A question for childminders, or those who know more than me?

[Mosschops30]

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Term time care is fine as long as you are willing to pay a retainer .. childminder will be well within rights to demand when you don't need her (but probably won't)

Contract is subject to your agreed hours .. I would say most childminders taking a child for 5 hours will charge a whole day if it spreads over lunchtime

no guarantees I don't think .. but if this is her career why don't you talk about it first

As we are only here during term time I only mind term time

But others mind differently

2. please give plenty of notice could cause probs with numbers

depends if she minds to full number allowed or like me just does 1 or 2

3. very good but do have settle in period for everyone

sound fine to me i would love term time only and would not expect a retainer for holidays.

Kanga, just being nosey , where do you go when it's not term time?

1. No chance Currently I charge half but I'm expecting to change that to Full fee (only half if I can put another child in the place - so it is to keep the TT place rather than a retainer)

2.Some flexibility depending upon the day and the times concerned eg before school more flexible than after - but sometimes I'd be full...you know child leaving=another child arriving 3.I expect to be here for the next 12 years

That's how cheeky I am....but don't use too big a stick on me

SSD we go to sussex each holiday, so don't want mindees here. Cos we would be 100 miles away

That is why mindees all come from teacher/school families IYSWIM

It suits everybody, they don't want to pay for holidays when they are not at work, and I am not here anyway.

Everybody happy

Everybody is different

Just matching mindee to CM

Everybody Happy

I don't charge retainers for school holiday times because I can always fill those spaces with children who only require holiday care. I also take my own family holidays during this time. I only operate a pay as you go service so dont do contracts, and would find guarantee requests a bit cheeky and not worth the paper they were written on tbh. Would you like to be asked for a guarantee of your custom for the next 12mths? Big stick coming!!

I would agree with katymac generally

1. I charge more hourly for term time only children under 5 years but the same for b4 and after schoolers. 2.Yes I would accept 5hrs a day but wouldn't 'hold' the rest of the hours for your child if you didn't want to pay for them.
2. Shes going to say OK but that is not to guarantee that she won't just be fed up in 6mths time (or partner gets a payrise so she no longer needs to work) and what can you do about it. Also I minded a child for the first 6mths of this year and then gave my notice (I still carried on minding the rest of the children) because of the way I felt the parent was taking advantage of me. You might strike lucky and get a good minder who needs to fill vacancies...

I think that parents can basically request whatever they want, and each childminder then has the choice to say "yes", "no" or "I need to think about it."

If I was asked to do five hours a day, I would hope that they would be for set hours, because it then gives the option of having another child for the other hours, or perhaps an extra schoolchild after school. However, it means that parents run the risk of not having the option of necessarily being able to access the remaining hours.

I'm happy to mind term-time only, as I also have holiday-only children to mind. Other minders won't be as keen.

There is no way on this planet that I would guarantee minding for a year. I've been minding for 12 years, and don't intend finishing in the near/far future. I'm pleased to tell parents that I still mind for families that have been with me almost as long. I don't intend to give up until such time that circumstances dictate I should do so - if I feel like stopping for a "non-extreme circumstance", then I think that's my business!!

Mosschops - forget the big stick, I'm going for the whole tree!!!

You'll get different answers from different childminders, this is what I would say:

1. Term-time places for under fives incur a retainer of 1/2 fees during holidays. My bills still come in relentlessly during school holidays and accepting the reduced fees of 1/2 fees can make it difficult to make ends meet. I do waive the retainer fee for any time period I have used your place for another child.

2. You can have a contract for five hours a day, eg 8 am - 1 pm - the start & finish time are stated on the contract. As I can have another child for the remaining part of the day there can be no guarantee any additional hours will be available but am happy to help where possible.

3. I do not plan to give up childminding within the next 12 months. Every child I have cared for has attended until the family no longer required care. There is a 4 week trial period at the start of EVERY agreement - either party can decide to quit during this period if its not working out to everyone's satisfaction.

Childminders can only tell you of their intentions, they cannot give you a guarantee as there is always the possibility of unforeseen circumstances that could affect your contract - pregnancy, accident, illness or death in the family, change of financial circumstances, some new rule from Ofsted or Planning Department etc, etc.

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i don't want to sound negative but she sounds a touch 'flakey' with the childminding. I think that c/minders need to be very professional or else you can get very messy.

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What area are you in? There are lots of c/minders maybe one is local and could point you in the right direction?

Mosschops, I have to agree with xena, she doesn't sound like she is going to be flexible enough, particularly as when you start your placements you may need that flexbility.

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So cross off the ones you saw last time, and priorotise the rest by area/instinct/price and draw up a list

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You know what addresses you went to...don't you?

Ring them all again and see what happens

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Complicated - I'm getting to the point where i can pick my children (rather than the other way round)

Is there a network in your area?

The Network Co-ordinator might narrow your choices

Mosschops - the problem that you are going to have is that you want part-time hours but will be using up a full-time space. I'm not trying to sound mean, honest!

There are childminders who will be happy to be flexible for shiftworkers, but there are many who won't be.

Also, just because this minder says she doesn't have to work, doesn't mean that she won't soon get used to having the extra money!

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