I'm so pissed off..... (bit long I'm afraid!)

[quint]

I know a lovely lady who has changed jobs to be a childminder right at the time I hopefully needed one, we've been talking for a number of weeks now to see how she was getting on. At first she would only have been able to have my eldest DD (3) but that was OK as the youngest DD (1) could have gone to nursery. Then she told me that she would be able to have them both - fantastic. I obviously knew that as we had no contract and I had paid no retainer that she would still be looking for other families - not a problem, it was the risk I had to take.

Anyway (sorry this is a bit long) I spoke to her again last week to let her know I had an interview and was she still able to have the girls - yes yes no problem, looking forward to it. Interview went well, spoke to her again (Friday), still no problems - excellent.

Yesterday I got the job (yeah!), called childminder to confirm with her and get everything sorted out, she then tells me that she didn't think she'd be able to have both of them under OFSTED regs - wtf didn't she tell me this before? This is nothing to do with having another child or family as she does't. I'm so cross that due to her not being straight with me, I look stupid with my new employer and will probably have to turn the job down now.

If you've got this far - thank you, I just needed to let off steam!

CM's can have 3 under the age of 5, 1 of which can be under the age of 1. However, sometimes they set limits on how many you cna mind, for different reasons - just starting up, size of house etc. Ask her how many it states on her registration document, they will have put on the number she can childmind

Oh....what a PITA Maybe she got confused about the numbers? Does she have children of her own?

Yes, as saltire said Just make sure she knows that the number and ages of children on her certificate is the children she can MIND and this already takes into consideration any of her own children

She can only have 1 under the age of 5 at the moment as she's just starting off - this is what she told me initially - not a problem, I would have sorted out a nursery place for my youngest, however a few weeks ago she told me that she's now be able to have them both - so thats what I've been looking at, she then told me last night that she was worng and can only have 1 - great where does that leave me.

I have spoken to the nurery to see if they can still take DD2, but to be honest I don't know if I still want her to have DD1 as I feel the trust has gone already - you may think I'm over reacting (maybe I am) but atm I'm so annoyed.

Thanks for your replies though and reading through all this!

Does sound odd but I must admit, OFSTED really confused me when I very first started and I got a couple of things wrong in my head.

It's very annoying I admit but I would probably try and see where the confusion came? I'd feel awful at making that mistake if it was me.

Hope you manage to sort things

The other thing is she told me alst night that there is a possibilty of a full time child and she wouldn't be able to do that with DD1 as the same problems with 2 children come up again and given the choice between a full time child or a part time child she is going to take the full time - I don't blame her at all and in fact said that to her last night. I'm just so upset that she's messed me around by not checking things out properly to begin with

She messed you around. She squized out a sibling after telling you she could do it. Find another one for both your children. Can you let both your children be at the nursery?

the trouble is I can't get DD1 from her nursery school to the nursery for the afternoon otherwise yes I 'd love them to both go there (it's where DD1 went up til Spet this year).

Also the nursery costs a hell of a lot more and I'm not too sure it will be worth me working.

Oh well maybe I'll have to see if I can get private work bookkeeping instead whilst DD1 is at school and get DD2 into nursery for the samw time period.

Thanks again everyone - if nothing else this allowed me to let off steam, maybe I am overreacting and I'll calm down later. My new boss has left everythingopen until the end of this week so keep your fingers crossed that I sort something out!

where are you? someone on here might be able to help you x

South East London - anyone able to help?!

By the way, I have calmed down now - at least I got the job, so it proves I can get one! Now I just need to get childcare in place - again!

Thanks for reading all my whinges everyone!

If you don't want to say exactly, thats fine, but where in SE London? I'm there. I can't help myself, because I'm winding down, but if I'm in the right area, I might have some suggestions.

I live in se1, do u still need a childminder ????

I'm in SE23

Arranging childcare is stressful - so you do have my sympathies. DS and DD have both gone to a day nursery which has been fine but when DS started school I needed a childminder. Got everything arranged and she had a DS the same age as mine. Only she changed her mind about schools at the last minute so her DS didn't get into my DS's school so she couldn't do the school run - so start again time for me.

I think it is always going to be a little more difficult finding a place for two children unfortunately. Do you have a list of local childminders?

Sorry, not my neck of the woods, it was worth a shot though. Good luck in finding someone.

HIJACK ALERT

I'm seeing one tomorrow - I looked on the website that someone advised on another thread - there was only one in my area that does pick up at DD1 school so fingers crossed she's lovely and still has a place available as she's seeing someone today who got there before me.

Well I met this other childminder and she is sooooooo lovely and she can take both DD1 and DD2 so I'm so pleased - it makes life so much easier. She lives closer to me and is better than the original cm (well as far as I can tell anyway!)

Thanks for your advice everyone