To discount an ideal/perfect childminder for a few little flaws?

[lucyellensmum]

She is perfect really. A real bubbly friendly sort of woman, even wears child friendly clothes. She lives in the most adorable little basement flat that has been decorated to entertain her mindees.

She does something different with the children every day and calls them sweet little pet names like "my little green beans" and honey pie. She just seems like a lovely friendly aunt. I think she is a single lady. The children all seem to love her and some even stay over night.

I do have some concerns though: Firstly, she does seem to have a very wide variety of children, always someone different when i go there. They all seem happy though. Another problem and this is the biggie, she actually minds someones dog! How weird is that? Don't get me wrong, i love dogs and if it were her own dog id be fine but its a clients, and well, it seems a bit sly looking to me. Another little thing that concerns me and i might get flamed for this is - she is about my age (37) and i would assume by how she refers to herself that she already has grandchildren!!

Am i being unreasonable to discount this otherwise perfect CM because of a few little things like that?

she sounds like a real life granny murray

LOL lucyellensmum

Minds a dog? Is she Granny Murray?

i wouldn't leave my DS with a childminder with a dog

no issues with a wide variety of children

She turns naughty children into wooden statues you know. Claude wouldn't eat his carrots one day...

Me too - YANBU

She is blooming annoying actually and I'd say the dog thing is just plain weird!!

I'd be looking v. hard at the parents of some of her other mindees too lucyellensmum...

My childminder has a dog, not a problem.

Depends what things she has in place regarding the dog and children.

Why would the granny thing bother you?

I think she is fab, I would leave with ds with granny murray any day!

Claude is one of the more plausible adults in this scenario, although he might be an Auton biding his time

oh pmsl I just got it.

no she's annoying go somewhere else

I can see not everyone watches Cbeebies then

I think Granny Murray is very annoying actually and wouldnt leave my DSs with her!

boom boom

Oh Soup, you have me worried now - there WAS a very sad looking wooden statue in the corner and one particular child was talking to it in whispers. When i asked who it was, he said, shhhhhhh, its my little brother . I mean, i just assumed it was his invisible friend!

i would check what policies she has in place of keeping the children safe from the dog. for example does she ever leave the children in the same room as the dog while she pops to the loo/to get something out of the kitchen etc. why would her having grandchildren bother you?

pmsl. this isn't for real is it?

some of those clients worry me too, tbh.
having to ask for directions to work EVERY SINGLE DAY? what's up with that?

I wouldn't employ a childminder with a dog. It would be a bit non negotiable turn off for me.

Thats another thing, she calls her self granny for the day job, what does she call herself of a night? Madame?? Its all very suspicious if you ask me - i might just go for a trial period.......

do you think i should look elsewhere then? Maybe nursery would be a better option?

I did look at this one place, the lady who ran it was very nice, had very strange hair though - must have used a ton of hair spray. But that isnt without its issues - they have a lot of visitors and i wonder if they have CRB checkss - there is this one guy who goes there wearing a pink jumper and a kilt. That and the local constabulary are always there, now they either have to check on the ASBOs given to the children or he is porking the teacher.

I'm being too fussy aren't i?