What's reasonable while kids are at school?

[Cuppatea14]

I'm sure this has been done to death, but anyway here goes. I have a lovely local childminder who comes to our house in the morning at 7.30 and minds my two DD's til around 4.30. From Sept my older girl will be in primary school and the younger will be at Montessori for three hours, so essentially from 9.00 - 12.00 our minder will be 'free'. What's the protocol here, I'm pretty sure she won't want to cut her hours - fair enough since this is her livelihood. Would we be fair to ask her to pick up a little more work around the house during the mornings? At the moment she gets the breakfast sorted (cereal /porridge) and makes sandwiches / snacks during the day. She might put the odd wash on of the kids clothes and hang it out but doesn't put it away, it's left there until we sort. We haven't minded as she has had the little one full time and that's been her priority. Just wondering how others have managed the transition?

That's a nanny not a childminder. There is a nanny section where you may receive more relevant responses.

I think it would be reasonable to ask her to batch cook meals for the children and tidy and clean their rooms and change their bedding. I have a few nanny friends and this is what they do. Also all the children's laundry. Basically anything to do with the children but not any other housework.

You should also post your question in the nanny forum as childminders do not work in their clients homes whereas nannies do.

It would be reasonable to ask her to do child related duties - but remember that she will not be "free" for all of the 3 hours by the time she has travelled home and back from the drop-offs and pick-ups

I was also going to say remember drop off/ pick up time and travel. It's probably no more than 2 hours.

If she's what the Brits call a nanny (just looks after your DC in your house) then perfectly acceptable to ask her to pick up child related chores during the day.

When I had a nanny she would do following:

Batch cooking DCs meals
Shopping for uniform/dress up/birthday presents for parties
Keep DCs rooms tidy/change beds
DCs laundry

Most recently my DC were in school 6 hours per day so she had plenty of time.

She'd occasionally do chores for me (pick up dry cleaning - but I always acknowledged it was a favour if she got time)

As a nanny I have done this a lot, very common for duties to change a bit when the youngest child goes to pre-school.

Your nanny is on-call from 9am-12. They can't go that far away as they may be needed to pickup an ill child, or we have had situations of heating breaking down, no water, blocked sewers, snow. So all sort of things can occur which result in pre-school and/or school closing.

You can certainly assign some household related tasks - ideally connected with the children but discuss it with your nanny.
Children's laundry including bedding is fair game. Tidying children's bedrooms is reasonable and playroom. Preparing lunch.

Going in to school as an adult helper for a special event can be nice - I helped with a sewing lesson for half a term.

Occasional bits of shopping that may be needed, posting parcels, whatever your nanny is prepared to do and what you need them to do.

When pre-school aged, I found the time they were at pre-school went very quickly.

Do remember that although childminders/nannies don't get normal 'breaks' for a cup of tea or a sandwich in peace, it would be a nice gesture to mention she should take a bit of a break too.

Thanks all, some good ideas there on little bits and pieces maybe our minder could help with. She absolutely has time to have a break, she lets the older girl watch tv while the younger one naps and that's when she has her own lunch. Actually I think the older girl is left on her own watching tv for too long, but that's a whole other thread!!

Grrrrr. She's not a minder/cm. she's your nanny who I assume you employ and pay her taxes from her gross salary

Besides from that - yes anything child related is fine to ask tho R.E.M. Your nanny may only get 2/2.5hrs free by the time she has done travel to and from nursery

blonde Feel free to call her a nanny if you like , she calls herself a childminder so that's what we call her too.

It's a legal thing. Childminders have to be registered, self employed and cannot work in clients homes.

Exactly! You can't 'call' yourself a childminder if you're not one! They have completely different roles and responsibilities which as you don't care what she's called I suspect you don't care about your legal responsibilities either

As the last two replies said - childminders are registered and work from Their own home and are self employed

Do you employ this lady and pay taxes fromHer gross salary ?

I pay her taxes and am fully aware of my responsibilities, and will continue call her whatever she feels comfortable with.

But that's like saying "I'm a lawyer, but I'd like you to call me a doctor". Childminder (in England at least - I don't know about anywhere else) is a legally regulated profession.

Anyway ... I digress. You might find it helpful to post in the nannies section. You won't get childminders getting annoyed then

Just as an aside - what sort of insurance does she have to cover accidents/damage when looking after your children? Nanny insurance or childminder insurance?

If she has childminder insurance you need to check whether it is valid for her to mind in your home outside of her registered premises.

Tho then that will annoy the nannies @hsmmacm 😉

Good point about pli - cm have diff cover from nannies

She is a nanny. I can't imagine why she calls herself a childminder.
Anyway the misnomer is going to derail your thread.

She is not a child minder.

I dont care what she calls herself legally she isnt as she isnt working in her own home. She is a nanny.

The rules and regs are totally different for childminders. Why on earth would she call herself a child minder? She obviously isnt one! Just cos she looks after someones kids doesnt make her a child minder if she isnt registered and abides by the law.

Seriously people - it's all fine - please feel free to call her a nanny if it stops your teeth itching. Maybe it's a UK thing, I'm in Ireland and the terminology seems to be less important.

Funnily enough the Minister of Children in Ireland doesnt think so in their Child Minder Guidelines

CHILDMINDER:
A Childminder is a self-employed person who minds other people’s children in the Childminder’s own home