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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

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Original poster

Is it right for Mother to charge her son £300 p/m for child care -she is a f/t childminder

78 replies

ImNotAMumSoWhatDoIKnow · 28/04/2013 10:41

My friend is 7 months pregnant. her Mother-in-law is a full time child minder.

Is it fair/acceptable for Grandma to charge her son & daughter-in-law £300 p/m for 9-5pm child care?

Be really interested in yr thoughts on this as I can't commit to an opinion!

Thanks ladies.

OP posts:

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Bumply · 28/04/2013 10:50

Yes if it's her job!
Otherwise the grandma will be taking a big drop in potential salary by not being to take on max number of paid for children.

Bumply · 28/04/2013 10:52

And I'd assume £300 is pretty good for a discounted price

Trill · 28/04/2013 10:52

It sounds to me like she is giving them a discount, so why would that not be acceptable?

She is giving up her potential income for them (because there are limits to how many children you can look after she she could be looking after someone how paid the full amount).

Don't think of it as her charging them, think of it as giving them a montly gift of the price difference between £300 and the full price.

mrsthomsontobe · 28/04/2013 10:54

Yes I don't see y not, baby is taking up a full time paying space . So although she would prob love to watch grandchild for nothing she prob can't afford to. 300 a month for full time care is a lot less than she ll be charging the rest of parents. Most will prob cover expenses of food groups etc so prob very little profit.

DawnOfTheDee · 28/04/2013 10:54

Sounds fair enough to me....is it 9 to 5 monday to friday? If so it seems they're getting a big discount on it.

As other posters have said her gc will be taking up a spot that she could otherwise charge for.

tethersend · 28/04/2013 10:55

That's less than I paid my mum to look after DD1 for three days when I went back to work.

DawnOfTheDee · 28/04/2013 10:55

Is this really a friend or are you the mum-to-be or grandma?

Gingerbreadlatte · 28/04/2013 10:55

That's an excellent price per month for for ft childcare.

Ft nursery can be around 900 to 1100 depend on where you live!!

NickNacks · 28/04/2013 10:56

Absolutely, I will be caring for my nephew and not be offering such a generous discount.

Panzee · 28/04/2013 10:57

What's your dilemma? Do you think she should charge more or less? You don't think it should be free do you?

CrazyOldCatLady · 28/04/2013 10:57

That's very, very cheap if it's fulltime. They should be very grateful.

nannynick · 28/04/2013 10:57

Yes, she is running a business. She could care for an unrelated child and probably be paid more. So it does sound like a discounted place.

Some grandparents may well provide free childcare but that is only possible if it suits them to do that. 9-5 mon-fri is a big commitment, so not sure how many grandparents would offer that.

KatyMac · 28/04/2013 10:58

I'd charge £750 - so she is giving them about £400 a month & childcare they 'should' be able to trust

Cloverer · 28/04/2013 10:58

£300 a month sounds like a massive discount - lucky them!

Jinsei · 28/04/2013 10:59

Sounds very reasonable to me!

SauvignonBlanche · 28/04/2013 11:00

That's cheap!

ParmaViolette · 28/04/2013 11:01

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

letseatgrandma · 28/04/2013 11:01

What would the child minder charge non-family members for those exact same hours?

The difference will be their discount :)

I wouldn't expect her to be doing it free; if she is of grandparent agr and it still working, she needs the money-this is her JOB. Many grandmas don't work (because they are comfortably retired) and may not need the money to live on-that doesn't sound like the case here. If your friend had two children, would she expect them both to be looked after? At no charge?!

I feel rather sorry for the mil here.

peggyblackett · 28/04/2013 11:02

Are you the MIL OP?

peggyblackett · 28/04/2013 11:03

Oh and no, I don't think the MIL is BU at all.

strawberrypenguin · 28/04/2013 11:03

Sounds like a very good price to me! I pay £700 a month for 4 days nursery! In your scenario MIL is working as a childminder so in taking her grandchild is not able to take on a paying customer. Sounds like she has discounted her rate massively your friend should be grateful!

Twinklestarstwinklestars · 28/04/2013 11:05

I'm a cm and think that's super cheap! About half what I would charge for that. I have cared for my niece and did it cheap but won't be doing it again as it still cost me as much as the others to feed her etc so I ended up making a loss and its my income at the end of the day.

usualsuspect · 28/04/2013 11:05

I didn't charge my dd anything for childcare but I can understand why the mil in this situation would charge.

Jinsei · 28/04/2013 11:07

Parma, my parents love looking after dd too, and wouldn't dream of charging us. But this is different. Childcare is the MIL's job, and she will lose income if she doesn't charge.

Would you expect a WOH grandparent to quit their job/reduce their hours to look after their grandchildren and to relieve their children of the burden of paying for childcare? What if they needed the money to get by?

onedev · 28/04/2013 11:07

She needs to earn a living & if that's full time, it's a massive discount, so sounds fine to me.

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