Childminder wants ££ when children are not there! Is this normal!

[Suffolkblush]

I'm going back to work Mon-Wed in a few weeks. My OH works away for a fortnight at a time on the rigs. My 3 yo daughter is at the local pre-school and my son is 7m old.

When my OH is away I would like a CM to care for DS full time and provide wrap around care for my DD before and after pre-school. I would like to use the service week on week off so that OH can also get time with the kids when he is home.

CM wants £full when the kids are there £half for the hours my daughter is at pre-school and £half when the kids aren't there at all to 'reserve' their spots. So essentially I'm looking at having to pay her £123 a week to do nothing whilst my OH spends time with the kids.

She's the only CM in my village and going elsewhere will probably mean moving my DS out of pre-school which I would like to avoid.

Is this charging style normal practice? I understand she has a business to run but it seems a bit excessive... capitalism at it's most lucrative!

Can anyone advise please?

Many thanks

You need to look at it from her point of view. If she doesn't take your children, will she get other children and if so how much will she get paid for them? She may be willing to be paid a bit less by you, because she has time without your children, but she will probably still be working then, with other children, so this may not be worth much of a reduction.

Yes very normal. She cant fill those spaces whilst your husband is off and she has to earn a living too and pay her bills. Its common practice.

yes this is normal, she is unable to fill the places with another child as you need them

Thanks ladies, saves me the trouble of looking elsewhere!

You know I've always wondered how one of my husbands colleagues could afford to commute from Spain where his family has a 6 bedroom villa. Now I know... turns out his wife runs a childminding business!

It's unfortunate your dh has a non standard work contract but I think charging you half is fair. A nursery place would be fully charged whether they were there each week or not and as others have said, she's not going to be able to find other kids just for the weeks yours aren't there.

Normal.

Tbh I also think that's a bit unkind to your cm, she's entitled to earn her full allotment for the dc. It's hardly investment banking.

Could you offset at least some of the cost with another parent in a similar position?

Maybe you should look into becoming a CM yourself.

But how do you expect her to earn anything in the alternate weeks? Not many people will want what you want, so she'd be very unlikely to fill that time. If you had a nanny or a nursery place, you wouldn't be able to pay them only for alternate weeks. To expect her to only earn half what she could be earning is unreasonable - she'd be better off refusing to take your children.

Some childminders (me, for instance), do only charge for the times when they actually have the children, but this is VERY unusual, and leaves us significantly out of pocket (I only work for friends, which is why I do it this way). Childminders earn very little (most of us don't earn enough to pay tax) so please don't make rude comments about villas in Spain, there's no need for it.

Perfectly normal in any childcare setting in my experience. You're paying for your child's place, not their attendance. I'm surprised you're getting any reduction at all tbh.

Villas in Spain, oh please what a load of nonsense! As others have pointed out she can't fill your child's space alternate weeks. I challenge you to find anybody who could afford to just offer a space alternate weeks! She's been more than reasonable offering to halve the fees, I certainly couldn't afford to do that and not because I have a villa in Spain to pay for! Most childminders don't even earn enough to pay tax -I certainly don't.

As someone has said, she is being generous in charging you only half price when the child is with your DH. You should be appreciative rather than critical, or she may give your place to someone else who pays full price.
No doubt your DH is paid well (and on a full time basis) for his shifts on the rigs. Your comments about childminders being capitalist and rich are nasty.

Your DH works in the oil business and you have the nerve to make spiteful digs about villas in Spain and capitalism at its worst?!

It's a very reasonable offer - not one many would wish or could afford to make. It's not all about the money either - children who are not in a settled routine can be harder work than those who are used to the routines and more secure in their relationships.

I would charge full for the weeks your DH looks after them so I think she's being more than accommodating
( oh, and I don't have a villa in Spain- what's the pay like in the oil business?)

She is being nice. You, not so much.

It's completely normal, as others have said.

I have to say that your attitude is a little unpleasant and snide.

I have lots of friends who are childminders, they work really hard for what appears to be really little money and frequently snotty attitudes from parents. She is running a business and I feel sorry for her having to put up with attitudes like yours.

OP perhaps you could retrain and become a mega rich multi home owning childminder.

OP if you think reeallly hard, almost until it hurts, you will be able to understand this by yourself.

Do you think your childminder only eats every other week? Do you think she only pays rent two weeks of the month? She only has electricity on the weeks your children are there? Think it through.

She is being very reasonable to offer you half rates on the weeks they're not there. I hope you come to appreciate that.

It's perfectly reasonable. Nurseries would charge you the full rate.

OP, the alternative would be that she could refuse to take your children altogether, because it would be better for her to have 2 full time charges paying full rates every day.

I think you're lucky that she's offering to only charge you half for the times your DC aren't there. Many CMs (and all nurseries) would say it's full time or nothing and you'd be expected to pay full rates for time you don't want to use.

I think you are on to a bargain. All childminders and nurseries that I am aware of charge full price per space, whether you chose for your child to attend or not. I'd be biting her arm off.

I did smile a little at the Oil Rig worker being able to live in Spain due to his wife's childminding business

Totally normal for a CM to do this