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

Seriously, how much do you think she is earning from her childminding business? There is an upper limit to how much she can earn and that is not very high. Presumably you know her hourly £ rate?

You are coming across as extremely ignorant!

God, why can't people think things through before posting? It is embarrassing.

Your childminder is not only doing YOU a favour by only charging half on the weeks the children arent there but she is actually doing herself out of money. She cant take on any other children for those weeks because she wouldnt be able to have them every other week so she is actually losing out on half a week's income due to providing care according to your wishes!

How about some gratitude instead of snidey digs.

There are no rich CMers. Believe me.

I'm guessing your husband's colleague can afford to commute from Spain because he works in the oil business...

Your CM sounds really accommodating. I would bite her hand off. I am on ML and paying my CM for DS's space even though I don't use it at the moment. Good CMs are worth their weight in gold.

I think it's completely reasonable. As mentioned above, you need to look at it from her point of view. She needs a regular income to pay her bills just like you do, and she could have 2 full time children instead of yours part time.

I pay £50 per day whether DD is there or not and she is at pre-school for part of that.

I would charge full fee for all the days. Lucky you, to find such a generous CM.

On come on, use your loaf!! Your childminder has a certain amount of spaces to fill, you want one but only want to use it and pay when you want it!
What planet are some people on? We see this so often, why would a childminder, who may I add pays insurance and business running costs not charge you for their child's space just because you don't want to send them one week?

A space is a space and you must pay regardless if you send them or not! If you had a friend who wanted the exact alternate weeks to you I'm sure your childminder would accommodate but she's not a charity!

Why do some parents who work out of the home think it's ok to disregard the childminders occupation and earnings because they don't want to pay for the place? Childminders were not invented to subsidise other peoples Childcare/earnings! It makes me really really cross when parents think like this.

I would like to add, I am a childminder and am as accommodating as I possibly can be. I have some part time parents who only pay for what days they send their child but they also know and run the risk of the space not being available when they want it as I have ad hoc contracts with them, if I'm offered work elsewhere I can then take it as am not committed to provide the space as they are not willing to pay for the luxury of securing it.

Your childminder seems MORE then reasonable by only charging Half fees when your child isn't there!

And could you please refrain from being so ignorant by thinking we earn enough for Spanish villa's! What a totally ridiculous thing to say!

Well lucky me earning £11k from childminding this year. I feel so rich

I'm a childminder and if your children were with me I would be charging you full pay.you have got a good deal there so be great full!

Op, you have come across as being really rude. If your work turned round and said they didn't need you for two weeks out of four, so you wouldn't be paid would you be happy? You would be unlikely to find another employer willing to take you on for those weeks your first job didn't need you for, could you afford to live when you weren't being paid? If you don't like the terms set out by the cm, find somewhere else, but don't be surprised if you struggle and can only find someone full price the whole time, as that's what you would get from me.

And really, compared to someone working in the oil business, I earn very little as a cm, no where near paying tax last year, for working full time all year, with 2 children. If we were to buy a villa in Spain it would be nothing to do with my earnings.

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!

Charming!!! I would be charging you full fee for the weeks you children are with your husband because I would be keeping your space open for you to use. However I would even sign a Contract with you with that attitude, I am worth more than that!

Sorry meant to say 'would not'

You are lucky she is giving you a discount

I agree with all the above....would you have taken a job where you only work and get paid every other week? As an x minder, I can assure you that I earnt less than MW. Why don't you send them part time when your DH is home. Better continuity for the DCs.

Many thanks to those who let me know it was normal practice. I popped in to see the CM this afternoon and we got everything sorted over a cuppa.

As for those ladies who seem to be outraged by my questions I really don't think there is any need to turn a request for information into a nasty session! I wasn't asking to be difficult. I've never used a CM before and was merely checking whether what she was proposing was normal or unusual. I did not at any point accuse her of being unreasonable as some if you are suggesting. Turns out it is and I have absolutely no issue with that, but it makes sense to check right? Isn't that what forums like these are supposed to be for?

As for the capitalism and villa in Spain comment, it was merely sarcastic humour and should be taken as such! The people in question are good friends of ours and have been for some 10 years - I'm sure she'll get a good laugh at my expense at some of the rather excessive reactions here!

D'you know, if I had a fiver for every poster who tried to backpedal by claiming they were "only joking", I could probably retire!

Or buy a villa in spain, Tanith.

I see you have sorted it all now but yep totally normal.

Tanith I almost chose that name, love it!!

You know what Tanith, you're right. Shame on me for having a rather dry sense of humour. My pal was actually quite offended at what I wrote and she'd like to to clear things up... She does not own a childminding business. She owns two, and a beauty salon too, she also thinks it might be worth mentioning that her villa has four bathrooms, a private pool and an ocean view. And if you're that desperate for fivers Tanith that you have to spend your time posting nasy, snippy, judgemental comments directed at people you don't know. She'll lend you one. How's that for a "backpedal"?

I think it's important to really think about and read through what you've written before posting as some people can be very judgemental and at the same time some comments/posts can be rude or offensive.
After reading this, I found most of your post quite derogatory and that immediately got my back up like some of the other CM's on here. I'm not trying to be nasty but simply saying that maybe if you had chosen a better way of wording things or just not mentioning some of the shocking things you have written on here - there would be no backlash. Some things are only meant for private conversations with friends over a cuppa. Public forums are exactly that - public and you need to be aware that if you are offensive in any way, it will come back to bite you!
Btw I am a CM who would charge full daily fee for the days requested regardless of attendance - just like most nurseries and other CM's as it is very common practice to do so. I would also charge a holding deposit or retainer fee depending on the start date so I know the parent is serious and incase I have to turn other business away.

When I was a CM I had a notebook where the parents wrote what time their child was dropped off and what time he/she was picked up and then just multiplied that by my hourly rate. I also charged for Christmas Day and Thanksgiving although I was closed.

However, every other CM I've known has done what you describe.

Oh Suffolkblush, did you miss the dry humour in my post?

For examples of "nasty, snippy, judgemental comments directed at people you don't know", look no further than your own.

How does she own 2 childminding businesses?
Childminding means working from your own home and one person ( perhaps with assistants) looking after a maximum number of children.
I don't understand how she can be 2 people working from 2 homes at once?

Adsy - Not sure if I'm honest, think they are possibly more of a nursery business thing? I know they are based in two different towns and she doesn't work at either full-time. Until yesterday I have to say I wasn't even sure what the difference between the two were as most that I went to see were surprisingly similar in size/staffing/kids attending - There are more staff at my new childminders than there are at my daughters pre-school! but then I live in North Norfolk so the big city nurseries are probably on a different scale altogether.

Forresitters1 - Appreciate your point. What I intended as mild humour (written about a person I know and who has found the whole thing very funny) has obviously - but understandably - been taken in the wrong way by many, hence my later post to try and explain a bit better when I logged on and saw all the hoo ha! From some of the cm comments on here though charging policy is obviously a query that comes up quite often. All three of the mums I spoke to personally yesterday were as perplexed by the idea as I initially was.

Tanith - I did not refer to the cm herself (or cm's in general) as unreasonable at any point, and nor would I. She is, by the way. is a very nice lady whom I hope to use for the next five years! Whilst the disagreeable comments posted in reaction to my original post are understandable due to misunderstanding. You took another swipe after I posted my explanation, something I think that was totally unecessary and could have no other motive but to be derogatory... However, I posted back first thing this morning without thinking and my response was probably equally unecessary so I apologise. I was peed off at being accused of 'back pedaling' when all I was trying to do was explain myself.

As I said in my earlier post I meant no harm or nastiness by any of my comments and I was surprised by the extremely aggressive reactions of some posters. I referred to the policy of charging for non-days as possibly excessive, again, out of the fact that I have NO experience of childminding services. Which was why I posted here in the first place!

In any case I really don't think it's now worth a public spat. I got the info I needed, costs have been agreed and the kids are booked in (with a holding deposit) so all's well that ends well. I can happily say that arranging childcare has been the most confusing and stressful experience I've had in a while and the kids haven't even started there yet!

Think it's an ice cream for breakfast sort of day...