Interviewing childminders - what should I ask?

[gothefcktosleep]

Evening all...

I’m looking for some advice on engaging childminders for my DD. She’s under one. She’s currently registered for full time nursery but i’d like her to experience both.

What sort of questions should I be asking. Anything I should look out for (good and bad...)?

Current questions I usually ask:

• talk me through a typical day
• what do you need from us ? (DH and myself)

Do you work alone or with other childminders and their DCs (so yours can socialise)

What kind of places do you take children in your care to and how often ?

What food do you give to Children in your care and how many meals a day

What's your ofsted resting

How long have you been doing this for ?

Both of my DCs went to the same childminder for years and we are now good friends. A good childminder is actually interviewing the parents rather than the other way round (a good one can handle most types of children) .. a large part of what they ate looking for is 'can I work with this parent?'

Good luck . I so glad I went down this route rather than a nursery. My children (now 8 and 11) still have a great relationship with her and her family.

if you are expecting them to discipline your dd (if she does something naughty etc) ask them what they would do

I would ask what their approach to tv is, if they have their own children and what are her school run commitments with them or other children she looks after. I would also ask about nap times, as if yours is the only younger one this might be trickier?

Food
Sleeping arrangements
Schools/preschools they collect from
How they deal with a clingy/hard to settle baby
Approach to discipline
Payment policy
Holidays - how much holiday/sickness they take and who pays
TV

'Why did you become a childminder?'.

Feel free to look at my FAQs on 3mxchildcare.co.uk

Visit nurseries and childminders and then see what works best for you and your child. Both follow the same curriculum.

The simple answer is to ask whatever is important to you.

Everyone is different. Some mums want a detailed run-down on absolutely every last detail. Some want completely unrealistic things, eg. "my daughter must have at least one other girl of her age here at all times" (that's a genuine demand one parent made!). Other mums are entirely trusting, along the lines of "if Ofsted approved you, that’s good enough for me."

If some fool says "trust your gut" on a later post, ignore them.

Make sure your expectations are in line with those of the CM. This goes for the practical and contractual stuff as much as anything else. Failed childcare arrangements are seldom down to standards of care, but often due to different expectations. Most of the things parents moan about on MN are things they agreed to and signed contracts on, such as fees, holidays, sickness, etc. Discuss these things first: don’t sign it as "necessary boring paperwork" then get upset about it later.

You are looking for someone who you feel comfortable and who the children in their care feel comfortable with so once you have met someone you like its worth going back when they are working to see the relationship with the other children and minder.
fee wise make a list of what is included and all the costs and cost it for a year so that you can compare all on an equal footing. Child-minders will charge differently for things like time off and food, outings etc.
Some will have assistants and co minders some will work closely with other cm's so its good to know if there is any back up available,

When I interview parents I'm looking for someone who I feel I can work with its a 2 way partnership that can last for over 10 years and is best when we all feel comfortable.

My mum and MIL were both childminders.
Ask what recent training they've had and what their approach is to CPD?
How do they handle disputes between children?
Who else is in the home or visits?
Do they have any pets?
Ask for a tour of the property. Look out for any health and safety hazards and general cleanliness.
Do they do any activities or days out?
It's not a question, more of an observation but try to watch how they treat their own kids as well as childminded ones. We used to see a lot of childminders treated kids differently so they might buy their child an ice cream but not the childminded kids. My parents view was always they have to be treated the same and I think that's what most parents would want to

Thank you everyone. I’ve met with two, one was very #BossBabe and didn’t seem very soft and gentle, the second I loved, but unfortunately her house wasn’t very clean ☹️ It’s such a minefield!

@gothefcktosleep

Could you give some detail on what you disliked about the CMs you met?

Does "... wasn’t too clean" mean it was positively unhygienic, or may just 'lived in'. Im sure many childcare settings look like Toymaggedon at the end of a working day.

In what way did the other seem 'bossy'? Carers can be too "soft and gentle" to be any use in some situations.

I asked the following

About areas they played in
What activities they did or groups they attended
What hours did the operate
I had already read the care inspector report before visiting so that could prompt questions
To see registeration and insurance etc
What was included in hourly rate
What hours they open
What holidays they have (be careful with this I got caught out with a Cm who said 6.5 weeks a year which sounded reasonable to me but it somehow ended up nearly 10 weeks as she said that she meant it was in days not weeks ) plus random days off for her kids pantos etc. It was a blinking nightmare

If they use car what car seats do they have? For me this was important as I am very particular about car seat safety although I didn’t expect a childminder to pay hundreds for good car seats just use age appropriate ones.

Do they have pets? If so do the kids an animals have a separate space?

What safety protocols for they follow?

How do they cover there own kids appointments? If applicable.

To see references

What sleeping patterns does she use?

How do you handle tantrums?

My best advise is to with your feeling my oldest sons childminder was a nightmare think letting a 2.5 year old sleep 5 hours a day and then having the cheek to complain to me he was grumpy the next day as he hadn’t slept the night before because she let him sleep so much during the day. It also ruined his eating patterns so I terminated her contract.

My youngest son was booked into a nursery as I really did not want to use another Cm but a childminder moved in close by and he took to her at baby/toddlers group. I ended up using her and she is a god send and sooooo good with him. He absolutely adores her.