How often is your childminder sick?

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Just that really, I'm trying to decide if mines actually I'll alot, generally flaky or if it's just usual??!!!!

I am here to show off about my ex childminder.

I used her from when my son was 10 months old until he went to secondary school, full days and then wrap around care. when she went on holiday she would always find someone to cover rather than leave it to me checking first whether I needed cover.

In the whole 10 years the most she took off sick was 3 (three) days when she had her 3rd child (her other 2 were older than DS). Yes 3 whole days maternity leave. She also had my son when he had chicken pox as her older 2 had already had it and she didn't mind her younger one getting it. She had him on the proviso if he was really miserable with it she would call me (she didn't need to or just soldiered on). When he fell and cut his head she drove to A&E and met me there.

She took him to playgroups and dropped him at nursery when older.
She was fab. So if you can find the right one they are great.

I moved away and recently we touched base by facebook and now she owns a nursery!

The post wasn't meant to bring about debate over nursery/childminder. Every situation is different and you just find what works for you, let's leave it at that.

I also really don't expect any self employed person to never be sick, that's just unrealistic, it's just knowing what's 'normal' or acceptable. Thanks for all feedback x

OKBobble, that's awful - poor woman only taking three days off with her new baby I wouldn't have sent my child back after 3 days!

God 3days after having baby...not sure that’s one to brag about. I’m due end of July and I thought only have 8weeks off was rushing back to childminding!!

" If there is a reason that the nursery closes, it’s very rare and you usually get plenty of notice."

Oh, yes? They never, ever close for the weather, or for broken boilers or for flu epidemics, do they? (Oh yes, they do!!)

Going by what childminders are saying on here, I'd say a lot of them are more reliable than nurseries!

Well yes, but nurseries not being private individuals aren’t here defending themselves so 🤷‍♀️

Well dd’s nursery has never closed for any reason. Is everyone as bitchy about schools closing for the exact same reasons?

There’s some really snotty answers here regarding nurseries. I get that childminders have a business to run and so competing with nurseries must be difficult. But to try and make a mum feel like shit for putting their kid in nursery is such an awful way of going about things.

My daughter works at nursery which closed last week so would have been an unpaid day for parents.
Childminders of course also have mortgages and can be single parents so will typically rarely take time off, what they can give you is flexibility be there in emergencies like if your rushed to hospital, come rescue you if your stranded, sit overnight with your child if your in labour, be a shoulder to cry on, provide support and advice, delay holidays to support your family through bereavement or serious illness and much more.
They can be working with assistants, in groups, do forest schools, the variation is endless.

OP if your having a problem discuss it say to her its giving you a problem at work and is this part of an ongoing issue or a bad patch then decide going on her answer.

There’s some really snotty answers here regarding nurseries. I get that childminders have a business to run and so competing with nurseries must be difficult. But to try and make a mum feel like shit for putting their kid in nursery is such an awful way of going about things.

There are no snotty answers; we're simply disagreeing with your claim that nurseries are fundamentally better than childminders.
It's a sweeping statement to make when you have limited experience of only one nursery. Of course it's going to be challenged!

I was like but she really wanted to and her husband was off work on paternity leave and worked shifts. I think her older 2 were at school by then so she just got on with things. Honestly I wasn't taking advantage of her

Used the same childminder for nearly four years now. She had one sick day a few weeks ago and was so apologetic. I just said she must be really ill to take a day off as she always works no matter how crap she feels. When she has been ill before with full on colds etc she always warns us and gives the option whether we still send our child in though. We always have though as we have little back up in place so save it for when it's really needed.

No one goes back to work three days after giving birth unless they're worried about losing money/business. I would have insisted on paying for a week and keeping my child off at the very least.

I agree Tanith

I do dislike these type of threads (although I realise it wasn’t the OPs intention) but they always turn into childminder v nursery.

As someone who has managed nurseries and is currently a CM (I have been for the past 7yrs) I can honestly say my preference is CM and no matter how many times you ask me, my answer will always be the same. However, I know that option isn’t always available to some families.

Sorry if I missed it but how many sick days are we talking about ?

Any se person rarely will take time off unless have to /really sick as don’t get paid

Hope your cm is ok

I've taken 1 day off sick in 2 years, I think if your childminder is off loads it's not good at the end of the day you can work with cold and coughs and what not, I have 5 days paid sick a year I don't agree childminders that charge for sick pay and are sick all the time

Not a professional childminder

I was a childminder for 6 years, I once sent them home Friday dinner as I had a migraine. That's it.

Twice in 7 years. One time she was just sick the other she had a procedure at hospital and it was planned.
She has been amazing and we couldn't have found a better childminder. She's worth her weight in gold

I’ve had one family for 5 years in September and have only taken one very short notice day off and that was for an operation. I was back the next day, although if I’d been employed with sick pay, I’d have probably taken the rest of the week off.
Prior to that, I’ve had a couple of days off sick, or because my dc were sick, but felt ok about it as the parents all had willing grandparents to help out, the other family don’t, so I feel I’d be dropping them right in it.
The reason I work through being ill is because I don’t get sick pay and don’t want to be unreliable.

I’ve taken four phone calls this morning from mums desperate for emergency childcare. Their nursery has closed the baby room and turned away about a dozen families at the door...... because of staff sickness.

Last week I interviewed a couple looking to find an alternative to their nursery, after one of the staff expressed concerns that she gets no help when colleagues are sick. They can’t afford agency staff, so she is regularly left alone in the babyroom for several hours at a time.

That compare with eighteen days-worth of closures for a wide range of different reasons by local nurseries in the same period?

DS has been going to the same nursery for nearly 4 years and it hasn't once had a closure. I have many friends with children at various nurseries, and have heard of something vaguely comparable in only case, in which the nursery shut for the same week in August every year. Maybe you live in a really unreliable area?

... which goes to show there are wide differences, and you can’t pin down a 'normal' amount of days lost for any form of childcare.

In short, we can discuss all we like around the subject, but the original question doesn’t have a definitive answer.

Well yes, but your first post seemed to imply that people who chose a nursery instead of a childminder because of their perceived reliability were mistaken in that perception. But perhaps I inferred incorrectly.

Maybe what she means is perceived reliability is not always something that should be top of the list when deciding on care.

Very true, jannier.

But do we really want to reveal what most parents prioritise when looking for childcare? That's a whole new can of worms.