To be put off using a childminder for this?

[appleharvest]

I am being completely unreasonable and I suppose I'm wondering why.

Shopping around for childcare at the moment for DDs (2 and 5 months.) I need full time places for them both.

I visited a childminder who was telling me about her rule that, when out of the house, all her mindees wore a luminous vest with her childminding company name and phone number on it.

I understand why this is a good idea from a safety perspective but I hated it. It seemed too much like an orphanage or something!

I know I am BU but I hate the thought of DD1 sitting at the dentists or walking through the shopping centre or to a school with a luminous vest on saying she is looked after by someone who isn't her parent.

Ah, thank you for helping me articulate those feelings! Yes, I just want the girls to go somewhere they'll feel really cared for and safe - not like a cross between advertising plaques and a scene from a workhouse!

My children had a fabulous childminder. Amazing. Wouldn't have given a flying fandango if they'd had to wear a luminous vest when out and about with her.

Adsy I have to be honest and say I couldn't bear the thought of them going to someone I didn't know at all even if she was a fully DBS checked qualified childminder.

I know this is also illogical

Can I ask why you are visiting CM's then??!!!
Unless you know the staff at your local nursery personally you are going to have the same problem there ( but a lot more strange people!)

You'd have loved tesco today...,

About ten 2 and 3 year olds out in high viz jackets ....visiting the fish counter and holding the fish....

Think they were from the local nursery workhouse

No issue from a nursery.

Adsy ... Because I'm trying to find the best childcare I can for my girls while I work.

You know, like you do

I meant a lot more strangers not that people in nurseries are a lot more strange!

I think Yabu. If I had 5 small children to look after even if they were my own I'd consider high visibility vests. I put a big sticker with my toddlers name and my phone number on the back of his jumper when we go to busy places, I really hope there is never the need to use the sticker but I don't see any reason not to do it so it's a safety precaution I'm happy to take.

Other people's opinions really don't matter, I assume your close friends and relatives will know of your childcare arrangements anyway and if random people think oh poor kids dumped in daycare then that is not your problem and won't affect your dc at all.

The only problem I have with high visibility vests is that in situations where there are lots of different nurseries in the same area I think the vests actually make the children less easy to spot, I went to an event aimed at toddlers recently and there must have been 100 toddlers from lots of different nurseries, it was like a sea of neon!

It's interesting though.

As a cm my top priority was offering a safe warm fun happy and stimulating setting.

I would expect my parents to have full trust in me and absolute surety that humanely speaking their children were safe.

Is it the fact that they had her business name on?

Because all nurseries do this too on outings.

Still op you must be absolutely happy with your child care so go with your feigns however wierd!! Joking

Apple - I would feel the same way. BUT, I live in a more rural location, and the CM and a number of other CMs had their own CM clubs that they took children to, and the playgrounds they went to weren't busy, city ones.

Another CM who used to use them when near a major roads=, I never had a problem with - but she only used them in those sort of circumstances. Not when they were just at the playground, or at other venues.

I think if my CM had been in a city location I'd have sucked it up and dealt with how I felt.

TBH though I also felt that way about children at nurseries, wearing their high vis jackets trudging down the street - it all seemed so mechanical.

But I didn't feel like that AT ALL with the nursery that took the DSs through woods on their walks. For some reason that was ok.

Maybe it's because I thought they were fantastic in every other area so I KNEW there was nothing 'mechanical' about it?

Dunno, all mixed up and odd in my brain I think!

I think perhaps it's because a childminder is 'home away from home' - well you wouldn't do this to your own children, would you?

I have done.

Well not being mean but if you had no intention if using her services or using a cm why waste her time.

And really do you know all the staff at nursery?

Op I do get it , however I think looking afyer other peoples children is a lot more berve wracking than your own. I remember my cm saying she didnt visit a particular playground becaise the section for the big ones is too far away feom the secrion for the little ones and she couldnt see them allat the same time. If I was therw with my own children id not feel the same need. My mum is a lot more helicoptery when with my children than I am. You feel a lot more responsible when the children arent yours and I suspect thats why.

I'm a childminder and use luminous jackets when we are at busy playgrounds or playgroups. I have 3 under age 4 and I like the fact that I can scan the playground or playgroup and locate them all in a few seconds. The children also like them. They call themselves " team yellow " and enjoy wearing them. That do not look like orphans (one is my own daughter ) nor do they look like adverts.
I think the childminder you saw sounds very professional. I do not however think you are a suitable parent for her. Its not just if she is right for you. You must also be right for her. If you can't see the sense of what she is doing then I think you need to search elsewhere.

Another point is that I purposefully choose very bright distinctive hats/jackets for my dc partly so I can spot them easier, if you have a couple of children who's parents prefer the navy blue/grey/black style of clothing it could be really hard to keep track of them.

Yack - I think we feel the same :) I think it doesn't bother me in a nursery setting as by it's nature that is quite institutional, while with a childminder - that wouldn't be why I wanted the girls to go.

Also nurseries are 'out' less and when they are it tends to be very organised while the childminders seem to spend a lot of their time outside of the home.

Is it perhaps the advertisement of her business that makes you feel uncomfortable? I must admit it did me, the first time I saw them but, as the others have said, the nurseries and schools use them and why shouldn't we do the same?

I use reflective vests when we're in the woods so I can easily see the children but they are plain with no details printed.

It's interesting: I once read a discussion on another forum where several parents said they'd be put off a childminder who advertised her business on her car, yet schools and nurseries do it without thinking twice. I suppose it is our home-from-home aspect that makes people question it.

I've sent my children to both nursery and a childminder. I really was doubtful about the whole childminder thing. The childminder is much better than the nursery ever was. Really good care, children feel at home, better manners, easier toilet training, the works.

My childminder has just started putting the kids in high vis jackets for the school run (not with advertising). she says that Ofsted want to see it. She was skeptical but says it has been really handy and traffic pay more attention to them.

To explain.

As a cm you have to have an Ofsted approved policy for outings.

If you state you use jackets and then don't as it's only the quiet park and something happens you are in court sued.

You would loose your business and maybe face jail for negligence.

Getting the picture. It's not your children your choice it's a child care business.

Thebody - as indicated to adsy, I am looking around to find the best childcare for the girls.

Of course I didn't go with 'no intention of using her or her services' I do have slightly better things to do. However I do need watertight childcare as have no one else at all. It depends what the contingency plan is, if it's ever been needed in the past (if not it might be reasonable to assume it won't ever be) and so on.

It's rather different in a nursery setting.

Yes, it's partly the 'advertisement' aspect of it (she has a childminding car as well!)

I think it's so difficult finding childcare it can often some down to seemingly trivial things.

That doesn't mean I'm criticising childminders who use vests, just that for whatever bizarre reason I don't really like it.

Stealthpolarbear you are exactly right. There is a playground I like to go to with my own two children but not with mindees. It gets busy and the layout means I can not see all of the children all the time.
I don't mind that with my own children but not when I am caring for other people's.

Op yabu....

But I've decided Iabu also ....as I would actually feel the same

I had vests on my mindees and cards in their pockets with my phone number on. Ofsted always loved it and it is easier to keep tabs on them in busier places