childminder question need parents veiws

[dmo]

our network co-ordiator has decided we childminders should not attend toddler groups anymore as we only go for ourselves and not the children [shock. she thinks that the children would gain more from 100% attension in our own homes on foucused activites she has also said all the stay and play sessions at surestart have been cancelled (dont mind cause didint go to them)

i go to 4 toddler groups per week, my children love them, if they didnt i wouldnt go.
i have the main children for 10hr days so 2hrs out of the day is spent at a toddler group, 2hrs a day on eating, so the children still have 6hrs a week of just me and them time (and btw also the 2hrs at toddler group)

ofsted have said they would like to see 80% child lead activites and 20% focused activites (so in my mind toddler groups are child lead)

what do you think? would you as parents like your cm to go out and about with your child or have your child stay at the cm home for focused activities??
all answers are correct i just want to know what the genral feel about this is
thanks

I'm afraid if my coordinator tells me the same, I will leave the network!
Don't these people have anything worthwhile to do other than invent ridiculous stuff for us!?
Overpaid numpty's!!

If my kids enjoyed them, and you say your mindees do, I would be terribly upset about it. It sounds like a fantastic way to get them out of the house and interacting with other kids. What makes them say you're only doing it for yourselves? Are you bound to follow this woman's edicts?

Have you spoken to all the other CMs about it? Maybe if you all discussed it together and with your mindees' parents, you could get them to overturn the decision, if nobody was happy with it. Unless, of course, there's another reason altogether and that's just a smokescreen.

Jeez dmo

Because we offer care for small numbers it's VITAL for the children to experience larger groups of children and adults as part of the whole socialisation process and prep for school

Focussed activities are totally against the ethos of EYFS and child-led learning through play

Your co ordinator is talking ROT

HTH

[angry eyes]

I am a parent with 3 DCs at a CM, two at school. The youngest goes to toddler group once a week with the CM, and also to Tumble Tots once a week.

I think it's great - she gets to meet other children (lots of whom she will be going to preschool with next year), gets different toys to play with and gets nicely tired out on Tumble Tots days!

Your network co-ordinator, for example, is a twat.

so okay don't go to Council/LEA groups; there are plenty of church and volunteer-led groups to go to

I think that they are trying to reverse-engineer the reason for shutting the stay-and-play from funding slash (true) to lack of demand (because the Cms in your area will be discouraged from going)

I smell a political reason for her to do this

Do you see what I mean?

no smoke screen fetchez

i think she thinks all we do is chat and drink brews (we wish)
sometimes its alot harder to get them all out of the house for the 2hrs but i do it as they have friends there that they play with and different toys to play with.
i do alot of my observations at toddler groups as i see how they play with other children and talk to other adults

glad its not just me and the other cm in my area that think she is talking twoddle

btw she means all toddler groups (church run and all)

bless she is only young with no children of her own but her ideas are high in the sky

when she came to my house she suggested i put little coat hooks in my hall for the children (i have a coat room), excuse me but this is my house at the weekend my dh would have a fit haha

groups come under PSHE, sense of community

you can cherry pick from the guidance, highlight and give to her

silly woman

exacaly BOYS
also knowledge and understanding of the world, personal and social,etc etc etc

thats why i go cause the children get so much out of it

thanks cat64 will cut and paste this

I'm a parent of four who has used a wonderful Childminder in the past. The CM used to take my daughter to a church run toddler group and dd2 made lots of great friends, several of whom went into the same class at school.

I would have been very disappointed if the CM had been told she could go to that group. How ridiculous!

Don't have a CM for DD but I would think it essential for the CM's sanity to get out of the house and interact with some adults during the working day.

yy Noel (top name)

I did a whole section in my level 3 qual about why it's important for the CM to have contact with other people during their working week

Our local authority early years person also thinks that we should be locked in our homes doing EYFS lessons.

I go out to places the children enjoy. I use an assortment - tiny tots church service, village toddler group, children's centre, etc.

I would go nuts if I stayed at home all day, never mind the children!!!
Yes I do have a coffee and I do chat/network but the minded children also socialise and free play, we interact with children from different backgrounds, I love it and so do the children, its part of my daily routine.
Its also the place where I get new ideas, hear about different places to visit, arrange to go on outings with others.
I would be insulted if my cdo thought that all I did was sit around doing nothing constructive.

Well, you know what - I would have a complete breakdown if I was obliged to stay away from any group that offers social interaction for me the children.

Yes, I drink coffee at groups and, yes, I even dare talk to other grown-ups ... and would be very unhappy at the suggestion that we should be under house arrest. I am still supervising the children, and they love racing around (literally) on sit'n'rides, playing with different toys, and making new friends.

I work long days, and work darned hard too, and I don't have any tea breaks or a nice long lunch break to myself. Toddler groups are certainly for the benefit of the adults who attend them (as well as the children), but what on earth is wrong with that!!

Would this kind of daft comment from my network make me leave mine? Oops, too late, I already have!!

(teeny bit as our network went west in Sept 2008) our current cdo is erm rubbish

If she stops all minders from going to groups... won't the minders just start their own 'informal' group - such as meeting at a certain time of day at a certain place?

I'm another parent with a one-year-old at a childminder. I would be really very cross if someone who never met my child decided she didn't get anything out of playgroup.

When you decide whether to go for nursery or a childminder you are balancing the one-on-one of a childminder with the socialising of a nursery.

A childminder who takes your child to playgroup for a couple of hours provides the best of all worlds. My childminder doesn't currently take my daughter to playgroup. At just one, that's a bit of a moot point really, but when my daughter's a bit older, I'll be actively encouraging it.

yy nick

Oh yeah and another thing...

In every profession it's accepted that networking with / talking to people in the same profession can be valuable - someone to bounce issues off, to share ways in which problems have been solved.

Same for parents. But childminders have to work in a vacuum? Idiocy.

And what the hell is wrong with chatting and drinking tea anyway ? Childminding toddlers is the loneliest job I've ever done, which is why I now only do after schoolers.

its essential that children, minded or not, learn social skills and interaction.. they learn that from the adults around them.. be that mum, dad, cm, nanny,.. all networking with other adults in a sociable way, playgroups and toddler groups are their first port of call to see this in action.

the coordiator is .. well.. a silly cow.. ignore her and ffs stand up for yourselves and the children in your care..just because she has a view it doesnt mean its right or you have to share it..

shes a network cooordiator.. so bloody what.. ignore her and attend any group you fancy... what a pillock..