potential CM's house smelling of cigarette smoke-deal-breaker?

[CatIsSleepy]

my lovely childminder of the last 4 years has had to give me her notice this week for very sad personal reasons and I have to find a new CM for dd1 (nearly 5) and 2 (2 yrs) to start in 3 weeks.
It has thrown me into a bit of a panic. However the mum of one of dd1's classmates is a CM, and she has vacancies. I went to see her today and liked her a lot.
Only problem-her house smelt very smoky. She said her husband doesn't smoke when the children are around ie only in the evenings. FWIW it sounds like she would be doing activities out of teh house with dd2 most days so she wouldn't be in the house all the time. But i feel a bit uncomfortable about it. Dh, however is less bothered. I haven't had time to see anyone else yet or even get any names of more CMs to contact so she is the only person I have seen so far.

Would a smokey house be a deal-breaker for you? am very interested in other people's opinions on this.
Have to go and do a load of boring stuff now but I will be back
Thanks in advance!

Blondes that is a really good point. Schools need to be smoke free as do nurseries. Should be all places providing childcare services. Nannies would be different, though. Of course

i try star :)

would an cm who smokes/has a smoky house be given outstanding?

Well would nannies be different?

Workplaces must be smoke free so they mustn't work in a smoky environment

A childminder and a nanny both work from a private home. Unlikely in my view that Government would want to dictate too much about what goes on there. Sure they might try to dictate things but telling parents that they can't smoke in their own home won't be that popular I expect. Government relies on having Votes, smokers votes count.

However the home is a workplace. Thus why Ofsted do have a non-smoking requirement with regard to the person providing the care.

Well I didn't want an argument about parents having the choice to smoke or not... I just thought a cm is a business, a service for childcare that is regulated and needs to meet specific requirements... Etc. Every other childcare setting needs to be smoke free...

A nanny is hired by an individual for their dc at their home so parents are still free to choose whether or not they want to poison the lungs of their dc smoke.

my friend works for smokers as a nanny - she hates it, charges always have a hacking cough :(

and her clothes stink of smoke - she is looking for a new job but as she works in a 3 day job, she needs to find another that works the same days as she also has a 2 day job

ive told her to look for 5 days for her sanity and health

Blondes even if they were given outstanding, parents would still smell it and run a mile. But, maybe other smoking parents wouldn't care. To each their own. Everyone I know with dc in childcare at the
Moment would give a smoky house a big NO

I'm afraid it would be a deal-breaker for me.

But Nick the nanny should be protected surely?

what i meant was, would they be given outstanding if they smoked?

sorry didnt explain it very well

Not least because the first thing I would have to do when I got the DC home every evening would be to bath them and wash their hair.

I can't even stand the smell of scent on DD3- she just doesn't smell "right" to me unless she smells of herself and it bothers me hugely.

Private dwellings are exempted from the Smoke-free regulations except in very limited circumstances.

So childminders assistants and nannies are not in general protected by law :(

Complete dealbreaker for me.

Poor children would have to sit in smelly smoky chairs, and have naps on smelly smoky beds - yuk

Plus I'd worry about anyone smoking near the house; smoke can drift in from outside.

Yuck. I can't believe a cm could be registered and accredited or whatever it's called... And not have a completely smoke free environment. Horrible.
I guess that's why it's up to parents to visit and make sure before signing up.

it is horrid, isn't it, Star

superdragonmama - do you really worry about people smoking near your house? What do you do if a smoker with a lit cigarette walks past and you have a window open . Some things can be taken too far imo

never seen the 6 steps campaign? if you smoke outside the house you should take 6 steps away to stop smoke coming into the house

I guess it depends on the house.

6 steps from our windows and they'd be smoking on my drive or garden - then I might have something to say about it

As a parent complete deal breaker. that being said, i don't mind if someone smokes as long as they do it outside. my sister smokes, but never in her house around her kids.

this is an interesting link news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8503870.stm about third hand smoke. it's really the residue of what smoke leaves behind on furnishings.

Iwish: I don't mean I object to someone walking past my house with a lit fag, but I'd object to someone standing by my back door smoking a whole cig: a lot of smoke can get into the house that way.

My DH has severe emphysema,and is very sensitive to smoke so I know just how much smoke can get into a house from outside from when we've had parties/mates who smoke round who smoke in the garden.

And ime houses don't smell strongly of smoke unless someone is smoking a lot inside them, so this suggests that someone in the CM's family has the smoking habit strongly, and this person might well smoke near the house even while the children were being looked after. Clearly it's not as bad smoking outside the house as inside it, but it's still not great, and would be a complete dealbreaker for me looking for someone to care for my children.

dealbreaker for me too

dh gets shoved outside and back door closed - he seems to smoke more in summer and less in winter - cant think why

so cat what are you going to do?

can you live with a smoking environment for your dc?

I would NEVER let any child of mine/in my care be in a smoke environment. Simply disgusting. Plus all the health issues.

Deal breaker for me - asthmatic child

And can't stand the smell [hypocritical ex-smoker]