A question !! What happend with after school care in school holidays ?

[Scatterbrain]

Just occurred to me - my dd has recently started with a CM - only a couple of days a week - for 2 hours a time, and in the hols the CM is going to have her for a few days !

My question is - will I be able to cash in the after-school hours I won't be using and use them against the whole days - or will I still be paying the after school care and paying for the days on top ?

Sorry - am novice at having a CM and not sure of the etiquette !!

Also - the CM will not feed dd - so she has to take a packed tea - but I am not all that comfortable about eating food that has been in the school cloakroom all day - even though I pack it well in an insulated bag with an ice pack - if you were my CM what would persuade you to make my dd a fresh sandwich ?

I think the c/m would expect to be paid for all the time that your child is booked in, alot of us see the child as a space (if that sounds ok, because you cant get another child in for that time because yours would be in it, i hope that doesnt sound rude as that is not how i mean it but cant explain it any other way)

You could ask how much the c/m would charge for a meal and then you would know it was fresh. Why has she said that she wont feed you dd? Doing the school run, activities, why? Could you try and maybe get a Sealed pasta dish from the supermarket that doesnt need to be fridged or eaten hot, some fruit, seeds and maybe a pack of veg, fruit juice and a cereal bar or something like that.

hth

Re reading your post for the full days you could do a normalpack lunch and ask her to chill it in the fridge then that would keep it fresh.

Hello Scatterbrin

Have you got a contract with you cm, it may be worth having a look and seeing what you will be charged for school hols.

I feed all of my children/mindees otherwise you get problesm like you explained, plus they always want to eat what others have and not their own!

Assume your dd is at school? If an afterschool child comes in the holidays, I would have thought you would just be charged for the whole days they attend, which I would include the hours you would normally have in term time??

I tend to do one contract which includes term-time hours and school holiday hours, which will obviously be different.

I don't usually provide meals for minded children, but think I would do so in the circumstances you describe. I suppose it would depend on just how "simple" a tea you would want. Would you see the childminder at school in the mornings to take delivery of a packed tea?

Hmmm - not very clear cut then ! Not sure which days she'll go to CM - but likely not to be days she normally goes after school - so I shall expect to pay extra then ! Wish I got paid extra too !

Have resingd myself to packed tea now - atleast she chooses what she wants in morning - even if it is mouldy by tea time - hey ho - bit of pennicillin good for one !

If you ask minder to have your dd on days x and y during term-time, then that can be put in contract. Ask her if she can have dd on full days z and w during school holidays, and put that in contract too. There isn't a problem having different days in a contract, so long as you have a minder who is OK with it. All of my before/afterschool children do different things in the school holidays - some come full-time, some don't come at all, some do occasional days. I just word the contract accordingly. If your minder isn't happy with it, then I'm sure she'll tell you!!

I also think jelly's suggestions re. food that doesn't need refrigeration is a good idea. If you want your dd to have other stuff (such as cheese?), perhaps you could give the minder a stash of individual cheese portions to keep in her fridge. Your dd could then have crackers or breadsticks etc. in her lunchbox. Same goes for pots of yogurt, cartons of juice and so on. (Hope your minder wouldn't charge for storage!!)