advice please all other childminders

[lololola]

hi.
i have been c/m a little girl for almost 2 yrars. she has just been diagnosed with
diabetes type1 which requires lots of special atention. i have had her for one week
and already the worry & responsibility is killing me. i have to take her blood sugar levels twice a day, record everything and keep checking she looks "ok". i have 3 other children i c/m aswell. plus, and i know this might sound abit mean, but i have been offerd no extra money for all the extra responsibilty. i just need advice. should i carry on and see how it goes, or should i be honest and tell the parents i'm finding it too hard?

I think some of the posters have been a litle unfair on the OP.

Lolola, I can imagine how daunting and scary the thought of looking after a child with diabetes would be, especially as you've only been looking after her for a week since she was diagnosed. Would you be willing to talk things through with her diabetes nurse? Although, I think that once your more comfortable with the whole thing then you'll wonder what all the fuss was about in the beginning. (I look after a mindee with various special needs, it took me a while to get my head around it all and now the things I do for mindee and how I watch out for little things that trigger prtoblems have now become second nature)

Whilst I realise that extra responsibilty is part and parcel of diabetes you can't really expect extra payment. My mindees parents wanted to pay me extra. I had to decline on my own morals- never mind whay ofsted and ncma would think"!

niftynanny, looneytune, hennipenni.

thank you so much for your comments.

i feel a complete fool about the money situation. its just one or two of the mums at my school mentioned it and put the idea in my head. i charge this family £3.25 an hour, so i'm hardly "greedy" some c/m in my area wouldn't work for less than £6. ph. i probably would of declined if extra payment had been offered.
with regards the diabetes i am just worrying too much. the parents have provided me with so much info i really should be ok! thanks again, i really appreciate your advice. will update you in a week or two.

I've come into this convo far too late, but I will add my peice anyway!

I'm a cm and last year, one of my mindees had to have a hip cast on. She was only 14 mths old. I was petrified! I really was very worried about how I was going to care for this mindee. So I researched her condition on the internet, asked on here and most importantly spoke to the parents. They obviously had more info on it than me, but not a lot. It was new to them too. We worked together and as soon as she was out of hospital with her cast on, I was round there like a shot, to watch and learn, what they had been told, only the day before. What I'm getting at, is that it's a learning curve for both of you and if you can try to get over your fears (the same fears that her parents have!), it will make you a valuable part of that little girls life. You can't expect more money, really you can't, but then I think that's just you fear talking! I bet that within a couple of days of caring for her, you will realise that actually, its not that different to caring for any of the others.

I child I have minded for a long time was diagnosed as diabetic a while ago. I have to be honest, it initially frightened me to death that something would "happen" whilst he was in my care - but, obviously, his parents had exactly the same fears.

Talk to the parents about your fears, by all means, because they will have the same thoughts. His parents wondered whether I would want to keep minding him, but I certainly didn't even consider giving notice, I know this child really well and love him to pieces. It has not really impacted much on my day-to-day life, once I had got used to this new situation.

Once we had got past the first few weeks of sheer panic, everything settled down and everything became routine. It will for you too. You will be able to judge what is or isn't a problem once you are more "tuned in" to the things to look for.

I make sure that I take the "emergency box" when we are out and about, just in case it's needed!

My advise, whatever it's worth. Get involved! Call your Childcare advisor, see what training is out there. Contact Health Care profesionals. In my experience they are more than willing to help and advise.

It is scary at first, but once armed with info and you get your routine in place you'll be fine. Just make sure you have some energy tablets in your pocket when you go on the school run.

Lololola, I totally sympathise as I looked after a mindee who sometimes had convulsions - when she first had one it was really worrying and a lot to cope with when you've other little ones as well. Afterwards I was shaking but had to carry on as normal in front of the other kids. After that though I got a bit more used to it. I certainly did find myself thinking whether it was worth it for the money.
You say you work for less than your local going rate - why don't you put your fees up for all your mindees to reflect the responsibility of the job you are doing?