We moved dd (4) to a new minder 4 months ago. Her minder is very pleasant and has a 4 year old herself but she appears to do nothing with her mindees. dd has never done any colouring, crafts or anything remotely hands on. She occassionally has a story but that seems to be a rare occurence. The TV is permanently on - it's on with the kids watching it when dh drops off at 9 and still on when he or I collect at 5. They do play with toys and there are occasional trips to the park but there doesn't appear to be any interraction with the minder. dd's first minder that she was with for 3 years did loads with her charges. We were always receiving colourings, paintings, cakes etc, they had story time and vists to play groups and the library. I'm not expecting something every day, but at least 1 picture in 4 months would have been nice.
In addition, dd's behaviour has deteriorated - she seems to have a very limited attention span, doesn't listen to or do as she's told and has been a complete handful over this Christmas week.
On a less important but still annoying note, the bill for this week included a full day charge for Christmas and Boxing Day which was completely unexpected - contract isn't clear either way. dd wasn't with minder at all this week.
dd currently goes to minder 4 afternoons a week and full days in holidays. From this term, she'll be there for 3 afternoons only plus f/t in holidays.
I'm becoming more convinced that her behaviour change is linked to the lack of stimulation and too much TV and am considering sending her to pre-school full time instead which I think she's ready for. The only problem I'll have is the school holidays which will cause some issues as her school has longer holidays than state schools.
I want to do the right thing but don't want to cause dd any unnecessary stress.