Childminding activities

[Chippychop]

not sure this was the right title...but my childminder takes her dd to a horse riding lesson every week whilst mine and the others 3-4 inc my own have to sit and watch. Do you think this is reasonable? I thought about suggesting my ds joins in but in hindsight would prefer I was there too.thoughts please?

as a childminder, i drop my dd off to her horse occasionally but we never stay as it isn't fair on my mindees.

The only thing my mindees do watch which isn't always relevant for all of them is school assemblies where siblings may be taking part.

Did she tell you that this would be happening on a regular basis?

I wouldn't do that. The only thing I do is stay around school once a week when ds1 has his recorder lessons. We play outside at school unless it's raining (like we do every day anyway) or we go and watch him play which they all love doing anyway (they have a go at me if we've played too long outside and not managed to watch much). I think this is totally different though and when we're sat watching recorders, the children are singing along to the music/having their snack whilst we're there and it's not for very long. All my parents are fine with this btw.

p.s. did she let you know or did it just sort of happen? I think this makes a big difference!!

It depends what she is doing in that time really. I used to take a mindee with me while DS had a swimming lesson once a week. The lesson lasted half an hour and I would use that time to do some reading with the child, and take some colouring to do. It was a nice excuse to have some one to one time with her. It goes ever so fast once you've got yourself a coffee and mindee some juice, then read a book, talked about what they did at school today etc.....

As looney said, was this mentioned before you signed up? I take my DD to ballet lessons once a week, but advise parents if they want me after 5.15pm then children will come with me. I do ensure if it is wet we take books, colouring bits or games, during better weather there is a playground outside which we utilise so generally turns into a little outing, and are only there for half an hour. None of the parents mind, but I do give them the option first.

Do remember home based childcare can include general day to day activities as long as the childminder handles it correctly.

I think the children could learn a lot from watching the riding lessons and I'd imagine they'd only be half an hour, so they shouldn't get bored. You could always have a few private lessons with your DS, then when he gets confident then ask if he can join in with the CM's DD's lessons?

This general issue is very interesting. As a former f/t working mum, one afternoon a week my then CM took her DD to a dance class. My DS and DD had to go there and just watch, and I picked them up from there as when it was my time to pick up, they hadn't returned to the CMs home yet. I have to say I didn't worry about it tbh.

I am now a CM. On a Wed my DD goes to a dance class which doesn't finish til 6. I'm not sure if she'll be able to keep doing this as I'm not sure if parents would want to either (a) wait at home til I got back or (b) come to the leisure centre to pick their kiddies up instead. I usually swim with my DS whilst DD does her dancing - if I had a mindee I would, if parents were happy, offer for her to go into either the dance class or the swimming with me, if they wanted, and I would pay for it. I think as a CM it is part of what we do that we should try and be inclusive in what we do so try and include everyone wherever we possibly can. Looking back it might have been nice to have offered for my DD to do the class as well - I could always have left the office later (that was never a problem!!). Generally I'd prefer my children to be included if it were ever possible - but each CM will do it differently and when I am taking mindees on I will be sure to discuss how they want to handle the Wednesday that my DD goes dancing and me and DS go swimming - BEFORE I sign a contract with them though, not after.

My own children often missed out on such things because I wasn't able to tie it in with the childminding routine. Where possible I've always arranged things for my own family outside of childminding hours and when I can't, I've discussed it with parents and tried my best to ensure its been a fun day for each child, eg by taking appropriate activities for the other children and by going to the park, library or toddler group directly afterward.

I've had to sit outside dance classes, football training etc for minded children, but only when it fits in with my existing routine and does not adversely affect the other children. Similarly, when signing up my own children to activities, I've had to consider the needs of the children in my care before agreeing to take them.

Its hard to balance our own family life and fit in things like swimming/football/dancing etc so that mindees don't get bored. My son and the minded child do football training on a Tuesday as they are in the same team which does help but as it overruns till after 6 am not sure whether I should charge the mindee even though my ds is there anyway or not even though in effect I am still minding till 7.

The parents think I should charge as sometimes I take him to matches and the parents don't bother getting up. I have told her from now on that I will charge Bank Holiday rate for Saturday mornings if one or both parents do not come! Last saturday - bingo - Dad came to watch his son!

I would have thought this would be a lovely experience for the mindees - seeing a real horse in action! If I had a childminder who took the mindees here once a week I wouldn't be worried. Some children never see a real horse, only in books!

I'm a childminder, and occasionally, had to drop my youngest off to after school activities, but always involved the mindees.

totally agree, that is one of the advantages of choosing home based childcare, maybe you could sign your child up for lessons at the same time?

as scarfmaker says its a lovely experience for mindees, better than being stuck in a nursery doing the same thing day in day out.

We live in the country and horses are a part of our every day existence. Ds had lessons last summer. She didn't inform me beforehand as I would have probably said take him too. I think I'll suggest ds goes too. As some of you said it's about the inclusiveness of activities and I'd rather he was joining in not just watching