cutting and prepping skirting boards off-site, not just for the time fitting them at mine. My daughter’s solicitor charges £90 to write a letter.

A childminder I know has lost entire days of income because she has to attend safeguarding conferences for one child. So who is paying her doing her job properly?

Perhaps we are all mugs because we don’t charge like other self-employed people would?

Your gut feeling.

I am a childminder. Gut feeling I think is very important . It does work both ways , I have turned down a couple of families and know where they have gone. In reality it has been the right decision , they just wouldn’t of fit in with the way I work.

Ask about ages of other children, school runs . I now don’t do pre school drop off or collection in the middle of the day as it seemed to be unfair on the children who were here all day. Getting out for some fresh air morning and afternoon is good for all of them. Rainy days we wear puddle suits and wellies to make the rain fun.

I am honest with my parents though I am not going to forest school on the rain we will do something else.

Ask about groups but bear in mind this changed depending on the age of the children . I used to have a baby one day so went to a baby group . Did a drama type group one afternoon a week when I had three3/4 year olds but wouldn’t of worked if there were 2 and a baby.

Ask about meals.

All cminders do first aid and safeguarding as a minimum.

If there are specific things you want to ask take a list . I also tell prospective parents to text any questions when they get home.

I think that person was just trying to stir the pot around the CM v Nursery debate.

Of course the operations of one single Cm is not typical of us all.

I have one child in the holidays, occasionally two. I earn a pittance.
I don't charge parents when I close - which is never because I can't afford it.

I'm working right through Christmas and new year so threads like these really annoy me.
My parents would not want to pay me to be on holiday so I feel like a mug seeing I'm the only honest Cm out there while the rest will be tucked up with their families over Christmas and I'll have parents dropping their kids at the door 'cos they're paying for it'

I should maybe start charging parents, and throw my integrity and morals out the window.

Most self-employed people don’t charge for holidays: true. But they do factor into their fees the need to make enough money all year round in order to be able to afford some time off. So when you pay, for example, your plumber/hairdresser/dog walker, you are paying them a certain amount of money to cover their holiday weeks.

In fact, when you buy any goods or services you are paying towards a lot of people to "do nothing" because the price you pay has factored into it the holiday pay of every single person involved in producing, transporting, promoting and selling that thing.

Holiday pay.....in most cases increasing the hourly rate on a full time contract by 5p is more money a year than paying for 3 weeks holiday a year. As a full time childminder will typically work 55 hour weeks with children and the another 5 to 10 on paperwork one who cant afford a break is not going to be as fresh and on the ball as a rested one....bearing in mind that break is often also maintenance time a shut down is also often beneficial to the children.
Most childminders book holiday a year in advance and typically Christmas is part of it so for many parents fitting their own time off to match is not massive...if there are 2 parents they can split who's caring too and make it more flexible.
Most cms will not have 20 children in a house in school holidays even if a friend comes round so the post above is not saying anything useful....a visitor for a couple of hours bringing 2 or 3 is more normal on a school holiday but usually they meet up on outings making it better for the children.

I don't think this is the thread for you somehow @Her0utdoors

You might be leaving your baby with only one or two other children through the day during term time, but how many will be there in the holidays? Dd's old minder would have maximum numbers during the school holidays, plus her dd was a cm too, so there would be nearly 20 children in her house some days. Not good for the little ones.
How many times a day will your baby have to be bundled in their pram to do the school run? Potentially 3-4 if the cm is doing drops and pick ups from school nursery too.
I found a nursery setting suited us best, can you tell!

Re the holidays.

It's normal to pay the CM while YOUR family/child are away on holidays - to keep the space.

However the paying for CM to be away on holiday is surely another matter?!

If the overall cost is the same I would far rather pay for holidays as theoretically it would spread the cost over the year

Ask them how they deal with cover when they're sick. Is there any cover at all, or will you have to take time off?

Some CMs work with other CMs to provide cover for each other. Others have their adult DCs and DH registered as CMs so they can cover. Many have no cover at all.

The most important thing, however, is gut feel. Do you want to leave your child with this person?

"for self -employed people the 'standard' is no holiday pay"

This is a false dichotomy because it wilfully ignores the many less favourable comparisons of paying for services provided by self-employed traders. Suffice to say, if childminders charged exactly like other self-employed people, then parents would be paying a lot, LOT more for childcare.

"the type of person who trys [sic] to charge for nothing doesn’t bode well with me"

This is bad advice. If the OP treats every childminder who charges for holidays as a bad person, she’ll be ruling out many excellent childcarers. In contrast to this blinkered view, most childminders put in a lot of unpaid hours every week: perhaps you’d like to pay for those instead?

Those childminders who don’t charge for holidays get just as much aggravation, as parents complain incessantly that their bills vary from one month to the next.

It’s a bit sad when the type of people who would say "my children are my world" engage in penny-pinching when it comes to paying for them.

Look at the overall annual cost. If the one charging for holidays is the same / similar over the year as the one not charging, then they are charging the same, but in different ways.

Also, look at what they are including in their costs - nappies, wipes, outings, food, etc.

One thing I've been quite surprised at is how vastly different each childminder charges for holiday. Some ask for 4 weeks paid and others don't charge at all - I guess I thought there would be an industry standard?

As said previously upthread, for self employed people the 'standard' is no holiday pay. There's zero entitlement to any benefits employed people have.

On the face of two Childminders, one offering no charge for her time off (correct) and one who is chancing her arm and charging parents when her service is unavailable so they may have to pay twice...

I can't see what's to think about. The type of person who try's to charge for nothing doesn't bode well with me and I wouldn't want to have any type of working relationship with them.

General chat around parenting issues to find out what her feelings are/if she has a policy. I agree with focusing on the bits which are important to you, rather than trying to ask everything :)

e.g. Food, Sleep, Car seats, Behaviour management, Screen time, mild illness (teething/sniffles).

Does she have any pets? Does she have any backup carers (e.g. my old childminder's husband was approved as a temporary carer so e.g. if she needed to take one child to the doctor sometimes he would be there alone with the mindees)

OP one thing to find out is why they have a vacancy.

My CM has vacancies commonly as people move as I'm in London and lots of people rent. However in my case it was because a mother was having a second child so couldn't afford to send her son while on maternity leave. (We got references from a variety of former clients.)

Also if your child is under a year you need to give formula and some of the bottles/cups he uses at home for the childminders sole use.

Oh and I pay my CM in arrears, she takes vouchers from various schemes, does free hours, gets paid holiday, doesn't have her maximum allocation of children during the majority of the day and her children are grown up. In other words the rules a PP gave you aren't absolute.

As above re the practicalities but, two years in as a mostly SAHM: go to some of the groups that they (and other CMs) go to, and see how they are with the kids. I have seen a few lovely CMs that I'd put DD in with tomorrow, but also some that I wouldn't leave my hypothetical dog with. Recommendations from friends also helpful.

Btw, if the cost is important to you, be careful how you compare one childminder's fees with another. Raw £-per-hour figures are not the whole story. You need to factor in whether/how they charge for meals, holidays, groups, etc.

It will also make a huge difference if they will take payment through money saving schemes such as tax-free childcare, and will they offer funded places ("free hours") at 3 years old. Don’t assume.

You might want to consider the longer term. Do you want the same childminder for school runs and holiday care when baby is older?

Try to cut through all that cuddly stuff and stick to the practical stuff. Any fool can look good holding a baby (even politicians do it) but that doesn’t necessarily amount to a good working arrangement. This is a decision you need to make in a mature, considered way with your head, for the sake of your child: not with your gut for the sake of your feelings.

There are some good lists above of what to ask. You can also get good, neutral advice from your local authority's children and families department, and Pacey (search online.) Think about what matters to you and, above all, make sure you both have your expectations in line.

Childcare arrangements rarely fail over standards of care (and never because a childminder didn’t hold the baby the moment they met.) It’s usually because of differing expectations: you don’t have to spend long on MN to see examples. And it’s frequently mums disputing something they actually agreed to at contract signing.

Do not underestimate the importance of 'boring' formalities and paperwork. Get a written contract (not just the promise of one at some future date) and receipts for all payments: again, MN has a current thread running from a mum who now regrets ignoring this basic safeguard.

CallMeRachel has some good points, but

• Food Hygeine is not essential for all Local Authorities and many childminders are perfectly capable of cooking and preparing food safely without it.
• Some Childminders charge for holiday, but charge less at other times, so the overall total is the same. Also - who wants a childminder who hasn't had a break all year, because they couldn't afford it.
• Some post pictures on Facebook, etc with parents permission, so don't assume they are doing it without full consent from parents.

I'm not being defensive here, because I have food hygeine, don't charge for holiday and don't post pictures online, but that doesn't make me any better or worse at caring for children.

It's definitely a good idea to ask;

• How long they have been operating (many give up after a couple of years)
•If they have young children of their own (may need time off for their own kids sickness)
•What training they have undertaken in the last 3 year (First Aid and Food Hygiene is a must imo)
•Their holiday policy (self employed people have no entitlement to paid leave) - anyone who charges while their service is unavailable and closed would be struck off my shortlist immediately
•Payment policy (most are monthly in advance)

They should also be registered with ICO and must comply with GDPR. Any who post unedited pictures of minded children publicly on Facebook or elsewhere would also be struck off my shortlist.

Two visits would be recommended, you'll get a vibe.