Emergency childcare issues ...

[BrioAddict]

Our DS is at an age where he picks up anything and everything going. He comes down with minor bugs but because we are unsure of how the day will pan out, we keep him at home as a precaution. However, the majority of times we've done this, he's been completely fine as the day pans out - in fact, so fine that it can be nigh on impossible to work from home (hard to explain to a 2.5yo how important it is for us to be able to work ...). Due to the nature of my work, his father ends up covering the majority of such days, but even his employer is starting to lose patience ..

Our childminder has indicated that she may be happy to have him on such occasions, but of course, we don't want to put her in a position where she feels obliged to take on a child who may or may not end up being sick(er) as the day goes on (not sick enough to absolutely require his mum/dad at home, but enough where he will want or need more attention than she can give due to having other charges) or risks infecting her other charges.

Of course we want to stay home with him if we can, but lately, we simply haven't had enough annual leave days between ourselves to cover this. So now, we've decided to look for emergency ad-hoc childcare for days when our childminder is unable to have our DS. Ideally, we would prefer to employ a full-time nanny but, living in London (SE, Zone 5) we can't afford it and, regardless, we are more than happy with the care our childminder provides when DS is with her.

We would be looking to pay the person a regular retainer amount each week, and on days that they would be expected to have him, we would pay an extra hourly rate on top of the retainer. The nature of the role means that any notice we give is likely to be short i.e. less than 24 hours. We could require anything from a few hours in a day, to a shift of 08:00AM to 18:00PM.

If anyone on here knows of, has or has had experience of a similar arrangement, I would be grateful for any advice received e.g.

• where/how you advertised (including the sort of person you advertised for/found)
• how much you paid
• if it worked out well giving short notice
• any issues that arose in terms of communication or if you were let down frequently
• whether the person was/should be treated as an employee or self-employed
• if you had a contract in place (and what terms were included)
• most importantly, how your DC took to the experience.

Unashamed bump.

How unwell is he? Most childminders will take children will a cold etc, just not infectious illnesses, as you very rarely find a 2-3 year old without a runny nose at this time of year!
Have you spoken to your minder? I'm sure she will tell you straight if she wont take your DS and won't feel obliged to as she has a business to run and this impacts on her other mindees.
it doesn't seem very cost effective to pay a CM and someone on a retainer per week plus extra if they have your DS. Presumably you still pay the CM when your son is unwell and doesn't attend?

Yes, we would still pay the childminder when DS is off. Although he's prone to running fevers and unpleasant diapers when he has colds (even minor ones!), a minimal dose of Calpol/nurofen usually does the trick and he's right as rain after.

It feels a big ask for the childminder to take on (though she has recently said she won't mind administering his meds if need be) and I don't want to be accused of sending a sick child to her who really shouldn't be sent.

On my mobile, come back to this later if neede be

Administering meds no prob if wriiten instructions from you

I will link to exclusion reccs from the HPA later

Sorry for brevity

BBL

As I childminder I will give you my view, today I have three children here (all are asleep after lunch) two of them have streaming colds, ones running a mild fever, and I gave them nurofen with the parents permission this morning. The other one is off their food, and a bit quiet, so we have had a very quiet day at home. The other child I have here, had the cold last week and now has an ear infection, so has calpol and anti biotics, but they are happy and well enough to be here.

It really does sound as if you have a very good relationship with your childminder, I would have a talk with her. Its very common to have a child with a cold / teething / on anti biotics. As long as they don't need 'nursing' most childminders will take a child who has a minor illness.

I think it's greatly to your credit that you are not comfortable to dose your little one up with calpol and hope for the best that he doesn't infect all the other children, and there is nothing more guaranteed to sour the relationship with ones childminder. However, I think having someone standing by on a retainer is a bit OTT, and probably a bit unrealistic too, as unless you pay them enough to live on, the chances are that they might be otherwise engaged when your need arises. I think it might be better to look into whether any of your local nanny agencies offers an ad hoc short term nanny service (I used something like this when my own eldest was little but that's a few years ago). You could also look at emergencychildcare.co.uk.

Ad hoc childcare is nigh on impossible to find for 'normal' circumstances, add on the requirement that you will only use it for a sick child and I think you would be very lucky to find something suitable.

All 2.5 year olds I have known have runny nappies when they have a cold, and this time of year have colds pretty much all the time. Just wait till he goes to nursery!

Diahorrea and vomiting is a reason not to send a child to a childminder: a runny nappy due to a cold is not.

Sorry another one on phone so will be brief!

Mr A- with regard to a 'runny nappy due to a cold', as we or the parents cannot professionally diagnose this then normal vomiting/ diarrhoea rules apply according to guidelines.

Meant to add to the OP- are you sure he doesn't have toddler diarrhoea? This can be diagnosed by a doctor and I would be ok taking the child as it is not contagious.

Nope, a runny nappy is not diarrhoea.

Diarrhoea is the passage of three or more loose or liquid stools per day, or more frequently than is normal for the individual.

As a parent, if I changed a runny nappy in the morning I would tell my CM and if there were two more I would expect a call to pick them up. Of course if I had to change in the middle of the night and again in the morning that would be more frequently than normal so I would keep at home.

Same applies to teething.

2.5 yrs and runny nappy on occasions go hand in hand. I think you are being too cautious about keeping your DS at home. Send him in, and if he gets worse then the CM will call you and you can pick him up and take him home.