I'm hoping someone can give me some advice, as I'm currently so stressed out I can hardly think straight. We've been looking for a childminder for about 5 weeks, and had finally found one, who then told us that someone else had contacted her, and that she may go with them instead. I then began looking again, and found another couple. We have the problem that we need the childminder to be flexible, and I want to be as sure as possible that my dd will go for the forseeable future.
We now have two choices, one of whom is a neighbour who is a great childminder and can be flexible, commit to long-term, so local school runs, take my 4 year old to and from school too if necessary, but has a 7 month old spaniel who plays around the children. I'm worried that a baby coming in to the house will be a problem (is used to 1 year old and above). The other minder is lovely but wants full pay for the whole year (we have 13 weeks holiday as teachers, and the other minder will take a half retainer for hols), and is unsure about her situation regarding the future, she is thinking about moving, and would almost certainly not do local school drops when my dd is ready to go to nursery......... WHAT should I do???????