To not want a childminder who can't string a proper sentence together?

[Spice17]

Just started looking for a childminder for when I go back to work.

Was browsing on a well known website last night where childminders etc advertise their services with a profile.

Below is a combined combination/example of several of the profiles I've seen:

'hello, my name is xxxxx and i live in chelsea, london (not really but you get the idea!) im a mum of too and i love kids' etc, etc

AIBU to think - well , if that's how you've advertised your service, with spelling mistakes, lower case etc, I'm not sure I want you to look after my child!

What did you expect? I mean really they are childminders-they are hardly likely to have a degree in astro physics are they? Before I get a pile of cm's wading in with their qualifications-you are the exceptions rather than the rule. Probably the best way to find a cm is word of mouth though I would have thought?. I am sure there are many who can spell/speak properly to your satisfaction.

A spell checker wouldn't pick up too/two FFS

FFS?? calm down!

would a grammar check? anyway get someone to look over it, doesn't make them look very serious or professional about finding work.

trofeewife*

It wasn't the only mistake. I would expect a CM to partake in reading/writing activities with DC's and non capitalisation of letters is horrific.

Good spelling and grammar form the "front window" of a professional job advert or application. They are the equivalent of being clean and properly dressed.

AShoething I genuinely can't believe you thought it was ok to post that. Astonishingly rude.

yes I agree DadOn

Something is niggling me about your title, Spice. It would sound better if you'd written:

"To not want a childminder who can't string together a proper sentence?"

The use of "etc" in sentences annoys me. It shows that the writer can't think of anything else to list, so must be a bit lazy or stupid. You haven't even attempted to list anything and use "etc" after one item. Oh wait you've used it four times in the OP. Hmm.

Finally, that comma in the penultimate paragraph sticks out like a sore thumb.

I don't know if its unreasonable but I feel the same way. The way I see it is if they can't write a professional looking advert, are they professional in other ways? It also makes me wonder if they are the type of person who has gone into childminding because they can't do anything else. Kind of like at school when the girls who didn't do as well at school were directed to childcare or beauty therapy. I sound horrible I know but writing like the advert OP described kind of creates an image to me of the type of person they will be (lots of "Hun" and "Love" to other adults) and so I would use it as the first filter if I was looking for childcare. I wouldn't want to have a cm who said thing likes "yeah, he done this today and then he done that" and that type of writing in an advert would make me wonder how they would speak too.

'you don't know how good a childminder they are, the only single thing you know is that they haven't bothered to spell check their advert, which is very unprofessional' Exactly it NaicePig, what I was trying to say in a nutshell.

YANBU.

Although whether a CM can spell or not has no bearing on how well they can look after children, it is completely unprofessional to not check an advert before publishing it. That would concern me - are they unprofessional in other aspects of their work? I wouldn't opt for a CM who has mistakes in their ad.

YANBU. I have fairly bad dyslexia. That is why when I post anything, I make sure I use the spell check on my laptop or phone. This is not because I am worried that people will think I'm "stupid" (I'm more than used to that from school...) it is because if I am posting something that is making a point, advertising something etc then I don't want it to be spelt wrong.

And before anyone says "oh well you can't have bad dyslexia because your grammar is good, I have spent a lot of time working on my grammar to get it to this stage. Dyslexia doesn't mean your thick!

Another of my pet peeves is people writing "Lyk Dis N Writin Evry Wrd Wiv A Capital N Writin Lyk They R Usin Txt"

Haha just realised I was trying to make a point about me having good grammar and I forgot to close the speech marks - oopsie!!

Yanbu

I'm a cm and take care with my adverts and parent paperwork.

I also don't reply to parent's adverts that are written how you describe.

YANBU, a daft email address or bad spelling would put me off too. Essentially though many cm's are just parents wanting to earn whilst getting to stay home with their children so maybe dont spend the time to make it look like a professional business like a nursery would.

YANBU. It's so unprofessional, not just childminders, but anyone who's advertising their services & can't be bothered to get it proof-read.

I definitely avoid adverts with poor spelling and grammar. Mine is far from perfect but I would make sure it was right before I sent it out for the world to see.

A pp mentioned gumtree/eBay.. imagine you wanted to buy an iPhone 4, you search and find an iFone 4 for £300, would you buy it?

I would think they speak English as a second language and would probably arrange a meeting. It wouldn't be a deal breaker for me, but, I would wonder why they didn't spell check the ad.

YANBU, I think it's lazy.

I do agree that it does seem a bit unprofessional when advertising a business, however, I am a childminder and spent hours one evening on a well known business card website designing postcards and business cards. I proof read them and got DH to double check. When they came back the 250 business cards said I hed a level three dimploma . i just hope that people just quickly skim over then rather than check my spelling.

See another typo, i instead of I. Gosh, I am not fit to look after children at all.

I agree. It looks unprofessional and shows a lack of attention to detail.

I would expect anyone looking for work to take it seriously enough to get it checked for spelling/grammar etc.

I appreciate it isn't important to everyone, but it is very important to many people so why not do it properly?

I wouldn't go on spelling, I would go on other parents recommendation and reviews.

Bad grammar and spelling doesn't equal bad childminder.