What does my baby do all day!? CM please

[MountainDew]

Hello lovley CMs! Hope you don't mind a queston.
We have a lovely childminder for our 17 month old son. He loves her, we love her. She is chatty and funny and very very kind.

But...
She tells us NOTHING about his day. I don't know what to do! When we collect him (usually me, occassionally OH) we always ask what he got up to, she replies "he was good" or "he played with the toys" etc. But no details. She is always vaugue about how much he ate or how long he slept for.
I know these things are not really important. Of course what is important is that when I tell my son at breakfast that he is going to play at her house todays he laughs and smiles and shouts "JANE!!!" (not real name). Or that she cuddles and kisses him and they have a lovely bond. (I think of her as a sort of surrogate granny for him, my family live in Australia so he doesn't know his real granny. :( )

But I would like to know what he does without us around.

How do I go about asking her? We try to ask specific questions like "what was his favourite thing today?" but she doesn't really answer. What do you all do?

Am I expecting too much? :o

It is a teeny tiny niggle really. He's only there one day a week for 6 hours. Hehe. But I would rather know.

Have a word. DD is only at nursery for one day a week but we still get a little sheet with what she did and what she ate etc. No great detail but enough to give us an idea. I've never used a CM so don't know what the set up is, I'm sure it's not asking too much for a brief run down of the day though.

ask her to write a daily diary for you, i do for all the new ones for a good month at least till the parent knows my routine i also email photos to the parents ones a week

when a parent picks up i dont know why but my brian drops out of my shoes i cant remember what we ate for lunch sometimes prob as still busy with other children etc so the diary and emails are a good way for me

I'm just updating my 3 diaries (thank god I don't have to do one for ds2 LOL) now whilst they are napping. I type mine then email at the end of the day (although I used to do a diary book - I stopped that because parents forgot to bring it in etc. and I find this easier now). I upload photos to the parents page on my website (private user name/password) but I do get behind so I might do a couple of months worth at once (reminds me to go and upload some pics!!)

I thought it was standard to do diaries under school age?

no not standard looney just good pratice

I do daily diaries. Includes things like what they had to eat and how much, bottles, naps and nappy changes (if applicable) and of course what we got up to that day. I only do it for the younger children.

I also do it in my nurseries too.

I send home a note each day

• what the child has done
• what they ate
• where we went
• poo's
• sleep times
• other 'stuff'

Its all part of the eyfs and working in partnership with parents, you are entitled to know what your child has been doing. The cm should be telling you at the very least basic details, times of sleeping, food eaten, activities enjoyed. Ask for a get together in the new year and ask her to either do a daily sheet or a diary.
When was her last inspection, it sounds like she may not have been inspected yet under the eyfs which came in in 2008. If not then she will be due in the next 8 months so she needs to get some planning down on paper and start to share more info with you.
I always ask parents what their child has been enjoying at home so we can incorporate some new activities at my house, the whole point of the eyfs is learning through play and getting the most out of the activities that the children enjoy, this then allows you to plan new activities based on what they enjoy and extending the learning experience.
You need to speak to her and ask her to keep you up to date, and also ask to see the learning journey that most childminders do.

yy best practice to do daily diary

I do ones for each of the under 5s then the over 5s get one line in their contact book (was the diary but have renamed it)

[Brian Sewell emoticon]

Mountain Dew, ask her to do you a daily diary; I use cheapo hardbacked A4 notebooks from tesco, they last for ages, she can stick in photos to illustrate activities undertaken too

Agree with all of the above- I do daily diarys often very 'samey' as we go the same groups every week and see the same people- but i know mums love to see what their children have done- I just write about toys they have played with,games they have played, who they played with plus snacks/dinner/sleeps. So your childminder doesn't feel like you don't trust her...maybe say " i was wandering if you would mind doing a diary of your day with my son- I Know he does lots of fun stuff with you, and now he is starting to talk- it would be great if I could know what he has done in the day- so I can chat to him about it- and open up more opportunties for him to say more - also it would be lovely for him when he gets older to read it and know what his early life was like- and it might help me know things like what he eats with you, so I can try it at home and to know his routine, so I can stick to it at home too.

I normally do diaries for my mindees, I haven't for nearly 2 months because I've run out of enthusiasm but fully intend to get it started again after the Xmas break. I do tell parents exactly what was eaten, how many poos were done, what we've done, mood, where we've been etc, nothing is left out!

hi.. i do daily diaries and have to confess that they are a TOTAL PAIN IN THE ARSE... DEEP BREATH...

now that because there is only so much you can say about a child every day... do they reach a milestone every day..

NO FREAKING NO...

do they play YES

do you do music and movement YES

soft play YES

.park YES..

. not being negative but its sooooo hard to think of something new to write...

tbh your child is HAPPY ...obviously cm loves him and he loves her..... and the problem is????? seriously...

sorry if harsh but need a holiday and told my parents that no diaries now till new year.. loosing the will to live!!!!

of course catch me in the new year and my paperwork will be exemplary!!!!! counting poos as we speak!!!!

seriously if your kid is happy then live with it... a cm who is fantasic with paperwork might be doing it instead of playing with your ds!!!

My last CM didn't do diaries, but we did chat at pick-up/drop off, I wasn't concerned about the lack off...

The CM I have for DD now (just for 5 hrs a week) does do diary and must admit is nice to read. But, with both CMs I have been really happy with the standard of care and the relationship they have with my children - don't need a diary to reassure me of that.

well said!!!

I have a diary template that I print, 2 per A4 sheet. I used to do a book but it was always getting lost so I find this easier. The template has boxes for meals, sleeps & nappies and a bigger box for what we did that day - briefly, not every toy played with, just things that caught attention & if we went out. Box for comments eg can I have more nappies and tear off box for parent feedback.
Quick & easy to complete and helps jog my memory at collection time or easy to hand over if hurried pick up

Wow, loads of replies, thsnk you so much.

I will have a nice little New Years review I think and tell her how happy we are but also suggest the dairy thing.

Rhinestone Rindeer herder - that is pretty much what I am getting at. I don't need diaries etc to reassure me that LO is happy. I can see he is. I am just curious.

Thanks again all!

When I used to childmind I wouldn't go to any great lengths to fill out a diary, I would just put in the basics and if I had noticed something that the child had done differently or wanted to comment on something then I would just add it in at the end. It didn't matter if it repeated a bit because that is how some days just went so something like this:

CHILDS NAME AND DATE

8.30am Child arrives, breakfast- Toast and egg. All eaten.

9.00am Free play

9.30am Storytime

9.45am Nappy change, soiled, cream applied

10.00am Snack- Milk and apple. Ate apple, refused milk.

10.30am- 11.45am Walk to playground. Played catch with a ball and hide and seek. On the way home we collected some fir cones and had a chat about nature.

12.00pm- Lunch- Jacket potato, salad, baked beans, yogurt and fruit and squash. Everything eaten.

12.45pm- Toothbrushing.

1.00pm- Nappy change- wet.

1.30-3.00pm- Nap

3pm- Snack- Milk and biscuit, cbeebies

3.30pm- Arts and crafts. Child made and decorated a picture of father christmas.

4.00pm- Christmas carol songs and intruments.

4.45pm- Nappy change, wet. Free play

5.00pm- Dinner- Lasagne, garlic bread + ice cream + water. Half of lasagne eaten and most of garlis bread.

5.30pm- Home.

Child was very kind and shared his toys with tanother child today so got a sticker and lots of praise.

I get a diary with what they had for breakfast/morning activity/lunch/sleep times/afternoon activity/tea and then nappy changes or potty usage (when training), plus as Breastmilk says, any particular development or nice sharing etc

I don't need massive detail but it is nice to know what they have been up to

As part of working with parents as partners, which is a statutory requirement of the EYFS, she should be communiating your baby's day through a journal, diary or profile or folder.

Could you suggest to your childminder that she adopts the fairly standard practice of a setting/home diary?

It should contain what TheBreastmilksOnMe has written as an example.