Issue with childminder - tell me what you think!

[MarvinKMooney]

We have a childminder that picks up our DCs from school a few times a week.

She's very kind and her heart is definitely in the right place but there has been a couple of issues recently which makes me unsure of our arrangement.

We have an arrangement where she gives the kids their dinner. When I originally arranged for her to take the kids, she told me all about the homecooked meals made from scratch. Now I'm not entirely precious (convenience foods are, well, convenient sometimes!) but I've been a bit disappointed. The kids have come home saying they've just had plain pasta with cheese on top, or that there hasn't been enough food so my eldest in particular is starving.

A couple of weeks ago I turned up to collect to be told that the Ofsted inspector had arrived and our CM had forgotten all about it and/or didn't know they were coming (the story is a bit changeable here). In her panic she forgot to feed the kids entirely - not just mine, but the preschoolers too. My 6yo ds was beside himself!

There are several other examples of being somewhat disorganised (eg in terms of activities which affect the preschoolers more and don't really affect us) which I won't list here, but the CM has laughed these off as examples of her being 'laid back'.

I don't know know what to do. I'm paying nearly £300 a month for this. Should I just suck this up? Any thoughts?

No that's not good enough. I'd ask her to put a weekly menu together, just as nurseries do.

She probably didn't know Ofsted were coming although usually childminders are given a few days where they will probably turn up so she should have had some idea. However on the food front you could definitely ask her to provide a menu. If your child is hungry just ask her to give them a bigger portion.

Apparently the inspector said that they had spoken and agreed the appointment but my CM doesn't remember. It's all a bit odd.

Good thinking about asking her to provide a menu - I'll do that.

I would definitely ask for a weekly menu and appropriate portion sizes for the dc. I think the ofstead thing sounds a bit ....odd. I know a few cm and when they get notice of an ofstead they don't just forget about it! It's certainly not the day they forget to feed the kids!