Really not liking it much today

[freshstart]

:(

Can the teacher pick up from your DD's school (I do this occasionally - not ideal but works) then keep baby until after skating and drop home late?

Yes I thought of that but where do I put baby whilst helping DD on the ice!

Will be really ever so gutted if I have to let DD down - think it will give her bad vibe about me childminding too if its getting in the way of things she wants/needs to do too.

In buggy - In car seat? she will be visible won't she someone else might "keep an eye on her" while you are on ice esp if you return the favour

Or drop her off early - you are allowed a life as well (honest)

Y'see this is the kind of thing, I just wouldnt dream of leaving him in the buggy or car seat whilst I was focussing on DD. I would be full of what ifs and would feel unprofessional asking someone to keep an eye for me.

He is also a bit of a crier sometimes. What then!

Could you drop baby off early?

I know that Im opposing all of these good ideas but Im very wary of this too

Last week he had to be sent home ill (throwing up etc - we then all got bug!)
Week before I had to cancel the first day as I was relaly ill with flu
She cancelled second day due to a family emergency.

So reluctant to change anything this week, its like tehre is always something preventing his contracted hours each week.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm I might have to see if a friend can take some time of work to do it :(

Your DD's auntie/godmother/best friends mum?

Will put my thinking hat on - thanks for all the advice

Apart from the ice thing. What do you think to the rest of my woes katymac?

Umm difficult to comment - I get loads of support and company - but still get days like that - I don't think I could C/M by myself

But we regularily have 9 under 2 so it's a bit different

night

night

feeling poo :(

think it may be pmt too

thanks again

Do you not know any other cms who could take baby for you so you could go with daughter. Just a thought.

Can I just put a little public thanks up for hellybelly - she is great at keeping me sane on msn. This morning I was ready to pack it in but feeling a bit better about it now.

Thanks chuck xxx

Bless you chuck, just wish I lived nearer so we could meet up and have a 'proper' chat about stuff! Maybe one day we could get together in RL

Just wanted to say I completely agree about the leaving in buggy/car seat thing - I could never do that, thought we weren't even supposed to go to the loo and leave mindees with others (although I'm not that OTT ).

Do you think we get TOO worried about stuff? Maybe Ofsted scare the hell out of us?? lol

Hope you sort out Wednesday :) xxx

Sorry about this folks but honestly believe that you are TOO worried and stressed about things. Slow down, take a deep breath and look at the problem again. You are not going to get shot at dawn for having a baby in a buggy whilst you see to DD. As long as you can be near and are attentive to their needs, they may even be asleep at that time, explain to parents about where you are going and what you will be doing and re assure them that all will be ok, then go and have a good time. You will burn yourselves out with all the stress and be no good to your own kiddies never mind anyone elses. Even after 10 years I still get weeks when I think, right thats it, but they soon pass and you forget all about it and I work 7 days a week, but then I am mad.

Take it you didn't have Ofsted looking after you when you first started? We're quite new and Ofsted appear very very strict from what I've seen so far. I do make my own judgement on a lot of things but maybe I am just too new and worry about something like this (and can see why freshstart would!). I think Ofsted are way OTT (i.e. at my inspection I was told off for saying the word 'don't' even though it was in a nice tone etc. and I was told off for not changing my hand towel daily for my 1 mindee!) but I suppose I worry about getting a bad reputation etc.

Also, I've had someone make me feel bad for popping to the supermarket (only done this about 3 times since I started in July) with a mindee so I guess stuff like this makes me paranoid!

Sounds daft as well but there are a few childminders at DD's school and so far all that I have met arent very nice. They are very cliquey and jealous if anyone gets any work. I overhear them talking about having no children etc and when they see me with the kids they positively scowl. Im sure if they had the opportunity they would be the first to be letting ofsted know. Sad but true I think.

Helly - I've heard of another minder who was told that the "don't" word was unacceptable. Saying the "no" word is also frowned upon. Whilst sitting at toddler group, we've all tried to think of a nice, positive way to quickly ask a toddler in a car not to run the crawling baby over - by the time you've racked your brains, it's too late!!

freshstart - I really hope that you had a nicer day today?? Have you sorted out what to do about the ice-skating? I wouldn't worry if you do take the baby with you, and he sits in the buggy. I agree with others that we can sometimes be too worried about what Ofsted will say - he won't come to any harm!

I would appreciate it if you thought about a better way of solving that dispute over the car without driving over that babies head sweetheart - why dont we regroup for a debrief?

Would that do prisoner?

You know what, Ive had a much better day today but thats partly do with me not minding on a monday LOL

No, seriously Im feeling alot better - Helly really did help to sort my head out ealier!

Ive had a think about my DS playgroup which was stressing me and resolved that.

I have been to ikea and bought some lovely rugs and throws to create a comfy corner in the playroom.

Have rearranged playroom and set it out a bit differently and feeling much, much better about it all.

I think being more organised will help me with dealing with it all.

Oh and I have arranged for my sister to finish work early and come with me so between us we can see that baby and DD get the attention they need :)

Actually, the phrase we tried out, in a nice, positive voice, was "see if you can drive around that way ..." ... oops, too late again. (We don't really let the babies get run over!!!)

Glad you are feeling a bit more positive (so would I be if I had a child-free day). I am really pleased that you've sorted out the ice-skating.

Tomorrow will also be a nice day.

Why would you think that Ofsted are looking after you? There are the same rules to follow whether you are new to this or have been doing the job for years. And just for the record I shop every week with 3 mindees and no one has ever said anything about it except for a mindees mum asking how I get past the Postman Pat ride near the front door of the shop without a major tantrum, easy, they never ask to have a go and if they did they wouldnt get a go, simple. About the other childminders not having any work, I wonder if they have taken a good look at themselves and their practice to see why you have work and they dont. Intances like that happen all the time around where I live, we have a lot of childminders with no work and then we have a few childminders who have not had a vacancy for 5 years and are still full for a couple of years to come and you only have to compare the two to see why, and yes that may seem a little harsh but it is VERY true in the area in which I live.

Thought I made myself clear but obviously not. I'll use a different word - were they responsible for you i.e. inspection, rules etc. when you first started. I wasn't saying we are treated different, I just think they (Ofsted) scare the out of us when we register/have inspections (some lucky people are treated like normal humans ) and we get much more worried about stuff whereas you already knew how to be a good childminder and don't need Ofsted to tell you how to be? (unless it did used to be so strict 10 years ago?)

Does what I'm saying make sense? Sorry if I sounded like I was digging or something, I certainly wasn't - that's not me! :)

10 years ago we were under the umbrella of Social Services and personally I think things were harder then, as the SS office was located around the corner from my house so I always thought I was being 'watched'. No, things are much easier now and as long as you do the job according to the regulations you have nothing to worry about.

Sticking to the regulations is one thing - but not that easy when Ofsted sometimes move the goalposts! The previous comments on using negative words ("don't" and "no") are ones I've been told about previously. Some inspectors don't like any negative words, others live in the real world.

Someone also mentioned clean handtowels - some inspectors are happy with you having kitchen roll for mindees to dry hands on, others want individual face cloths and individual handtowels. I have 16 different mindees on a normal week!! Are siblings allowed to use the same handtowel?? What if my inspector is the one who doesn't like kitchen roll!!

New minders I meet (in RL, let alone on Mumsnet) are told different things on different courses by different people, and have different Ofsted inspectors. The minders are confused! I am confused! (Shall I stop posting for a while?!)