We’re thinking about merging this section, what do you think?

[MichaelMumsnet]

Hi all,
We’re doing some work on making the Talk boards more useful and user-friendly for both regular and new users. After looking at some stats for the site, we think we could boost activity on the whole by merging some of the lesser used sections.

We’re proposing to fold the topics in this section into the Childminders area.

This should increase the number of topics in the section - and hopefully lead to more posts and responses to members.

What do you think?

This would be a bad idea.

Childminders are regulated and inspected.

Au pairs are completely different in what they do, where they live, the issues you are likely to come across if you employ one.

It would be utterly confusing to muddle them in with a specific and entirely different form of child care.

Perhaps it would be better to have a general topic for child care options? And then separate sections for childminders and nurseries

Yeah, it'd be better to have one generic childcare message board rather than combining with childminders, which means it'd probably get lost.

A really bad idea to combine with childminders

A childminder is a distinct, childcare form that is inspected by OFSTED. I don't see that people are struggling to find these sections - one major issue is that many users don't seem to understand the important legal and contractual differences between a out of the home childcare forms such as childminders and in home childcare such as a casual babysitter, au pair and nanny etc. By combining these topics is more likely to exacerbate confusion and create user frustration

The only category that I think could be done away with or merged is the "Childcare options" category that seems to be vaguely defined and not always well used.

What EdithWeston said

Eh? why. Childminders have nothing in common with au pairs being self-employed, setting their own conditions and working in their own home. If you want to combine topics, nannies would be the best option and then combine nurseries and childminders.

I don't think this section should be merged with childminders either. I've never had to comfort a homesick childminder or check whether they were coming home after a night out. Different responsibilities as a host family and very different expectations of an au pair vs a childminder.

Au pairs used to fall under the nanny section which is where they belong as a live in child care option. Many people transition into au pairs after being nanny employers and also its good for the au pair hosts to hear their perspective on what duties are reasonable.

"Childminder" is not a more egalitarian word fir nanny or au pair. It is a business fun outside the home by a self-employed person. Very different relationship to manage than an au pair. Please don't do this. @MichaelMumsnet

I think merging would lead to posters commenting on threads where they have no knowledge of what an au pair is. I've seen many posts on Mumsnet where posters ask for advice then someone else comments about slave labour and how they should be paid minimum wage. Merging will lead to more unhelpful comments from people with no experience.

Roses2- That is already happening though when the au pair threads appear in active conversations. The Facebook groups I am on are more active for advice than this board. They can be fairly wild but at least the people posting do actually have au pairs...

Yes, like @roses2 I agree we already have an annoying issue of people who only seem to post on this board to tell us what awful exploitative people we are for using au pairs whenever someone asks a questions and that would get even worse if combined with other childcare! Minor point, but worth noting.