Childminder versus After School/Holiday Club

[mumtoone]

My son is currently at nursery 4 days a week but I am starting to think about childcare when he goes to school. I'm not sure whether a childminder or an after school club would be best. What are your thoughts? I do wonder whether School followed by After School Club will be too much for a 4 year old. Do any of you have 4/5 year olds in after school clubs? Both the Primary Schools round here have Breakfast and After School clubs so hopefully I could get him in one if I decided to go for it.

How long would he be staying after school?

My dd went to after school club last year. I had a bad experience when they failed on two ocassions to collect her from school. One of the reasons Im considering CMing.

The parents of the schoolchildren that I currently mind after school have said that they would still send their children here even if there was an afterschool club (even though it would probably be cheaper), particularly for the younger ones.

They certainly need the flexibility of being able to collect later on occasions. They also want their children to be able to have more choice in what they want to do, be it arty crafty stuff, making mountains with cushions or racing round the garden. My only experience with afterschool clubs are those who tend to have fixed activities available, and no "dossing around" (though I expect that there are some?)

Most 4/5 years olds are going to be absolutely whacked by the time they finish their normal school day! You would need to consider how they would cope with being in the same environment, to a certain extent, for another hour or two.

I think these comments have probably confirmed my thoughts that a childminder would probably be the best option.

Hurray! Now all we have to do is find you someone nice!

My ds 5 goes to an after school club and he loves it. He is a boy that likes to have space and noise around him so it just suits him. The one he goes to is run in the school, in the hall and the playground. There are some structured activities or kids are allowed to just run about and be themselves. A telly is also available on some days and there are always footballs and bats and balls to be seen.

As a Registered Childminder some parents have come to me because -

• I can provide a quiet area & help with homework and supervised Internet/word processing etc if needed (our afterschool club is very noisy, I don't know what level of individual support the children get)
• I can provide cooked evening dinners if required (our afterschool club just provides snacks)
• I can provide care during school holidays (our afterschool club is term-time only)
• I can take children to clubs such as beavers, karate, football training. (the afterschool club used to but found they weren't covered by insurance to do so)
• Because of the restriction in numbers I can take the time to converse & play with EACH child EVERY day to ensure they are happy and to get to know each individual child well. This means activities I provide are tailored to the interests, development & abilities of each child rather than the majority present.

Unfortunately for me, many parents choose the afterschool club because they are much cheaper. I haven't been given any other reason.

I had no choice - there are no childminders in my area. My ds has gone to kids club 2 days a week since he started P1. (my mum collects him the other 3 days). It is OK - he gets collected by minibus from his school and taken to the club at a school 5 miles away. They can do craft stuff, playstation, etc - or just sit and chill. They can also do more boisterous stuff if they want. During holidays there is a holiday club at another school which he occasionally attends - again it is quite good. My preference though would have been a local childminder.