CM Club: I don't want to provide meals anymore

[Numberfour]

I have been minding for almost 5 years now and have always provided meals and snacks. I am constantly in the kitchen cooking, sorting, tidying or cleaning.

I was considering telling parents that I am no longer going to provide meals (which seems a bit odd seeing that I will be giving DS his tea at about 5ish), but I am not sure how this will go down.

I have considered saying that instead of my annual fee increase, I propose to keep fees the same, but no longer provide food. This will free up a lot of my time and will also result in a saving at the check out till.

Any thoughts on how best to approach this with parents?

Ohh I'd love to do that too, doing dinner for 5-6 dc and getting it on the table by 5pm so they have enough time to eat it before they go home is a pain but while home time starts at 5.30, some mindees don't get home until later and I think it's too late and unfair for them but maybe it's because I've always fed my dc's at 5pm I think like that? My dc's are a bit older now and we would like to eat as a family but can't.

I haven't put my prices up in years as I just don't think I'd have any customers. I have thought about it a few times though and I do feel as I don't charge for meals and can't put prices up them maybe I should do this too........

If I did do this the dc's would all have longer to play as well, we get in from the school run about 4 - 4.15pm and by 5pm they have to be sat at the table so they don't have much time for actually playing.

I also have to leave most of the mess for dh and dd1 to clear up as soon as dh walks through the door because I do drop off's around 6pm which isn't actually fair but I can't be in two places at once and if dh leaves it for me when i get back it means gravy beans pasta etc has all dried on and it's a nightmare to scrub off and by then I've already done a 10 hour day!

well its your business and your service.. parents can agree or take business elsewhere cant they..

understand just how you feeland imagine they will stay with you as continuity and happiness for kids and parents is worth gold..

packed lunches and tea at home.. maybe just do the healthy snacks so dont go home starving

btw i havnt put my prices up in 3 years.. think i will in April.. cheers..

I was going to aske the parents to send packed meals for the children! Certainly would not let them go hungry!! (6 year old DS could def not wait til after 6 to eat!!)

Yes, the children will have longer to play and giving them a good healthy snack sounds like a good option.

I raised my fees last 18 months ago because I had been under charging for the area in which I live.

Hmmmmm...... think I will raise it with the parents tonight and see how it goes down. Kind of sow the seed, so the speak, and then whack it in a newsletter saying commencing Jan 2011 please supply meals!
aaaaarrrgggghhhhh hate this part of my job..........

I charge extra for meals as I have a lot of part timers, so have a standard hourly rate and those that are here at tea time have that option. I found that by charging that bit extra put some parents off who have decided to feed their children at home later (especially siblings) they leave at 5.30 so I provide a drink and some fruit in the afternoon.

I currently charge £1.50 for a hot meal, but as costs are rapidly rising, especially if you want to feed them good food, I may put the cost of the meals up, rather than my hourly rate, because the time it takes extra to shop (I have 2 children with lots of allergies, spend ages staring at ingredients lists) cook and clean up leaves me feeling knackered in the evening, like you after a 10 hour day.

If others charge separate for meals, what do you charge? Our local primary school charges £2 a meal.

Up to you, but this would make me not use you I'm afraid. This is because I am a lazy cow and hate the thought of having to prepare a packed lunch AND a packed tea every day on top of all the other stuff I have to do when I get home from work.

I don't do meals either, packed lunches provided by parents

I provide snacks

As long as you give notice (and 6 weeks is plenty) then I don't see the problem, partic as you will not increase fees

Aww puppymonkey, it's not easy which ever way you cut it, is it x

Do you mean they would have a lunch box type meal for tea?

I only ask as when I started I didnt do meals, and parents sent food, I would end up cooking two fishfingers and chips for one child, re heating pasta for another and cooking garlic brread, plus cooking for my own DC's! It was more work than just cooking a ssimple meal

I don't do cooked meals, Parents send a packed lunch and I will do a snack at about 4pm. If a child wasn't going home till 6pm I would cook but as they are gone by 5.30 at the latest they then go home for dinner at home. Never been a problem here.
I did do dinners when I first started but hated it as I felt they always had to be good home cooked food and then felt guilty if it was fish fingers and chips.

It would be a deal breaker for me too I'm afraid. All you can do is give them plenty of notice of when the change will take place, and accept the fact that some parents may choose to leave or will feel held over a barrel.

I've found that this doesn't go down very well with parents.
I've recently changed over from providing a cooked lunch to sandwiches instead, although sometimes it's beans or cheese on toast. This was due to fussy eaters but it has made my life a lot easier.
In the evenings I just provide a snack straight after nursery pick up.

Thanks for the replies. I think that it will upset some of the families a lot, especially where two of my kids have both parents working full time.

I think that I might rethink this whole thing.

(I must also admit to being v pmt today and am not the happiest of bunnies! Having piles of washing up and cooking for fussy kids was not something I particularly enjoyed today!!)

Maybe I should make this decision when I am in a better frame of mind

Thanks number4 - this got me thinking and actually it made me ask parents if they minded, turns out none of them do so I'll be stopping doing dinners from December the 1st THANK YOU!!!!

5years I've been doing dinner for 5pm for 4-6 children and I tell you what it's a huge weight off me to finally not have to!

Danthe4th, I understand what you mean about feeling guilty. Today I did beans on toast for lunch and then fish fingers for tea. Had I done an omlette or beef stew or lamb roast with veg, most of it would have landed in the bin.

So I buy better quality fish fingers (ones that clearly have pieces of fish in them!) for example.

I have to cook for the lowest common denominator,iykwim, to minimise waste.

Our cm cooks lunch for preschoolers but we send sandwiches etc for all for tea. Good compromise IMO.

What a great result, Lovemygirls! that's brilliant! You won't know what to do with your free time.....

I am still on two minds about it. DS has a packed lunch for school and is a fussy eater (understatement) so I do something hot for him in the evenings. One of the other schoolies also has a packed lunch and the other a hot dinner so I feel that perhaps I should offer a hot meal. Also they all go home at 6 [long day emoticon]

I have taken more and more on over the years, extra children, extra hours, extra collections/ drop offs etc so I do feel so relieved.

I think I was so caught up in what I was doing I hadn't realised how much of a strain it was trying to shop/ think of meal ideas for so many dc's with different needs (allergies, dislikes, religious etc) plus how much it was costing because food has gone up so much in price and I wasn't charging extra for it either, then all the prep time, cooking time and then the cleaning up after which wasn't fair on my dd and dh. Then having to cook and clean up all over again for me and dh.

Tbh I wouldn't like my ds to have packed lunch food for both lunch and tea if he were there all day and no hot meals provided.

Fel1x, yes I can understand that. I think I may just try to be better organised and arrange meals better.

Also, I am sure my parents would prefer an increase in fees to having to prepare packed lunches or meals to be reheated!

I charge £1 a day for food and sometimes it's fish fingers etc, or beans on toast and sometimes something healthier. The parents don't mind what they eat really and I do provide fruit at all times. I do tea for them once a week and they have what we're having.

My nightmare is my fussy eater mindee who I have once a week and who brings her own food for me to heat. Although she is fussy (according to her Mum) she always wants what I've cooked for my other mindee and they end up having half each of both meals.

I would find it easier to be cooking the for both of them but then I only work three days a week and only have 2/3 mindees at once.

I think you are completely reasonable to ask for a packed lunch for them and them give them a substantial snack at 4.30ish to keep them going.

If you do hot dinner for yours anyhow, why not just ask for people to send packed lunches but you still provide dinner> Seems like best compromise. You'll still be doing some cooking but considerably less. If my CM stopped providing meals, I'd definitelu switch CMs, but if she still provided one meal out of two, I'd stay with her. Makes a big difference.

i do provide lunch for the little ones and a snack ie toast, fruit etc at 4pm

sometimes i have children till 6 and take them to brownies/cubs etc and parents bring their own childs tea for me to warm in the microwave

we dont eat till 7pm as a family and dh makes that (he also makes lunch for the little ones for me the night before cause i dont have time and cant cook )

I dont do meals now either and all my parents are fine with it. lunch is a packed lunch, I provide after school snack and if parents want their children to eat eve meal they send food for microwave heating. I dont do cooking as such, purely just heat food for them.

I only provide snacks for one out of five of the minded kids.

I will provide snack and a drink if the before and after schoolers dont bring theirs. No extra cost ie fruit and a drink.

I am SO GLAD that I ask the parents to provide the food. I hear stories of wht childminders have to do.

I find it easier and quicker if I am not cooking meals etc.

You may have to either do it in writing or word of mouth. Does the price include food or do you charge extra on top?

I made a mistake of charging one parent the same price for term time as holiday time (longer hours). I realised my mistake as I was doing really long hours for a small amount. I did the changes in a letter form.

If you are not enjoying doing all the cooking then you HAVE TO CHANGE WHAT YOU ARE DOING. I know it's not easy but has to be done.

I send a packed lunch and snacks with DS (he's collected just before 4pm so doesn't need evening meal). Sometimes it's a hot meal to just be reheated a bit or it's a sandwich. Both DH and I work full time. I don't think it's a hassle. I'm providing food for my child (that I want my child to eat). I see it as our responsibility as his parents.

My cm offers a cooked meal (at a cost) but I wouldn't even consider asking her to spend time thinking about and cooking my DS a meal. She does offer him some of her snacks at times in addition to his own.

Parents shouldn't mind. It's not that hard to pack your child's food. Leftovers from evening meal the night before if you just cook a bit more is good for a hot meal or just cook and freeze portions. Not difficult.

And I still have control over what he eats - we need one of those!