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!

Just been back to the forum - turns out she had the figure of £4ph in her head and thought that was what she would earn per hour regardless of how many children?! I think she thought it was down to goodwill how many children each childminder took and couldn't understand why she wasn't getting any net income after her costs

I think she is only just getting registered with ofsted and has only looked after the children from 2 families, she was a SAHM and started minding some friends' children as a favour and only recently decided to make it an official arrangement so she is possibly guilty of not doing as much research as she could before getting started but it makes me feel even worse about this knowing that the parents who let her charge £4 in total per hour are (were!) her friends

Started off as a light-hearted thread and is now a bit sad :(

I would think something was reAlly wrong if I was charged £1 an hour. It would've add up to me. I would have to check that it wasn't a mistake.

And omg how did she really think 80p a child was the going rate. More kids is supposed to increase what you get not have you start charging other parents less.

Agree with others mentioning the other parents I had a childminder suggest an amount under the going rate at interview; different system in Ireland and she was unsure what to ask for. I upped her to the going rate. why would I want to under pay some one looking after my children.

it honestly wouldn't occur to me to question what an apparently intelligent adult chose to charge for a service she was providing.

Really? You wouldnt research market rates / other service providers? do you take the same approach for a plumber / carpenter?

It's up to the indivudual parent to assess the "apparent intelligence" and if I were offered CM services for £1/h I would KNOW there was some mistake and it would make me think the CM was v lacking in common sense - I would not choose her as my CM.

If I already knew a good plumber/chippie that I liked, trusted and wanted to use regardless of how much they charge, then yes!

I can see how it would happen in the situation described in the update. The parents using this childminder fell into the arrangement without much research too, and probably just trusted that their friend had done her own research accurately.

If they were friend they probably thought they were getting "mates rates".

Well she is obviously not that bright, but still might be a lovely kind woman who is good with children.

BUT - I thought under the Ofsted regime, they had to teach kids some basic stuff including numeracy - how on earth did she manage to meet the requirements?