To ask childminder not to bring DS to playgroup

[Mynumberone]

So we have a wonderful childminder, our DS is 15 months and started with childminder 5 months ago. Cannot fault her and DS loves her.

Childminder is great at bringing DS to playgroups which we love but would I be unreasonable to ask her not to bring him for a couple of weeks before Christmas. I really don't want DS picking up a bug or virus for Christmas.

He has had a few colds, nothing major and childminder has kept him of playgroup until he recovered.

awwh Xmas playgroups are the best..happy memories

As a nanny, I’ve had parents ask me to avoid certain please before holidays- it’s annoying but I do get it.

Childminder not nanny. Her own children are late teens so no young kids in the house. She kept him of from playgroup today as he has a cold, cough, runny eye and is teething bad . The rules of the playgroup are no children who are unwell can attend as the group is from birth until 4 years old and not all the younger children are fully vaccinated. Obviously there are parents/ carers who chance their arm and bring children who are unwell.

I have a nanny for my 15 month old and I ask her to do the same, it's pretty standard. No indoor playgroups for 2 weeks before a major holiday or Christmas.

The advantage of paying for individual care for your child is that you get to make these kind of decisions. I don't care if mumsnet thinks I'm ridiculous.

As she's a childminder, it's her choice what activities she plans/attends. You can ask but she can reserve the right to say no. Many childminders incorporate playgroup activities into their EYFS planning as it includes group activities, socialisation, and the use of resources that they might not be able to easily replicate or offer at home.

A childminder isn't the same thing as a nanny. A childminder is self-employed and running their own business with their own policies and practices. They are not an employee and they get the decide their own schedule.

In that case it's absolutely fine, and sensible as there's a lot of illness around at the moment.

Fine to ask her if she sees any problem with it - have a chat.

Most play groups break up 2weeks-10 days before Christmas, don’t they?

But unless you and your entire family are planning to quarantine, staying away from playgroup is probably a futile effort. My DH brings most of the Xmas bugs home via his commute.

Much better to instil/reaffirm hygiene practices for the entire family and ask CM to do the same before/during/after playgroup if she goes… which I am sure she probably already does, anyway?

By runny eye I hope you don’t mean conjunctivitis. He’s unwell and should be at home .
Your childminder and her family would rather not get sick either , not least because she won’t get paid if she has to close .

The pre-Christmas lead-up is the best bit for kids. I always think Christmas itself is a bit of an anti-climax.

I mean, he's your kids so do what you like, but personally I think you're bonkers. All that fun missed to avoid the risk of a sniffle on Christmas day, which he might catch anywhere.

Keep him home yourself if you want him to stay home.

If I was your childminder I'd be instructing you to keep him home while he's ill! You're very lucky she's prepared to care for him in that state.

As for the run up to Christmas, I'd suggest if you don't want him to participate in normal activities then keep him at home.

PFB?

I'm sure the OP's childminder has got sufficient voice to tell her this if she wants to.

Yes agree and the official advice is that children do not need to be excluded from childcare due to conjunctivitis. www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-protection-in-schools-and-other-childcare-facilities/managing-specific-infectious-diseases-a-to-z#conjunctivitis

He doesn't have conjunctivitis. His eye just gets watery when he has a cold.

He’ll miss out on so much. I think it’s a really unreasonable ask from his perspective. He’ll be sick, if he’s going to be, one of you could carry it home, he could pick something up in the shop. It’s one of those things. It’s less likely as his immune system develops and that happens by being out and amongst the people.

I have a 15 month old and he honestly prefers to be outside in the park to any playgroup. Which is what my nanny will be doing in the run up to Christmas.

He also will have zero memories of this Christmas period, under 2s don't care really.

I disagree. My 15 month old 1) prefers the park anyway, 2) has zero awareness of Christmas and will have zero memories of this period, 3) playing in the park does not carry the same risk as mixing with 15 other snotty one year olds in a close quarters and 4) not all sniffles last a day, some last 2 weeks and would absolutely ruin Christmas.

If his at a childminder you can’t ask that really as she’ll have to take all the kids not just your son , plus he’s at a child minder he could pick something up from any child or anywhere. Safest bet is to keep him home, but not always easy x

Indeed, crossing a fine line there! Plus, guaranteed the child will get a bug no matter what they do!

You can ask when I childminded I might have agreed the week before if he was my only one but our group we all organised loads of activities particularly at Christmas so I’d have let the others down by not going.

Good lord!

In some parts of the country it’s raining all next week.