Childminder wants to close at 1pm for the rest of the week

[SweatySpider321]

Woke to a text from my childminder, announcing due to the weather we need to try to collect our children at 1pm for the rest of the week -530pm is the usual finish time. I’m not even a week into a new job and my husband has no leave left (mainly due to covering her annual leave). It’s not in our contract and it’s funded hours we use with her

I'd probably consider a nursery at this point, given your jobs and lack of a village to support.

Actually what humans are better at than that is making a drama over something we should just deal with on a day to day basis and then separate that from bigger more complex issues that need an adequate governmental level response.

When I ran a business I bought the tools I needed in order to run that business well.
Im amazed childminders don’t invest a few hundred £ in a portable air con unit.
Then, they can provide the service they are paid and under contract to provide.
Schoolc closing - yes I can understand. They usually have lots of glass, no blinds, no air con and 35 kids in a room.
But childminders?? Lazy and selfish ones will be wanting to close. They are simply jealous that schools are closing.
Do they really expect parents to drop everything because they can’t be arsed to work on the heat and invest in their business?
”Oh sorry, can’t collect your bins/fill your tooth/perform that operation/drive that train because my childminder wants the afternoon off because it’s HOT” 🥵
@SweatySpider321 change your childminder. That’s absolutely shite behaviour.

I would say you have ‘tried’ to rearrange your work, but can’t so your children will remain there doing standard hours as usual.

It's not a drama for you, but it'll probably be a drama for your kids one day. It might kill them. Or do you think the government will solve everything for them?

None of the schools of the county l live in are closing though, it’s quite a big county and the fact none of them deem it necessary is quite telling. I’m not shirking my responsibilities, that’s what my childminder is attempting to do.

I was going to say look for a new childminder or a nursery before I got to this message about her lie!

It's no more of a health and safety risk than a regular day.

If she can't keep a child safe on a warm day she shouldn't be childminding.

She lives in a regular house that has shade, only has a small number of children to keep safe, and I bet she even has somewhere outdoor where she can have shade and water to play with?!?

It's not like a school where we have to keep 1500 kids safe. My school has been open all day (34C) as normal and the kids coped fine. We are half day tomorrow as it is forecast 37C. Another local school is shutting for the next two days but only because it has lots of 1960s 3 storey buildings that are south facing and like a greenhouse!

I would be telling her that unfortunately you are unable to find alternative childcare so cannot collect until 5.30pm as you have just started a new job and unable to take holiday. I would then say that as an alternative, if she is happy to refund in cash for the afternoons you can see about taking unpaid leave.

She sounds very flaky and I'd be looking for an alternative.

Good for them but the childminder can do whatever she wants, if she wants to shut at 1pm in a red warning she can.

OP has fully complied with her responsibility by arranging for paid child care with an accredited childminder. It's not down to any failure of responsibility on her part that that childminder is unprofessional and fancies an afternoon off.

This week I was confronted by some militant ecowarriors wanging on about climate change.

I replied "Shame about your posters. What with being single use plastics and all that. I'm sorry I can't take you seriously if you can't even manage that".

I'm over virtue signalling. All it does is piss off people and it doesn't actually achieve anything. You have NO IDEA what action I've taken with regards to green issues.

So wind your neck in.

Not really. She has contractual responsibilities which she should not junk because it's a bit hot.

But school is not childcare and the childminder is... can see why she'd be tempted though!

The sort of exceptional wet bulb temps we are experiencing Weds/Thurs in the areas with the red warning aren’t something that can be dealt with on a day to day basis I’d have thought. Or by just wearing lighter clothes and drinking more.

Some of that is goi g to involve people having to sort out aircon at home and companies having extreme heat policies. Whether that be altered hours, more flexible working or closing in the same way they wood for other extreme weather events.

Childcare providers have a duty to maintain a safe environment, parents do not. If they can’t ensure the children can stay at hers without getting heatstroke, or being able to nap within the legal temperatures, she’s allowed to close.

Would not be happy.
Very different to schools being closed, large glass windows etc...
This is her house. She needs to stay open
and closing because its 32' ?
Wont be a great summer for you then.
What does it say in the contract?

Thanks for the insights and perspective. We are well prepared with shorts / t shirts, hats, sunglasses, sun tan lotion, cold drinks, sandwich/salad lunches etc

I will bear in mind the funded hours she will owe us. It would be 13.5 hours per child for this week alone and the school holidays aren’t far away

Absolutely. I hope she doesn't drive.

I was fuming. I made crystal clear she can take the financial hit for her children being ill or her husband NOT US

Totally irrelevant to the thread but…

As an occasional event with parents permission it’s of course absolutely fine and no different to a play date anywhere else. My DBS covers me for care in my own home.

This is why I never used a childminder, you are at the mercy of their whims. Does she think everybody has been given a day off because of the heatwave!

She is not a good childminder!

The reason I loved having a cm was because it was a second home! She used to put out paddling pools..water toys...mall under a gazebo endless fun on hot days. Then when they were tired it was movie time in a dark cool room.

She should.hr able to have fans as well.

A school is a totally different situation! That's 32 kids in a room.

Just got the same message from my youngest one’s Creche (not UK).
They agreed to a Thursday 3pm pick up instead of 12pm, because I’m a teacher and can’t leave my class. It’s the last week of school and we have a no absence unless medical certificate policy.
Friday, my DH will take an annual leave day and keep him home.

Ive been sweltering in my non-air conditioned classroom all week, and will have to do so on Thursday and Friday too, so my sympathy for their situation is very low…

I'd look for another childminder, she's going to do this every time the weather is hot / cold / wet. 32 isn't that bad.

Sorry, can’t say anything except - ridiculous! I’d be fuming.