What should I ask a childminder?

[Breadandsticks]

I’ve put my children through nursery (as in pre-school), but I’ve never used a childminder.

A friend recommended a childminder and they seem great, and this set up works better for us and our toddlers needs.

Except for staff, cameras and security, payment details and general day to day and values, what questions should we be asking a childminder? Or what questions did you wish you asked from the beginning.

I might be overthinking as it’s someone’s house.

How many other DC will they be looking after and their ages. Do they take extra older DC in school holidays.
What activities outside home does the Child Minder do and are they cheap or expensive ones.
How many holidays does the child minder roughly have each year and how much notice is generally given.

I asked

• any pets in the home
• who provides meals
• do I send a bag of spare clothes & nappies daily, or keep a reserve there
• where do the smaller kids nap, and could I see it
• same for toiletting
• how many kiddos do they mind
• what are the age range of the kids
• how do they manage getting a child down for a nap with other kids in the home
• what visitors do they expect to the home, and what are the policies on visitors mixing with kids
• what are the holidays and notice periods for these
• how do they want to be paid
• are bank hols paid for
• pick up and drop off times
• do they leave the home (mine doesn't, but if they did I'd ask about cars and car seats, plus where they typically go)
• sick policies

I’m a childminder and parents tend to ask me things about our daily routine & how their child’s routine can be included and any adaptations that might take place, the kind of food I serve for meals, outdoor time, what type of outings we go on, sleeping arrangements for the children etc, basically anything that will give them an idea of how our days will go and what kind of things to expect 🙂
its obviously very different to nursery in that aspect, as like you say its a childminders house! But personally i think just ask anything that’s on your mind. I’ve had all sorts of weird & wonderful questions and really nothing has ever been a bother to answer.
sometimes it’s more about finding out about the actual person you are leaving your child with, if that makes sense!
sometimes I’ve even had parents who’ve not even asked a question about Childminding or anything, they just had a chat about all sorts of things because I’d already given them a welcome pack with all the daily details in so they just wanted to get to know me and see if I’d be a good fit for them.

I think the obvious questions like DBS check, any qualifications they have & their experience, ages of the other children they care for are, paediatric first aid training & their Ofsted report are really a must just for peace of mind, if anything.

As a mum, I’d deffo be looking to see if we’d get on and if our values in childcare line up, car seats they have and how they manage behaviour in toddlers - just to make sure I agree / like their ideas, and how they’d communicate about my babies day like their sleep, what they ate etc. But I’m a bit of a control freak 😂 so I’d probably be a bit OTT 🙈

Thank you. We had an initial chat and I feel I learned alot about them and have an idea of routine, but some of these questions went on my radar and I will ask them, so thank you.