Am I missing something here - what are the children whom you are meant to be minding doing while you are on the Internet??

trust - TRUST I trust my childminder (bleedin hell!)

I posted earlier but just to reprise...

I turst my childminder to be sensible. You must your childcare provider - if you don;t you are a mug. They are caring for your child ffs and you don;t trust them to be sensible about internet usage, making coffee, watching tv blah blah blah. It should be a relationship based on trust.

FWIW I don;t spend more than 5-10 mins at a time on MN when DS is around because he;s not a child that would let you wihtout persistent nagging so I would doubt his CM would get onto the internet much. And if she does whilst he's playing football with her boys then good for her, one ofthe reasons I chose her was because she has lovely boys a few years older than DS and as an only child of a single mother I wanted him to have a family environment. Frankly I'd rather he was playing football with her boys in the garden than sticking and pasting with her.

indeed we are foxy

what some parents dont seem to relise that without us nannies/cm or nurseries - they wouldnt be able to work!!

mumsnet.com/Talk/childminders_nannies_au_pairs_etc/646824-Was-yesterday-shout-at-people-who-look-aft er-children-day

I think childminders nannys etc are great

Givemechoc, no it isn't but somehow the poor exeption attracts a lot more attention than the many good cms/nannies/parents.

There is a thread praising cm , for the cm who need a little TLC.

What's with the other thread seems like unfair childminder bashing to me.

Fairly new to MN (because of being a new CM ironically!), I can't believe it's that bad

I have frequently wondered how the people who's names are always cropping up manage to care for childen and use mn. Some seem to talk about loads of children so are obviously very busy working at the same time. I've always been concerned at the welfare of their kids. Yes I do (very rarely) use my computer during my working hours when kids are asleep. I add the odd comment to a thread. I also watch teachers tv online which has a fantastic range of training videos, to improve my practice.

well fook me after all that,she didnt come back on and answer the Q

oh well ,some of the comments were funny as

Rachel,a nanny who accesses t'internet on mobile sometimes whilst at work

I have to say after reading most of this weird cm-bashing thread, that I would never and have never mn'd while minding. Personally I don't have the time, but I think the cms who do use it before mindees arrive to swap notes, support etc, which can be invaluable in this job.

The only times I go on-line are if its to print stuff off for kids, or one-off neccessities like today, at half five, mindee and my three dc all eating dinner together, I put laptop on to buy something essential on ebay ! essential for cm;ing that is.

Although I see no need to justify this to th op who obviously hates cms for some reason !

In their defence and mine, all if the cms I know do a better job than they are ever appreciated for - so much of what we dois simply unknown and unpraised. With eyfs we are running a mini nursery in our homes, |IMO a much harder job than nurseries have,

Sorry rant over, just had to join in !

Sorry that should read 'I have no use for CM as both DD's are in f/t school'

Well, I have no use for CM's atm, It could change when Dd3 comes along.
From my point of view, children do not need adult interaction every minute of every day. My dd's are more than happy playing with and alongside each other and if they went to a CM, although I would expect a reasonable amount of interaction, I accept that CM may not be with them every second.

PS If I WAS a childminder, I would ban myself from the internet during the day as I know I wouldn't have the willpower to keep it to 5 minutes here and there - so I wouldn't be a daily mumsnetter if I was a childminder.

ah cunning luminous, that would be impossible not to comment on...

Just put a bottle of that fanjo shampoo or whatever it was on the table and watch for their reaction.

Though that's if I knew that about them at all - it's all a bit hypothetical this isn't it? But 'buys a paper every day' versus 'seen posting on mumsnet daily' - one has a hell of a lot more potential for sucking up time, causing constant screen refreshes, regular ranting at screen and occasional total absorption in writing a reply ("someone is WRONG on the internet" ) than the other one - one is much more likely to cause distraction to a level that could have a negative impact on my child's day.

What I'm saying is that I would not employ someone like me if they had access to Mumsnet during their working hours - actually in any capacity, not just as a cm. I know not everyone is like those of us who are more hooked - but wondering if they might be would be enough to put me off a daily mumsnetter - sorry!

is this thread still going .... any cm worth their salt would like after the children well but enjoy a break when possible. No need to justify that. And if there is a rotten egg among cm than that's the same as in other professions and this thread won't mend it.

watch out for the new interview questions, childminders...
''so, are you, or have you ever been a mumsnetter? ''

or perhaps it will be more subtle. Like mentioning norks and frootshoots and seeing if your eyes light up.

You don't know that they're doing other things - but those things aren't what this topic is discussing. And like I said, it's not small breaks that are the problem - it's the potential (not actual for all people, but some) for mumsnetting to suck up far more time than a 'small break'. So 'regular mumsnetting' would put me off a cm (note: not make me want to have them lynched, or make me think that's the only way someone could be distracted or waste time) - just that, put me off them.

i think it's appalling that she brought up the sleeping child topic yet refuses to answer it.

what if she asked a child a question and they refused to answer it, bet she would be ticked off

thik someone had a bad day and is pissed off with the world and unfortunaley we are getting it

But how do you know that a CM that 'doesn't do the internet' is not sitting at home all morning watching Phill and Fern?

This argument is silly. Most CM's will take a small break during the day to relax a little, eat lunch, whatever. It could MN or reading a paper!

I don't think everyone is like that (in fact I know everyone isn't) - the point is that the people who don't do mnet or boards at all aren't like that - but the ones who do may be like that - or may not - but I can't tell. So if I did have to choose between a regular parenting or other board reader and someone who didn't do that sort of internet thing at all - I'd choose the one who didn't do it.

Maybe it's only me, but I NEVER spend more than about 20 minutes on MN at any one time. I have a quick squiz at the threads I'm interested in and maybe reply, but mostly not really.

There seems to be some people are get very addicted to MN and therefore think everyone is like that, but I for one, am not!

I would not be happy with a cm who was regularly mnetting. Sorry but I wouldn't. I know it can be a total time sink and I know at times it distracts me from my own children - and you know what, two wrongs don't make a right. My kids, my risk, my stupidity or whatever you want to call it, when I get sucked into reading something while thinking 'should really be getting on with X,Y,Z while the kids are asleep/playing happily alone'. If it was someone else's kids (whether or not I was being paid) - not a risk I'd take. If they were asleep, yes, fine, no problem with it from a safety point of view - although even then - it's such a time sink I'd still suspect it was taking time away that could be spent e.g. clearing up. As a bit of a net addict, I personally have a job sitting down for 20 minutes and not letting it slip into 2 hours - not a problem for anyone else's kids as I'm not a cm - but it wouldn't be good for anyone else's kids if I WAS a cm. As a parent I wouldn't be happy at an entire two-hour nap time being spent by a cm mnetting when some of that time (the time that's more than needed for their own relaxation/lunch hour) could have been spent by them doing clearing up, getting activities ready, etc. etc. (I don't care about observations though!).

I don't expect 100% of the cm's time to be spent watching my child, of course I don't - but I don't expect mumsnet to be one of the things they're regularly splitting their attention over during the day - it should be a lunch 'hour' (not whole of nap) or evening activity only IMO.

The bottom line is that whether or not anyone agrees, I would be happier with a cm who didn't know about mnet than one who did and might get caught up in an addictive thread and waste time that way. So a cm who mnetted would put me right off them - even if all it did was waste time (so then later when mindees were awake they were trying to multitask doing clearing up they could have done with they were asleep, for instance). I don't mean daytime mnetting HAS to be bad for mindees - but I can too easily see that it COULD be bad for me not to be put off someone who did it often.

Actually I'd be equally put off anyone I was paying to do something (e.g. normal employee) if I knew they were regulars on any board during the day, even if it was theoretically only for short visits - I know from bitter personal experience the potential for timewasting and distraction and it would put me right off. It's not about not wanting people to have a reasonable amount of relaxation time - even a generous amount would be fine by me - it's about the ability of mnet and similar to suck up far MORE than a reasonable amount of time that's the problem. I shouldn't do it as much as I myself do it as a parent - and I wouldn't expect anyone to do it a lot if they were my cm, either.

For those wondering the same thing about overnight stays I've started a new thread

ok, I think everyone definition of mnetting is different. I can see how it can be addictive and how you could waste hours on here but it is also the most fantastic resource for tips and advice. So I don't see it as just mindless surfing the net. I don't think anyone is saying that sat there for hours at the computer is ok. No one would agree that this is ok, but that would go for many other activities too, like housework or paper work or other chores. While mindees asleep safe and sound - surely perfectly fine, baby monitor on etc etc. While kids are happily playing - personaly probably would only pop on the net to check something specific and necessary so would be very brief.