Prospective Childminder let me down today.........grrr

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I arranged last week to visit a prospective CM to see what she/her place was like etc. I rang to say i was running a little late, at which point she said...."Well actually, i was thinking, i cant really look after your two, i only really have a vacancy for one"

What a total total waste of my time. Aside from the fact that to get to hers I had to wake my two up from a nap early - which i rarely, if ever, do (when clearly i neednt have bothered).

The CM i minded this morning wanted to charge me £6 ph for both until i queried whether a 3 yr old in fact required the same level of care/involvement as a 1 yr old.....he then dropped it to £5 ph for her and £6ph for DS.

I happen to think that £5 is at the top end of the scale as it is. Am i just really unlucky?

where are you I know an excellent childminder with spaces.

Im in North London.

not much good then as we are in West London.

Perhaps it was for the best for your meeting to fail. If the CM didn't think they had the space, better knowing now, rather than when you had found that you had set your heart on your children going to that CM.

£6 ph, per child... I need to move to North London!

I'd say a 3 year old needs more care/involvement - they don't tend to sleep much during the day

If you are paying £11 ph, then a nanny may well be cheaper... though depends if you are having full-days/5 day week or not.

Keep on hunting, something will turn up. Contact CIS for updated vacancy list.

where about in north london are you?

Same thing happened to me when I was looking for a cm a couple of years ago - but we actually disrupted our day to visit and chat to her before she said she didn't actually have space for both of my children! I was so upset at having messed up my day for no reason - it's so stressful trying to find good childcare that this sort of thing is beyond annoying!
I'm in West london and current prices seem to be £5per hour whatever age the child (I have a nanny-share instead!)

Indeed, i had already spoken to her about my requirements before arranging to see her. It was only that i happened to ring her to say i was running late that she decided to tell me that she had suddenly realised she didnt have enough vacancies.

Im in Enfield.

Nannyshare sounds quite a good idea BB, i might look into that.