To be worried about filthy childminders house?

[tennispros]

Signed up in the summer and all seemed fine. Today had a settling in session and was really shocked at the state of the house. Not just kids mess but tbh really dirty

I don’t really have a choice re childcare and she’s only there a couple of hours a day so part of me thinks leave it another part thinks I’m being really neglectful sending her there!

How awful for you. I'm so shocked anyone would childmind with a dirty home.

This is a worry, when was the last ofsted inspection? I'd be tempted to inform them and hope they do a random visit but it might be a bit obvious.

Have you seen the kitchen and bathroom/changing area? I always requested to see the kitchen and loo when viewing nurseries.

I’d inform ofsted and urgently find an alternative

How dirty are we talking?

A childminders house should not be filthy. They are childcare professionals and it’s a place of work as well as their home.

I wouldn’t leave my child in a filthy house.

It’s indicative of someone being chaotic and not paying attention to detail. Not ideal qualities in someone you’re leaving your precious child with. I’d be worrying about safety- does she leave dangerous items lying about etc? You want an environment for children where everything has its place.

The fact that she’s not concerned about you seeing it would also make me worry about her sense of what is and isn’t appropriate. Change your childcare plans as you’ll just be worrying otherwise.

What do you mean by dirty ?

Define really dirty? If there’s like kids mess or crayon on the wall, fine, but if it’s actual DIRT then I’d not be sending my child there no.

How dirty. Examples?

If you have doubts ( entirely valid) you should listen to them.

Find an alternative.

Depends what you mean by dirty. Day before the cleaner comes dirty or literally a health hazard?

Can you give examples of what you mean by really dirty? But presuming it is bad then no not acceptable for a childminder. I’d pull my child out, inform ofsted and take parental leave from work if I needed to whilst finding an alternative.

Well, dirty, not clean, you know? Lots of dirty plates and dishes lying around, that was the main thing that was offputting.

On the sofa or in the sink?

Lying around the kitchen - not sure if that was a joke or not, sorry. I’m not totally getting it!

One persons dirty is another's entirely normal

My friend is a farmers wife, I live on the edge of their land. We are more then happy to have each other pop in unannounced, so there's dishes in the sink, the floors have prints over them, the skirtings are not shining and the kitchen tables are usually piled high with stuff. We gave up apologising for the mess to each other yonks ago

But I have other friends who I meet in town, the ones who's taps and sinks shine 24/7 and a crumb is never allowed to be made, let alone left a while

Our houses are lived in, not show homes 24/7

My children don't live in filth at home so I certainly wouldn't be leaving them somewhere filthy all day.

Is it actually dirty as in a health hazard or messy with toys things for kids etc left out. Are you particularly over the top with cleaning? If it’s actually dirty as in filthy then look for someone else or have a word. If it’s just messy with kids stuff then she will probably be just child centered?

Well dirty plates all over the house would have been a worrying level of dirty.

Dirty plates in the sink is pretty normal.
Were they kids plates from lunch?

But what else was off putting? Can you break it down a bit more.

Also, how many dirty plates? Was it just after a meal, say?

If it’s dirty plates just used from breakfast or lunch waiting to be washed up by the sink then fine. A childminder is just one person so sometimes stuff like that has to wait because they’re tending to the kids like it wouldn’t in a nursery with dedicated kitchen staff. How were the floors and the kids play areas because that would concern me more?

Yep it is really hard to tell from your post whether it’s awful or just cluttered / daily mess. Personally I wouldn’t leave dirty plates about but other people do and think it’s okay.

Was the childminder already working (looking after children) when you arrived? Because I can see why they may decide the washing up can wait if they are caring for their charges.

I mean it's not ideal but you said you're worried about the childminder's 'filthy house'.

Can you define filthy?

Well, presumably she's only one person and can't just leave the kids unattended to wash up.

Dishes in the kitchen wouldn't bother me at all.

Just the plates on the kitchen side? Or filthy floors and dirty nappies everywhere? This is the first day you’ve been so possibly just a one off, chaotic morning where she hasn’t got round to washing up yet?? If it’s really that bad then you need to do something about it.