To think that this childminder has made just a teeny-weeny mistake? (Light-hearted)

[spg1983]

I was watching a local Internet forum the other day which was started by a lady who was questioning the fact she had to pay half fees to her childminder whilst the childminder was on holiday. It soon turned into a comparison between loads of mums and the deals they get with their childminders, i.e. how much they pay per hour, whether or not food is included etc.

Then a couple of well-known local childminders started posting and explaining why the costs are what they are; it was all very polite and amicable and really useful to lots of us as there were so many costs we hadn't considered plus the hours doing paperwork so the discussion kind of drew to a close with increased understanding on all sides.

Then another childminder revived the thread with a really shouts message along the lines of "OMG I cannot believe that you working mums are moaning about childminders fees - I'd like to see any of you working for £4 per hour - it's well below minimum wage and sooooo unfair to us childminders". One of the mums very politely stated that she'd thought an average childminder would earn more per hr because they'd look after more than one child, to which the CM replied "what difference does that make?", the mum said "well you'd get £4 per child per hour" and the CM was convinced she'd earn £4 per hour no matter how many children she had - she just split the cost between all the children she had! She was wondering why she had such a long waiting list - she has 5 children at a time sometimes!!

Luckily one of the experienced CMs took her under her wing and has since sorted things out for her - poor lady!

Shouts = shouty

oops! Poor woman though! How sick must it make you feel to realise the amount of money you've lost through your own stupidity. That's £16 p/h she's lost everytime she's had 5 children I'm surprised she's actually managing to make a living!

oops!

Surely no-one is that stupid?!?

Honestly I wouldn't want someone like that being responsible for my children.

Seriously?

I can't believe someone could be that stupid but shame on all the parents who took advantage of her.

Yes it was serious - it wasn't a type of forum where you could stay anonymous and she really went off on one when she was saying about minimum wage etc.

marmalade I agree. It must have been so obvious she had made that mistake and no-one at all said anything... :(

I don't get it, so she only charged one parent and the rest of the kids went free?

Or she took care of five siblings and only charged £4 per hour for the lot?

That takes ditzy to a whole new level!

Shocking! Surely on training/courses though she would have come across conversations about wages? Strange!

Bloody hell so she actually charged 80p per child per hour for five kids?

Really?

I expect she asked others what they were paid and assumed they meant per hour rather than per child and went with it.

She was billing people £1 an hour? I can't quite believe that.

I definitely would not want anyone who would think that looking after my children.

... and yes, shame on the parents that a) took advantage of her and b) left their children with her.

Why on Earth would any decent parent leave their child with someone for such a ridiculous amount of money? Do they then go off to work laughing to themselves about the total fool they've just left their precious darling with?

She must have been DESPERATE to charge so little.

Then there's the other point, she cannot possibly Ofsted Regisitered.

Surely no one who thinks like that could meet Ofsted regulations??

I just don't know if I believe this. I can believe someone might get muddled on a forum or even in real life but when it came to charging the parents (unless perhaps all five mindees were from the same family) wouldn't you be alerted to your mistake.

Why are people saying shame on the parents that went along with this?

They probably hired the CM in good faith without it ever occurring to them that someone could be that stupid.

They probably hired the CM in good faith - if they hired a childminder, doing a responsible amount of research, I'd be amazed if a parent being charged £1 per hour didn't know this was a mistake. The parent could also presumably work out the CM was on less than minimum wage, eg, if had 4/5 mindees.

Shame on them because they either knew it was a tiny wage, they must have looked at several CMs before choosing one and therefore known what the average cost is. Or they assumed she had so many mindees on the go that all the £1s made up a liveable wage, meaning they left their child with someone who isn't following regulations. I refuse to believe every parent who used her thought she was charging a fair price.

BrokenSunglasses - so you would pay a childminder less than a £1 an hour and think nothing of it? Really?

Maybe, bit it honestly wouldn't occur to me to question what an apparently intelligent adult chose to charge for a service she was providing. You'd think it was cheap, yes, but would you really question it? I'd probably just think she's charging less for children from the same family, or charging less because its only after school care. It really wouldn't occur to me that someone experienced, who I thought had enough intelligence to look after my children properly, would make such a colossal mistake with something so basic.

The only time I've considered using a childminder has been when I've been looking for a job and I considered using a lady who I'd been talking to for years on school runs for after school care. I wouldn't have done any research had she been available and had I ended up needing her, I'd have just accepted what she told me.