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Original poster

giving notice to a family, what reason can i give?

30 replies

mindingmum · 01/03/2008 09:03

hope it's ok to burden fellow cm's with probs on their day off...
i have minded a 2yo girl since she was 9 weeks old for 50 plus hours per week, she is fab and so easy to mind
parents however are a bit trying to say the least, frequently complaining about things eg one time the girl called me 'mum' and her mum was hysterical. i explained to her that she hears my 5 children call me mum all the time and just copied (no big deal) but dad ranted on and on that it must never happen again!
on several occasions they have called a meeting with me to ask about the type of 'education'she is receiving while with me, although she has a daily diary filled in with all this in
recently they have been mentioning how brill the nursery is that their friends son goes to and how much 'education' he gets there so i told them they were welcome to send dd there with no hard feelings but mum said that they were happy with me (i don't feel like they are)
mum is currently on mat leave so dd only comes to me 3 mornings and every time she arrives she mentions something new that shes taught dd and asks me to follow it on
i really don't think i want to continue minding them when she goes back to work in june as now she's quoting EYFS at me at every oppotunity and i'm still getting my head round it myself.
i have to make a decision soon because they are paying me a retainer for two ft places and i'll have to pay it back if i give notice
what do you think?

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Hassled · 01/03/2008 09:44

Maybe just telling them you've giving up because you feel unreasonably pressurised by all the "Education" stuff and don't feel able to give them what they want - that might make them see the error of their ways and they'll back off a bit.

Original poster
mindingmum · 01/03/2008 09:39

chelsygirl, i hope you don't regret giving up, how long ago was it?

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Original poster
mindingmum · 01/03/2008 09:37

thanks for quick replies
chelsygirl - the prob i have is that i don't know what reason to give for notice because i also mind the children of two of her anti natel friends, who incidentally are lovely and frequently tell me how much they appreciate what i do with their children
hassled - i think you are defo right about it getting worse
i do loads of stuff with her as i am an ex montessori nanny
there is no prob at all about replacing her and her brother, all cm's round here full to bursting
will miss her obviously and so will my children as she is almost a sibling to them - 50 odd hours a week is a long week but constantly feel judged

OP posts:
Hassled · 01/03/2008 09:23

An ex CM here.
Poor little girl - she's 2 and her parents are busy talking about education and EYFS?

It's quite likely that this will get worse in the run up to school - if it's an issue at 2 they're going to be expecting a lot more by the time she's 3 or 4, and if you're minding a newborn as well that will put a lot of pressure on you.

I suppose your decision depends on:
What they are actually expecting from you - if by "education" they mean quite reasonable stuff like early numbers, recognising her name and a few letters, then you could gently explain that you'll give her lots of encouragement when she seems ready. If they're being completely unrealistic it's more of a problem.
Could you get new mindees fairly easily?
Can you afford it if you do struggle to get new children for a while?
How much will you miss the little girl?

chelsygirl · 01/03/2008 09:17

its a bloody haRD JOB ISN'T IT!

I found you either get great kids and awful parents or awful kids and great parents, if you were very unlucky you got both awful!!(thats why I chucked it!)

I'd say do what suits you and if you give notice say what suits you too(I always found the parents didn't worry too much about looking after themselves so in the end I did too)