what kind of childcare do i need for occasional need

[muslimah28]

hi

i have just become a school governor and the meetings are on average once every 6 weeks for an afternoon. what sort of childcare should i be looking for for this, a nanny, childminder or a simple babysitter? what's the best way to find someone? nb ds is 11mo.

thanks

A friend

Some crèches will accept children without parents remaining on site.

Agree with harecare though, what you need is a friend to care for your DS. You could return the favour and care for their child on occasion.

If you're in london, sitters.co.uk have daytime sitters. Its just easier using them as they've checked refs and interviewed already and they can come to you so your little one is on home teritory.

harecare and nannynick - I would never have asked one of my friends to look after DS1 when he was 11 months old. All my friends were first time mums and the thought of having two children at once to look after filled me with dread!! Now, of couse, I'm fine with 4 or 5 and will be a mum of 3 in a couple of weeks.

A friend.

Once every 6 weeks or so it wouldn't be worth hiring a nanny, paperwork for that would be a pain.

A CM might do it on occasion. Some CMs don't go to their full quotas because they don't always want to be really busy and wouldnt' mind an odd day here or there. Some CMs might have temporary vacancies and might be willing to do this, but you can't guarantee that they would still have the vacancy the next time you need childcare.

If you have a friend that could help out (and not everyone has!) then that would be ideal. One of my friends and I often do 'swaps' with our boys so that we can get some things done without childcare costs. She has also bailed me out when my part time childcare has let me down.

How late in the afternoon? Some primary/infant school teachers do occasional babysitting. I have one that is available from about 4 pm.

thanks everyone. don't really have any friends i can call upon for this just yet, am fairly new to the area and don't know anyone well enough to leave my ds with them. also karolean is right, at 11mo he needs a lot of stuff, he can't just play with the other kids etc. will look up the other suggestions, and hopefully in time when ds is a bit older i'll get to know my friends here better to ask them to help out :)