Shall I get a childminder? Parent feedback wanted

[Melash]

My child is 1 year old and I’m torn between nursery and childminder. I drafted a list of pros and cons. I figured best way to get feedback is to translate that into a survey. So here it is - would appreciate your genuine answers:
www.surveymonkey.com/r/K9WP9TT

Many thanks

😂😂😂

Your survey has some pros and cons of a CM (and most of the cons are rubbish), but no pros and cons of a nursery.

Just go and visit some and see what is best for your child.

Good god you have way too much time on your hands. What a load of rubbish!

Wtf [santa]

I can't cope 😂

This is bloody hilarious

I don't like to mock, but.......

HSMMaCM is absolutely correct. In the context of choosing between nursery and childminder, this will not provide useful data. You can’t assume a tick for one means a cross for the other.

eg. Respondents might think CMs aren’t properly inspected by Ofsted. That doesn’t mean they think nurseries are any more properly inspected than CMs. That’s leaving aside the fact that few parents have anything like a working knowledge of Ofsted inspections. The same goes for your whole survey.

Some questoons don’t make sense. You’ve made an inaccurate guess about the number of children CMs care for. And what does this even mean.... "I don’t think they have the resources to ensure timely invoicing."? Resources such as a computer, or even just a diary and a pen?

A good nursery is better than a bad childminder. A good childminder is better than a bad nursery. I'd personally prefer a good childminder to a good nursery for a 1 year old but that's a matter of taste. You need to visit individual providers and if possible ask other parents for feedback on individual providers. Even childminders will usually offer another/previous parent as a reference, a super glowing phone call with another parent was the most reassuring thing when we chose our childminder.

As a childminder who used a nursery for my first child, here are the pros and cons as I see them (although I agree with the pp that a good childminder is better than a bad nursery and vice versa) :

Nurseries:
Pros:
Always open apart from bank holidays. This was an important one for us as we had no family nearby to help with childcare.
More likely to have spaces. Good childminders full up quickly whereas nurseries generally have more spaces and more availability.
Cons:
Lots of different carers and less control over who is actually looking after your child day to day. Most places have keyworkers but in reality the care of your child is shared between multiple carers. They often have students in on placement. You have to trust all these people are suitably checked as you can't do it yourself. This also makes communication difficult. Who you speak to at drop off may not be who is actually looking after your child. As they grow up they go to different rooms and have to get used to a new set of carers.

Childminders:
Pros:
One point of contact who you and your child can build a relationship with. Same person looking after your child day in day out. Makes communication easier too.
Home from home environment - family style meals and the opportunity to get out in the local community and beyond to parks and playgroups.
Being part of a mixed age group is fantastic for kids. They learn lots from older children and learn how to be gentle and caring to younger ones.
Cons:
If they or their kids are ill you have to find alternative care. Same for holidays.

In terms of paperwork and inspections, both settings are held to the same standards.

TBH surveys and message boards are not a good basis for making childcare choices.

Neither source will give a representative sample of experiences because respondents will be self-selective. There is always a disproportionate number of people eager to write off every setting of a particular type just because they had one bad experience of a particular nursery/CM. Even these 'bad experience' reviews often tell you more about an unreasonably demanding parent than a 'bad' childcare provider.

More importantly, the responses you get will not be relevant to your situation. If I live in Northumberland, then the experiences of a nursery in Cornwall don’t matter a fig.

If you want good childcare that meet Sunday your specific needs there are no shortcuts. You simply have to get out there and do the donkey work. Speak to and visit as many settings as you can find, then decide which is the best fit.

WHAT!?
Honestly, I’m not sure what you think the ‘data’ you collect will show you. Visit various childminders and nurseries in your area and try to speak to friends/acquaintances/person in the queue at Tesco who has children and see what childcare they use and recommend and try to visit that to see if it would be a good fit for your child and family set up.

No point in setting your heart on a nursery if you need to drop off at 7.30 and nurseries in your area don’t open till 8 for example.

As for a con of a childminder being about sending timely invoices, I don’t think any of my families have ever had a problem with my invoicing skills. One prefers invoices via text message - fine. One prefs a termly bill split over 4 months - equally fine. One works her own bill out and has never been a penny out - excellent. So I’m probably far better than a nursery with that one.

Go armed to your visits with a list of questions you have, food, nappies, holidays, opening times, ratio/key worker questions, activities provided, outside provision, nap arrangements and anything else you can think of and take it from there. I am well aware that one of my families had previously vowed never to use a childminder until they were actually in the the nursery system. It didn’t work out there and they came to me and are really happy - the child is thriving. What works for one family, won’t work for another and it’s up to you to find the best fit.

I suppose the major downside of a childminder is the possibility that they or their child may get ill and therefore cancel last minute. If your job is fairly flexible then that's fine. If not, then it's a problem. Also childminders want some time off too and you have to work around this.

Saying the above, I've used 2 childminders for 4 years and have rarely had this problem. Sometimes have to work around their parent's evenings and had to pick the children up early but I've made it work.

I like that the children get out and about with a childminder and that it's a home environment.

I also used a nursery with DC1 for 3 years and was very happy. It was a great nursery, caring with a big garden. For a few of those years I had a less flexible corporate job and couldn't take time off at short notice.

Really depends on your circumstances and who you get a good feeling from.

Save yourself the bother of 'collating' all the info you would get from the far too many questions you have and stuff you got wrong about child minders. I counted 12 statements that are not true. Not flexible, not safe, not able to follow early years, not stimulating, no updates or communication etc etc etc all bollocks.

Most of your answers will not apply to any cm or nursery in YOUR area. Its all based on other peoples experiences.

Go and actually TALK to nurseries and child minders in your area and decide which one fits your requirements.

BTW we all have to do training in all areas of cm. We need to do training before we even set up. I know cms with degrees in early years, qualifications in play therapy, additional needs, learning through play, food and nutrition, SVQs in childcare, invoicing (what does that even mean? they cant write an invoice, send a txt, email?) etc etc.

The stand out part for me was
"I dont have a good understanding of childminding."

It shows.

Damm the invoicing bit appeared in the wrong paragraph for some reason!

I used a childminder for the first 6 months of my second daughters care whilst we were on a waiting list for a place at the nursery her older sister went to. There are loads of pros and cons for both but what swung it for us in favour of a nursery were the following:

The childminder never let our child maintain a routine (im sure some would). She would complain that our daughter had been ratty and then when I asked if she'd had her lunchtime nap she would say no as she had to go to matalan so she had only had ten minutes in the car! Ultimately the CM would carry on with whatever she needed to do that day and the children just go along. I didnt like the idea of my daughter being in tescos, hospital appointments or even watching her kids in school plays! I liked the fact that at nursery I knew exactly where she would be.
The other thing was that at nursery my daughter was surrounded by children of a similar age - the childminder had a lot of older children after school and you would see them all running up and down the road after school!
Ultimately Im a bit of a control freak and I wanted to know where y child was, that she was in a supervised environment (i.e. there are lots of staff about, so its more monitored than a single lady in a house, Its the what happens behind closed door scenario, not that bad stuff cant happen at nursery!).
Definitely a horse for courses scenario and for our needs the nursery suited us better. Mind you, I did work for the same company that ran the nursery and knew all the staff there (who had all been there 20 years plus) and maybe this would have been different if I hadnt!

Two girls are you sure she was registered? We're not allowed to let children out of sight or hearing, running up and down the road !

Was just about to say the same thing - dragging kids round matalan and kids running around in the street sounds like cash in hand babysitting rather than an Ofsted registered childminder.