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

[ImNotAMumSoWhatDoIKnow]

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.

Of course it's fair. If she didn't, then she wouldn't be able to have as many children, thus a drop in income.

YES! They're getting off cheap. Doesn't matter how much she wants to look after this child, she obviously can't do it for free as she's running a business and having to work FT, so she's giving a discount.

We pay my parents what we would pay a full time nanny (tho they do do extra stuff a nanny wouldn't do like my ironing! )

I would feel bad not paying-my mum took early retirement to look after DS. This way everyone wins - they get money for rent/bills and we get two fantastic people looking after DS, guilt-free.

Plus, I can say what I do and don't want DS doing/eating etc and they're not just doing us a favour.

I'm interested what you think about this OP? I can't work out if you're shocked that she's charging at all or that's she's only charging so little.

She is in actual fact giving her DIL hundreds of pounds every month. It's incredibly generous

I wouldn't expect my parents to give up work to provide childcare or to pay for childcare for me - they aren't rich and they need their money, especially as they are nearing retirement.

Wow, it is most definitely right,cut is a very good discounted rate. I would have bitten off GM's hand if she had offered us this, rather than the £1200 PCM we had to pay!!

oh looky, we have another entitled git expecting free childcare from their parents.

1. yes it's right. she is a CMer. if she looks after her grandchild f/t then she loses out on the income of another paying f/t child

2. £300pcm for FULL TIME childcare is a fucking gift! be grateful she's not charging full whack as she sure as hell could make more than that for those hours.

Parma- was your grandmother a childminder? or just your grandma?

just as a reference my CMer would charge £200 PER WEEK for those hours. standard rate round here (not london)

also, would the hours be 9-5 or is that the parents' work hours and drop off would be a half hour (or more) either side of the 9-5?

Yes! She's a professional childminder - that's her job! She will be giving up more than that to take on her grandchild because that's a big discount and they'll take up the place of another child that would pay full price.

"She is in actual fact giving her DIL hundreds of pounds every month. It's incredibly generous"

her SON and DIL. the child isn't just DIL's.

9-5 professional child care for under £75 a week. And you 'can't commit to an opinion'?????

That is less than £15 per day if you are talking 5 days a week childcare. That is massively cheap, less than a third of what we pay per day. So more than reasonable. And they should pay. It is this woman's profession.

Baby takes up a space which would be chargeable at least twice the price . Most GP's do for free only because they are not registered or needing the income from a cm business and have no other charges.

Do you think working grandparents should give up their jobs and income to provide unpaid Childcare? Because that's what you're suggesting.

Sounds like a bargain to me. I pay more than that per month and I only work 1 and half days per week! (2 children in childcare but one at school so only before and after schoo for 1 and all day at cm for the other))

It's tricky isn't it?

My mum doesn't work, so if she had been local (she lives 150 miles away) I know age would have loved to have my ds full time,

On the other hand this lady is a childminder..she probably charges 800-900 per month for a place so she is making a big loss. £300 is £15 a day... That probably just covers food/registration charges and activities. She certainly won't be making anything..

Yes, it is very reasonable of her.

yes it's fair

who thinks it's unfair - the son, the dil? who are you in this scenario, OP?

Yes, perfectly fair and very generous. Even at £300 a month the grandmother will be giving up a lot of potential income.

This is by far the truest reply out of the many received so quickly! Thank you all so much! Knew this was a contentious issue as I too think the cost of child care in the UK is staggering and way more than it should be.

And yes I happen to think my friend is getting a deal (and a half!) but as all my friends are child free, the cost is not truly appreciated by them yet!

The idea that the Mother is 'giving' the son & daughter-in-law thousands of pounds by only charging £300 p/m is as close to a Utopian answer as I will get!

Committed to my original opinion now, thanks again to all who took time to reply =D &sorry to all who's tempers flared at such a 'newbie' question!

so OP are you the grandmother or just a friend and what happens now you have your answer?

What should Childcare cost though? And how do you propose to reduce the cost?
Do you cut quality?
Do you cut wages - most nursery workers earn close to the minimum wage!

It costs what it does because people have to earn a living from it. And it is a responsible and important job.