Message from childminder

[discombobulaty]

Aibu to think this is shit.

''Due to a change of circumstances I am no longer going to be working Friday pm. This unfortunately means that I need to give notice. Therefore My last day with xx will be 5th January.

Thank you''

So for context my child started with childminder 3 weeks ago, one afternoon a week, all seems to be going well, he's reluctant to go in but I get updates pretty quickly to say he's settled fine. CM newly registered and doesn't seem particularly busy.

AIBU to be fed up with this?

It's really not that cheap for a childminder.
The nct put the average cost as less than £5 per hour per child. A childminder would typically have multiple children in their care at the same time (probably why this childminder is stopping the friday pm session). https://www.nct.org.uk/life-parent/work-and-childcare/childcare/average-childcare-costs

agree with all the above it’s hard but it’s contractual on both sides. You wouldn’t expect her to be grumpy if you no longer needed her care.

also I dunno if by one else has said but 1/2 day a week is a really challenging one for a minder to accommodate.

Why didn’t she speak to you today when you picked up ? Texting is a bit off IMHO.

She's given you over a months' notice...she's neither unreliable nor unreasonable, wtf do you expect

Try a whole day somewhere? Half a day seems pointless

Maybe she's decided this isn't the gig for her?

My dad picked up and she didn't mention it to him

Why would she. Her contract is with you

She's acted in a professional and courteous manner.

You have no beef with her.

Sadly, there are too many childminders who are paid a pittance.

Even when they give six weeks weeks notice, they still have to put up with a appalling attitude from people like you, @Viviennemary.

Shockingly low wage. I think most people would rather that day off than hanging around waiting for £18! £18 to care for the most precious little people in our lives. As a nation our priorities are messed up! This should be a valued profession!

Maybe she thought the OP was going to unreasonable about it?

(which she is).

I think it is a shame for the child

Life happens. Her circumstances changed. How is that unreliability?

I don't know any childminders who would only offer 3 hours per week

Might be that her own child is finding the childminding hard going, so she has cut her hours to only those that are financially worth it. Who knows? But she has given reasonable notice.

Why? It's 3 hours per week, and he's only been going there for a couple of weeks. Hardly a life shattering change?

I think it's a shame for a child to be palmed off on someone else for one short afternoon per week, on the grounds that said person is "cheap".

It's crap for the child, and it's crap for the CM to be branded "shit" because she doesn't want to/can't do it.

OP doesn't seem to be interested in her child building a relationship with the person who's in loco parentis. Maybe the CM found this distasteful?

You can't just not pay for hours booked because you turn up later than booked, madness.

Most childminders I looked at were £5-6 per hour, I'm sure that's about average.

I think it's annoying especially if your DS only started 3 weeks ago! Different if he's been there a fair amount of time and she's changing her hours. But ideally she wouldn't have taken your DS on if she had any inkling that she's be giving notice after 3 weeks.

I'm honestly shocked at how low the pay is. It makes me wonder why anyone does it - they must have very specific employment needs to work for so little.

One half day a week is nothing. Maybe she's had an offer from a parent for full time Mon-Fri but can't take them on because Friday afternoons would be over ratio? Why would she turn down a full time paying spot to keep her 20quid a week from you?

Also, to the poster who mentioned NMW it doesn't work like that with CMs

So if you leave your job and hand in your notice then I guess you must be unreliable too?

don’t be ridiculous. No one’s obligated to do a job, everyone has the right to hand in notice at any time.