Just a slight annoyance.

[mumo3g]

Mum comes to pick up child from ours. I told her that we had to wake her up from the cot because of going out to one of these inside soft play centres. She comments that her child hasn't had her nap properly on Wednesday's for a while. I said it's down to ratio's. She looked miffed by this. Sometimes we are unable to give this child a nap at all depending on how long this child takes on lunch.

The issue we have is that DH has to do 1-1 care with a autistic child but that leaves me with 3 children, one of whom needs the activity too. I can't just pander to the needs of the one child when others need attention. Couldn't expect him to be quietly playing while the child naps he is very active or the other baby to be quiet too. The child had 30mins nap today which was all we could do before having to go out to collect the autistic child.

Sometimes I wish I could give notice to this family as the mum demands a lot. Wouldn't know how though.

I can see that her schedule doesn't really work in a multi-child set up.

i.e. if the child arrives at 12 (assume this is lunchtime), then has lunch, and then needs a 2.5 hr nap, then you can't leave the house before 3 for the afternoon, BUT I think you need to discuss this with the mother and explain that it's just not do-able. Sounds like it's just not going to work.

I'd politely give notice.

Do you not say to parents ' this is our rough routine' ie morning is activity, lunch, nap/ quiet time and then activity after before dinner'

Surely they must know if a child attends 12-3 that they are unlikely to be marching through the woods or having a music lesson.

Agree you are not suited to each other.

All the CMs I have known have been able to cater for a group of older and younger children and still meet reasonable needs.

But they have done this by having a rough routine which parents have been informed of beforehand-so if you couldn't fit with that routine, you chose a different childminder. I would not have been impressed if changes in routine had meant that my children were suddenly missing out on sleep they needed. As part of the professionalism of a CM I would expect clear information on how s/he was proposing to meet sleeping needs and/or activity needs: I'd expect this to be in the handout.

Thank you for all your comments. I've started the process of making my daughter an assistant so this isn't an issue anymore. She won't be able to be left alone with the sleeper until she has done her first aid but she will be able to go with my DH while I stay at home with the baby and sleeper.

Well done for finding a solution OP, that sounds sensible. Are you going to let the mother know that you're doing this, so she understands you're making an effort to get it sorted?

Might be an idea to start another thread here asking how other CMs have given notice, and what to write/say, as you said you didn't know how to go about it? Just so you're prepared if you need to change the setup in the future.

that is good idea mumo3g
hope it all works out for you

Without wanting to offend you OP, it's threads like yours that give a terrible impression of CM's. I'm glad for the child you have a solution planned. A lot of young children need their sleep to function happily for the afternoon. I would not be doing my job properly if I didn't plan ahead and accommodate for all my minded children.