Childminder is very lovely but one thing is bothering me

[SlimmingMumOf1]

The childminder who my DS is with at the moment is wonderful. She's very kind, very attentive and experienced woman who has done it for many years. One thing I have noticed though is that her kitchen is absolutely filthy. I mean her cooker could do with a really good clean (there is a film of oil with dust and other things stuck to it, you can tell it has not been cleaned for a very long time), and she's also got an Acti-fry on the side that's also covered in oil and just a lot of other stuff.. it just looks very unclean! It is a shock to me because I keep things very clean in my house so I can spot anything dirty from a mile off! Would you let this be off putting? Probably me sounding snobby (I'm definitely not!)

When are you seeing this? I only ask because at the end of the day my house looks like a bomb has gone off, I have a good clean and tidy up at home time ready for the next day. It’s also one reason why I door doorstep handovers as my house is messy at the end of the day (children help tidy toys though).

does she provide food?
if yes I wiuld be concerned.

I would think official child minders need to show knowledge about food hygiene?

Do you provide the food or does she OP?

She provides food

childmindinguk.com/food

What else looks unclean exactly?

Some threads are like getting blood out of a stone

What do you mean unclean? A mucky cooker and an oily actifry doesn't really say much.

If she provides food then her kitchen should be clean, including a clean hob. At any point environmental health can ask to see it which wouldn't be a good thing for her.

Like a PP my house is often messy at the end of a working day but it's always clean.

Yes it would put me off

Wouldn't put me off unless the children get food poisoning. As they haven't I wouldn't worry.

People with dirty looking kitchens are often very hygienic with food preparation and cooking, not putting food directly on surfaces, cleaning a small area, etc.

I shouldn’t like it tbh. I’m a childminder and from my front door you can see part of the kitchen. I always make an effort for it to be clean and tidy so parents know I’m taking food hygiene seriously.

What’s the rest of the house like? Does she keep it clean? Toys everywhere at the end of the day is one thing, but piles of clutter and dirty floors and surfaces - I wouldn’t be happy with that.

Parents often come into my kitchen/diner at the end of the day if kids are still eating and my kitchen looks like a bomb site with food prep, pots and pans to be washed and often washing up from lunch or snack still to do but the minute they've all gone i blitz the lot and it's spotless by 6:30pm ready to start my own family meal and it's spotless again in the morning if they came in that far (they don't in the morning!) TBH If you're concerned it's old/unhygienic then send your own food.

Georgie did you read the OP? She could not have been clearer that this is not end of the day post-toddlergeddon mess, but permanent grime. I have a fairly high tolerance for dirt so I’d probably accept it in an otherwise great childminder but I don’t blame you for having qualms OP.

I feel like I am being quite horrible as she's so lovely but her kitchen does need a thoroughly good clean! Thankfully he hasn't had any food poisoning... so can't be that bad! Must just be me as I am quite house proud

Childminders are routinely inspected by Environmental Health Officers as they are required to register as a food business. They will have checked her premises, her practices and due diligence records. EHO have reduced the frequency of visits to low risk establishments due to budget cuts.

Presumably you,ve raised this with your childminder: what was her response?

I’ve never been inspected by environmental health and only know know one childminder who has been so i wouldn’t count on them having been to this childminder.

itsaboo we're not routinely inspected at all, we can be inspected at any time but in reality it seems that they tend to leave us alone for the most part, I don't know a single minder irl who has ever actually been inspected by environmental health. The ones I've heard about on childminder forums are usually following an anonymous complaint.

A bit like nannies and ofsted, they can register with ofsted but they are by no means regulated by them and rarely get inspected, I was the only nanny I knew who had ever been inspected (which was literally coming to my house to check a few pieces of paperwork and ask me a few safeguarding questions!)

Perhaps it comes down to particular local authorities. I’ve had three EHO inspections since 2011. The first was mandatory for a new business, the others were routine. Never had any complaints and always come away with a 5*** report, so they said we are 'low risk' and would be visited far less frequently than most food businesses.

I took that to be the norm across the U.K. but perhaps my borough council run more inspectors than most.

I'm a registered childminder and agree there may be a bit of mess from that day around at pick up time but this sounds more like long term build up of grime if there is oil and dust on the hob.

I am very cleany clean as a person but I'm always aware that ofsted or food hygiene could knock on my door at any time, and that my setting / home is always "on show" and a reflection of me and my business.

My local authority environmental health are pretty hot on inspecting childminders, but it seems that not all of them are.

That's really interesting to know, I didn't realise that it varied by county at all! It would be helpful for it to be more known about though, such as standards of cleanliness that's considered 'acceptable' by EHO (for example my house is a normal house, my kitchen is what I consider clean and is tidied/wiped down after meals and properly wiped down at the end of each day with dettol or astonish but would that be considered enough?) I've heard varying things on the fb groups and not many people who have had inspections come forward and talk about the nitty gritty of it. There's a lot of scare mongering about it on groups as well which is frustrating as it's hard to know what is normal to expect from an inspection with people exaggerating about it!

op maybe ask your cm for her food safety certificate?

I don’t have a food safety certificate though, so what would you say to that?

I don't have a food safety certificate either. I have been checked twice by environmental health and they stated they don't give a rating to childminders.
Not quite sure then why some childminders have a rating and others don't.
Unless it's down to the individual inspector that inspects.