childminders : some parents leave me speechless.

[kizzypie]

No point to this post really just thought id share one of my mindees parents daft comments with you all.
Last week two of the mindees turned up with a bag with coloured pencils and colouring books. So I said jokingly "Are my books and pencls not good enough" , the mindees laughed and the parent turned round and said "I didnt think you had anything like that"
This isnt the first comment along these lines she has made. If shes not happy then why doesnt she f* off and find another childminder.

5 weeks till maternity leave and counting every minute

kizzypie (honest im a brilliant childminder)

I've always told parents that they are more than welcome to ring/text me if they want to - parents of new baby mindees tend to do this more than for other age groups. I also say that if I don't answer, they mustn't panic because I might be in the middle of something, or just don't hear the phone ringing! It has always tended to peter out after a few days anyway. I chat to parents when they pick-up anyway, but also send home a daily diary.

jillyjay - would it help if you said that you would ring her once during the day just to reassure her (assuming that you would want to)? I understand how inconvenient the phone calls must be for you, but maybe the mum is just having a hard time leaving her child??

ladies think you a bit harsh on us working mums (thank you prisoner). I know that lots of them take the micky eg tightfisted or late or presenting ill children but if they come loaded with colouring pens it doesn't mean they don't like your service. More likely the kids have omitted to tell you about their day and what stuff you have. I find that sort of detail missing from school age. (what you do today "not much" what was your favourite bit "can't remember" and as many open questions as you can think of before you get told to stop being so nosy)
New parents leaving children with childminders are often scared, worried and guilty but work coz they have to to pay bills.

It is unreasonable to expect a minder to answer her phone 4/5 times in one day to answer questions about their child.Can you imagine if every parent did that.If you had 4/5 mindees you would spend the majority of the day on the phone answering questions which are in the childs daily diary anyway. My new mindees parents can phone once during the day for the first week to check how things are going and thats it.all of them have said thats more than enough and most of them dont ring for more than the first 2 days.

the child has been to a minder before me and she took six weeks settleing him in.

Some of my parents occasionally ring or text me to find out if I've had a nervous breakdown with their children ...

I agree that it probably is unreasonable to expect us to answer the phone 4/5 times a day, but I think I would still rather that parents did this for a while to put their minds at rest (assuming I answer the phone!) than sit and worry about things.

I sometimes send a text photo to parents of their child, usually with a daft caption, particularly if I know they're having a grotty day at work.
I think that part of our job does include ensuring that parents know that their children are having a nice time - if this means having contact with them during the day, then so be it. Perhaps that's why I need to sit and have a coffee, biscuit and chat at toddler group (but that's on another thread ...)

Prisoner you sound a great minder. 4-5 times a day is either just the mother's insecurity or perhaps she has a boring/crap job that she doesn't want to be in and would rather be at home with her child. Personally I am so busy at work my mobile phone is off half the time ....

I asked the question at our toddler group this morning (to mums and other minders) as to their opinion on whether phoning at all, or phoning 4/5 times a day, was acceptable - the answers were a real mixed bag! Sounds just like Mumsnet!

I've also asked the parents of the under-5s I currently mind for their opinions - they were happy that they were "allowed" to ring, although they didn't necessarily do so.

I don't mind what reason a parent has to ring (insecurity or bad work day) - as long as they remember me at Christmas and buy me chocolate!

Prisoner you sound really lovely!

you do like your choc dont you prisoner.

'fraid so ... my minded schoolchildren learnt very early on never to tell me if they have anything vaguely chocolate in their lunch boxes as I would have to volunteer to look after it for them.

Message withdrawn

Wow Prisoner, you sound likea fantastic CM! Wherabouts in the country are you? I didn't go back to work because there were no CMs in my area with vacancies and I didn't like the nursery. Still would like to though!

I'm in Oxfordshire and have a large enough garden to house multiple caravans if you all want to move here. Thankyou for your kind words, my head is now unable to fit into the fridge to hunt for more chocolate.

You've just had me PMSL as usual!! My dh too