Parents sharing child minding

[Lucyccfc]

Been cutting to a few other parents this morning about the difficulties of the long summer holidays and child minding. Most struggle to find child care for 5 weeks and some find it a real struggle to pay the cost of a child minder (£1000 in our area for 5 weeks).

I made the suggestion, that next summer, we all pitch in and put a schedule together to look after each other's children.

Just wondering if any other parents do this and what sort of things do we need to discuss/take into account when setting something like this up. I had already thought about:

Written schedule
Feed or packed lunch?
Each parent writing a like/dislike sheet for their child
Medication and sun cream
Minimal expenses for stuff like ice-creams and treats

If anyone else does something similar, I would love to hear your experiences.

Thanks

Ha ha cutting, should be talking!

No money to change hands, only you care for my child and in return I care for your child.

Limit on number of children. Consider practical things like transporting children to the park.

Yes!!

My advice would be to keep it as informal as possible, along the line of playdates almost. So for example, you should all think "ooh, our turn to host this weeks playdate" rather than "we are childminding today". This is because as soon as you start to make it formal you go into the depths of informal childminding and it gets way too complicated.

You need to be able to accept that accidents will happen, arguments will fall out in the second week and everyone might hate each other by the end of the summer hols.

That goes for the children as well.

FFF x

Good advice ladies.

Def. no money will be changing hands and I like the idea of keeping it informal.

We just swap days. Also if there are activity camps /playschemes round you that are too short to be practical for childcare (eg 10-3), consider sending the DC to that and just sharing the wraparound. And yes, think of it as a playdate.

If you're PT, buddy up with others who work on opposite days.

Bear in mind it can be quite full-on for the DC and they may need some downtime alone.

When you say a few other families. How many children would a parent have at one time?

So basically you are having 'play dates' and looking after a child all day - as long as no money is exchanged this is ok

Obv £1k is a lot of money to find but that's only £200 a week for fulltime
Childcare which is bloody cheap

Think you need to consider that parents will treat it like play dates and not professional childcare.
E.g my child/I'm tired/ill today do you mind if we don't do play date. Or I just been invited to XYZ can't do play day now.
Also other parents may not have paediatric First Aid, so if accident occurs they may not treat correctly.
What about dangers in other parents homes ? Medicines in bathroom, pets, unlocked front door.

What if your child is feeling grouchy will they know how to deal with it?
What if your child doesn't want to go to one parents house again, finds it boring etc. What activities will other parents provide? Are you happy for your child to play on play station ect all day.
Also you will not have security of knowing other parents/visiting adults to household have been DBS screened.
All points to consider.