new childminders house

[karen912]

AIBU not to feel comfortable sending my children to a house where there is a smell of smoke? Nobody is smoking when they are actually there. It is someone that lives there that smokes in the evening.

So just to be clear - nobody is smoking around them, and they're not in a smokey room as such.. it is just the residual smell from the evening before. (I've read that residual smell and toxins can be harmful).
Myself and my husband don't feel the same about this, so totally open to being told IABU.

*to

YANBU OP. I would feel the same.

Pictish

I once interviewed a CM and asked where the dog was, as I could smell the animal very strongly. She said he had died three years previously! That lack of hygiene and fresh air in the home was a factor in me not choosing to send DS to her (and the fact that the kids did not get to use her lovely and to my professional eye perfectly safe garden, but were confined to a strip of patio near the house).

YANBU, this would put me off too and I wouldn't use her for this reason.

Smoking's not illegal you know well it is prohibited in the workplace, and against the law to smoke in cars w children present. Isn't it illegal in the context? I genuinely don't know.

Ugh.

Throwing - we are not judging smokers generally but a childminder making a business from the safe care of children who spend majority of time in her house- a house that carries residual smoke with a link to cancer.

From a study on 3rd hand smoke- Third hand smoke that clings to walls and furniture could pose a more serious health threat to young children than passive smoking. One residue - known as 'noxious residue' - remains on virtually all surfaces, including toys and other items toddlers may put in their mouths. The substance - called NNA - sticks to human DNA and can cause uncontrolled cell growth and the formation of cancerous tumours

I wouldn't be happy.
I was a childminder for a while. No one in our house smoked so it wasn't an issue and it was a long time ago so I don't know what the regulations are nowadays. You could check with the local childminding group as there will be a Chairperson.

It's a bit grim tbh. I've viewed lots of houses recently with a friend who wants to invest, and the smoky ones are off-putting (although easier to negotiate on)! I certainly wouldn't want my kids to spend hours in one like that. That said, a few of them have been repos so are a bit gross generally. How's the CM house otherwise?

There's no way I'd allow my DS to go to a childminder where someone smoked, even if it were just in the evening. I don't want him smelling of smoke, and I don't want him to have to smell it. It's foul. My dad smoked when I was growing up and I hated it, no way would I make DS have to put up with it.

(nicotine grows, btw)

What do you mean Joffrey?

I am very anti smoking so wouldn't like this. I would find another childminder if possible.
However, if no one is smoking around the children (as the op made very clear ) there really is no one to complain to or report to. She is free to do as she likes in her own home when she is not childminding. Her choices may limit who wants her as a childminder but she is free to smoke, drink etc in her own home when not working, just like other people!

Of course it's not illegal no matter how you try to twist the context.

I'd hate it too and I'm a smoker (but never indoors, it clings to everything, for ever). Not sure though if she was a brilliant CM and my kids adored her if that alone (horrible as it is) would make me move them.

It's illegal in the workplace, although I'm not sure how this applies when the business is in someone's home.

I'd feel the same as you.

I'm sure that there is also a special place in hell for people who smoke or have ever dared to smoke where the pitchforks will continue to stab them for all eternity. .

Seriously, I detest smoking but some of the reactions on this thread are completely ott.

Fwiw I know a childminder who has an assistant who smokes but outside of the house. None of the parents are aware as her website states explicitly that she's a non smoker.

Report her!!!! How ridiculous.

This would be a deal breaker for me

HermioneJeanGranger nobody is smoking when the children are there so there's nothing to work out.

I would withdraw my children immediately. That is really disgusting. I think you know deep down that you can't send your children back there again ever. If they think smoking in a house where they are going to be looking after children is ok, what other moronic things will they be up to?

I'd hate it.

I would also wonder whether she was ever 'nipping out for a fag' then coming back in stinking of smoke before dong lunch.

I am not (quite) ready to send smokers to the gallows but health-issues aside, the smell is fucking repulsive (to me, anyway). And combined with Shake'n'Vac as someone mentioned upthread, is enough to make me heave.

It's bothering you. It's a legitimate concern. Find someone else. I would do the CM the service of telling her why though. Perhaps it's something she can address.

I wouldn't send my child there,I think that you should look for someone else.

I wouldn't like it and would move my child but report her? To what and for what ffs? My childminder friend drinks alcohol in her house in the evenings (occasionally even to excess). Should I ring OFSTED?

In her position, where the home is the place of business, she - or whoever the smoker is - should smoke outside.

If they won't, it says something about their commitment to the job.