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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

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Original poster

CM CLUB:Do any of you get anything 'done' through the day?

39 replies

StrawberrySnowflakes · 19/12/2006 08:47

lots of other cm's at the groups we go to say theyve just been to b&q, got the hoovering done, etc etc etc.i dont get any of this done and despite telling one mindees mum i would take her shopping(food) if i had the car, which she was fine with, it only happend once, her dd cried all the way round, so never botherd and go battle my way through after a ten hour shift on a firday!
Am i the odd one out?..i do put washing out/on radiators, but thats about it?!

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Cwmbranchildminder · 19/12/2006 09:36

I do put the hoover around but thats for the childrens sake as I sometimes have the dog in the room with them so hoover up once hes bk in bed.
i always wash the dishes as i go
obviously cook meals
sometimes hang washing on the line
thats it tho!

dmo · 19/12/2006 13:15

i dont do any house work
treat childminding as a job and i think to myself these jobs wouldnt get done if i worked out of the house

expect like Cymbranchildminder i load dishwasher, cook and tidy what mess the children make

ayla99 · 19/12/2006 13:23

Uh No. Childminding is my excuse for not doing housework! Parents are paying me to provide activities for their child not to clean my own house.

Its as much as I can do to clean up as we go; washing up & hoovering after meals & preparing meals. I have to put washing out during the day and the bathroom sometimes needs my attention after certain mindies have been in there! Other than that everything waits til evenings/weekends. From time to time I've nipped to a shop for milk or other essential but I wouldn't do my weekly shop while minding. One parent complained to me that her previous childminder used to do that; she was really put out about it.

LoveMyGirls · 19/12/2006 13:29

i do what i can i try to make sure my house is immaculate everynight ready for the next day so i tyr to keep on top of it as i go along - if the house is spotless when they arrive it should be spotless when they go home imo, doesnt always work out like that though!

I don't do my washing or shopping though i do shopping online and washing on sundays.

usually ill do a through clean clean at the weekend which takes me about 2 hrs but dp usually takes the kids out while i crack on with it.

santasweetdreamer · 19/12/2006 14:09

I do dishes as I go along, hoover up if needed, maybe hang up a wash. I take the kids shopping very very occassionally.

can't see how you'd be able to do anymore!!

FeelingOld · 19/12/2006 14:27

Similar to others
Load dishwasher after breakfast/lunch, wipe table, dustbust under table etc.
In nice weather hang washing out if mindees in the garden.
Occasionally nip to shop for milk or bread but never do a big shop during working hours.

santasaltire · 19/12/2006 14:27

Are you kidding? I have an almost 2 year old who follows me around sucking his thumb and holding onto my leg, screeching if he can't see me. So if i'm very lucky i get the dishes washed, or the lunch made, whilst trying not to trip over him

Original poster

StrawberrySnowflakes · 19/12/2006 15:39

okay then, so these others are like superwoman then or something!
last mindee jst gone had really rubbish day and am trying to get full house dusted and hooverd as it looks like we have an inch thick of grey snow everywhere!

OP posts:

Original poster

StrawberrySnowflakes · 19/12/2006 15:40

should say, apart from playroom were i hoover at laest twice a day then at home time(we glue/glitter/stick/paint/bake /make all in playroom, so if i didnt id have to rip the carpet up!

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ThePrisoner · 19/12/2006 18:59

Strawberry - no, I don't think they are being Supermum, I think they are being bad childminders!!

Clearing up after the mindees is fine (washing-up, vacuuming if necessary etc), and walking to the shops for a pint of milk is fine. Doing all your house cleaning, weekly washing/ironing and household shopping is not. I know childminders who "work" like this, and they are the sort of childminders who get "professional" childminders a bad name.

I think doing any of these on odd occasions is OK, if necessary (I ironed a shirt once, but it was for an evening childminders' meeting!!) - but not as part of a normal, working day.

(Hope I haven't upset too many people ... but I get fed-up with people assuming that this is what I do all day!)

Original poster

StrawberrySnowflakes · 19/12/2006 19:11

sorry, i was just refering to the cm's ive spoken to at groups, not anyone on here.

as im new i still feel, being at home working i should perhaps still be doing stuff(obv not jobs like painting like me and dd used to attempt to do together), but smaller/quicker things.
i get to stack dishwasher, hoover if we've been messy(lunch/snack time, glittering/gluing/painting or salt doh'ing like we have been just lately), hang washing out...but tbh i still feel guilty doing this but dp keps saying thats the perk of working from home, as long as your not ignoring the children(which im not)

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MerryChristmasPANDAGHappyNewYe · 19/12/2006 19:17

I will load dishwasher, wash up, sweep kitchen floor/hoover lounge - because it is clearing up after activities done with mindees. We often go for a walk and call in at a local shop for for milk/bread, or for mindees to choose their fruit for snack or lunchtime, but that is about it. I would go to the Post office with a mindee, but that is because they are only open when i am working. I agree that doing other household tasks is just taking the mickey.

shosha · 19/12/2006 20:57

Message withdrawn

ThePrisoner · 20/12/2006 02:46

Sorry Strawberry - I wasn't suggesting you'd said anything wrong! But I think your dp has - I disagree that it is a "perk" of the job. I suppose I'm different in that I don't have small children of my own at home but, as far as I am concerned, you are a "working" mum. Other working parents do their household chores outside their working hours. And so should we.

I blitz my house either during the evening or the next morning - cleaning loo, kitchen floor, vacuuming etc. I clear up anything we use for mealtimes. Anything on the floor tends to be eaten by the cats (food) or left until I clear up properly in the evening (craft stuff, toys etc.) I usually try to get the children help put toys away near hometime.

If all the children are asleep (yeh right), then I think you can do what you want!

ThePrisoner · 20/12/2006 02:52

If you had a prospective new family visiting - it would hardly be a selling feature of your practice if you said, "I always keep the children happy and entertained - I let them watch CBBC whilst I iron next to them. We pop to Tesco on alternate Tuesday mornings for my big fortnightly family shop, do the washing first thing every morning, I let them do painting whilst I polish the silver, and I only watch Jeremy Kyle on Thursdays whilst the children enjoy "free play" ... " Doesn't really sound that good!!

Original poster

StrawberrySnowflakes · 20/12/2006 08:28

sorry but LOL ThePrisoner!

no dp didnt think i should be emulsioning the ceiling, he just meant that i should stop feeling guilty for putting the washing out and other little jobs like that.

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3frenchHenniePennies · 20/12/2006 14:06

I will admit to hoovering/washing up mindees mess after lunch/craft activities, popping to the local shop to buy milk,bread etc-never a full shop and horror of horrors I will put washing out and load the machine but only when mindees are asleep,however most days I don't get chance to make cup of tea never mind clean the house!!

psychobitch · 20/12/2006 14:48

My DP seems to think that I should be able to keep the house spotless whilst minded children are here! Not likely even without them here with an 8 yr old and 10 month old myself!

I tidy toys up every night, and he has just bought me a dishwasher so that gets loaded as and when things are dirty!

Hoover every morning at 7:15 before mindees arrive! And she helps me load washing machine and hang things up when DS is asleep (sorting socks is educational I have been told).

Other than that we go for a walk to local shops most days but that is mainly cause pushing her in pram is only way to get mindee to sleep!

motherinfurrierfestivefrock · 20/12/2006 15:17

Can I just nip in and say that if my childminder spent the day doing housework I'd move my kids to another one who spent a bit more time with them!

crace · 20/12/2006 16:02

I agree with everyone else - there is absolutely no time to do anything other than playing with my mindees. I barely have time to clear the dishes much less vacuuming - or shopping!!

I am pretty busy as it is - plus I too think it should wait until they are gone as it's not right to be doing housework..

Original poster

StrawberrySnowflakes · 20/12/2006 16:51

the girls is spoke to didnt say the did housework all day, just things that were unusual to me like popping to b&q???!!!!

OP posts:

Original poster

StrawberrySnowflakes · 20/12/2006 16:52

i have taken a mindee with me to toysrus before, but that was so i could buy an emergency ready bed for mindee to sleep over!..and they had fun while we walked round

OP posts:

ThePrisoner · 20/12/2006 17:43

There will always be occasions where childminders have do things that are for ourselves or our family's benefit - I've had educational visits to my dd's orthodontist, educational visits to Marks and Spencer to buy something nice for my lunch, and the odd educational sit-down to finish my lukewarm coffee (but I always write it down in the mindees' diaries!!)

shiningstar · 20/12/2006 21:30

i can see both sides here. i do take my children to tesco sometimes, we buy things for lunch or for baking we talk about different things as we walk round ie where things come from, what they taste like etc etc. my parents are all ok with this as it is part of daily life which is why most parents send there children to a childminder. i would never go christmas shopping or clothes shopping but i think there is a big difference!! with regard to the housework i seem to spend my days sweeping the floor with the dustpan and it still looks like a bombsite when they leave!!

ThePrisoner · 20/12/2006 21:34

Would it be acceptable to make the mindees do all the washing and housework for us?? That would be educational.

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