talk to me about childminders

[littlealien01]

So im starting to look into childcare for my pfb. I dont go back to work till jan (dd will be 11 months) so i have time, but im a cluelesd first timer!

Nurseries i get- turn up, look round, loads of lists of questions in books or online, simple.

Childminders- i can get names and phone numbers through the council or "mums in my town" facebook groups But then what? I obviously cant just drop in in the sane way. How do i find out more? What questions should i be asking? Are there obvious good signs/warning signs/pitfalls to avoid?

Are there advantages/disadvantages i might be overlooking when deciding cm or nursery?

I like the idea of a cm for more personal care, is that naive?

You can probably tell i have no idea what im doing. Help!

It is really not that different to going around to look at nurseries. Just look on childcare.co.uk or use the council list, find the ones that are closest to you, then call or email asking if they might have a space. If they do, they will invite you for a visit to look around, just like you would at a nursery. Some of us also have websites with photos and info so you could try typing childminder into google places and see what comes up. I wouldn't worry too much about a list of questions as I think once you have visited a few childminders you will just know which one feels right.

alien - I was in your position with my PFB four years ago :-) I didn't bother investigating nurseries but with CM's I found an email address of one of the CMs in our town and emailed her to see if she had any spaces (I'd left things a tad late...) She got back to me to say that she was full but one of the other women had just had a cancellation so had a space and she gave me her contact details.

I then phoned her, arranged to meet at her house and me and DH and our boy visited. She covered most of our question in her initial shpiel (cost, flexibility, outings, holidays etc) and we got to see her interact with her charges and her own children and we asked some follow up questions (don't recall what they were now!). Ultimately though, we liked her and the way she interacted with the kids, we liked the things she was offering (playgroup outings 3-4 mornings a week and play dates at other CM's houses) and while I hadn't decided the hours I wanted to do at work, she basically gave us a full-time place and said just to let her know what hours we needed. She was also very flexible, noting that if something came up at work and I had to stay late just to phone her and she coudl take him for longer (never done that, but my bus has been an hour or so late on occassion so that flexibility will be fab).

DS2 will be starting with the same CM in August and she'll be doing school drop off with DS1.

If there are specific things you need (like flexibility etc) then definitely draw up a list to ask about them, but whether you like your CM and her home environment is one of the biggest factors and you wont' know that until you meet with them.

FWIW, I love the fact that my CM is the only person responsible for DS1 - accountability is important to me, I like knowing if anyting goes awry (not that it has) I know CM is directly responsible (if you know what I mean). I also liked the fact that DS1 got loads of cuddles and attention (and often fell asleep on her knee :-)