Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

Do Childminders in the same area keep a "blacklist" of parents? Long - sorry

31 replies

stressedtothemax · 03/04/2008 19:34

I have been a regular poster for years but have changed my name as I don't want to be identified in my local area for the reasons you will see below.

We live in an area of small villages. 3 years ago my DS used to be childminded. The first childminder we used turned out to have a house so dirty we had to take DS out. When I say dirty I mean so dirty it was a health hazard and Ofsted have since warned her about her standards of cleanliness. The second was an older lady whose house was lovely and clean. On face value she seemed great and had many years experience. However she took an instant dislike to me and I later found out to DS too. She had an adult son with ADHD who had been deemed by ofsted to be ok to be around kids, but which I later found out had been calling my little 3 year old Ds things like dipshit and dick head. She also used to smack him but all this I only found out after Ds stopped going there as he never mentioned anything and apart from becoming a little bit clingier, didn't change that much and never said he didn't want to go. It breaks my heart even now to think of how they treated him.

I later met another mum at the school gates that I became friends with and it transpires her MIL was also a CM. She was actually present when this CM was complaining about me saying how I didn't iron DS's clothes and that DS sometimes had hair on his clothes. Well at the time I was working lots of hours and we had a dog. so what? Ds was and still is one of the happiest, well cared for children you can meet. The mum from school only remembered this because I have an unusual name and because she was so nasty about me.

DS has been going to a friend for years and has been happy but my friend has been taken suddenly ill and can't look after him anymore. I have just started a new job with unsympathetic bosses and need childcare straight away so I have had to turn to the CM clique again. I found a lovely one today who seemed really happy to have Ds, where she lives is perfect (I don't drive so need to get him there in the morning) and DS got on well with her DS. She said she needed to call another CM friend as Ds would be her first ever charge and she wanted to check some info on paperwork but that she would have him on Mon. However 2 hours after she called me saying she can't have Ds after all as her insurance hasn't come through and it is going to take up ti 3 months to come through. I said ok, if I found someone else in the mean time could she have him once her insurance had come through and she said she couldn't say as she did not know what would be happenning then and seemed really unkeen to ever have DS.

So my long winded point is, do cm's have this sort of list. The CM's where I live are all very close and my old CM was so venemous about me that it wouldn't surprise me if I have for some reason got a bad name even though I was always a good payer and reliable. This new CM knew that my DH used to be in the army, yet she had never met me so obviously tongues have been wagging. I feel so stressed because work are threatening to sack me because of this, and very upset that I have done nothing wrong yet these CM's seem to have decided they don't want anything to do with me or DS

I applaud you if you have got this far. I am so sorry for the long story but I wanted to give all the background and would love some answers!

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
imananny · 05/04/2008 13:09

yes she sounds horrible and you and your ds are def better off away from her.

Hope new cm works out

Mum2Luke · 05/04/2008 19:13

How can cms not like full time working mums when this is their wage! Its this Government thats has more or less forced both parents into work.

About the clothes, what has it got to do with them whether you iron or not? I ask the parents whether they mind their littlies getting abit mucky at tots and most don't mind. If they are at toilet training stage, I normally request that parents bring (lots of) changes of clothes for accidents.

I sometimes wonder why some cms are in the job, we are supposed to support each other, not gossip and slag each other off.

I have had two lots of parents make late payments, they now have to pay on Mondays and in cash or no minding - simple as that, they sign the contract knowing that I do this and I do not stand any nonsense! I don't see why we should be paid late, they would not like it so why should we?

NotABanana · 05/04/2008 19:50

I don't see that work can sack you for needing to sort out child care.

Stressedtothemax · 05/04/2008 20:31

Thanks I'mananny!

Mum2Luke - you are right it had nothing to do with her at all and looking back she was a bit of a nasty bully tbh. For the record I do now iron but at the time I was commuting a long way and working full time hours so ironing came way down my list of priorities.

Notabanana - you would think so wouldn't you? Sadly because it is a new job I am on a 3 month probation period so they don't really need an "excuse" to say goodbye

OP posts:
vInTaGeVioLeT · 06/04/2008 13:14

i'm a c/m and in my experience lots of c/m's do disapprove of full-time working mothers as do some nannies and nursery nurses - but by no means do all childcare workers as you say this is our bread'n'butter.
i think sometimes when a c/m has a full-time(50hrs) mindee they find it hard to stick to a routine if the parents do the opposite at weekends and holidays imho this is were the conflict starts.

vInTaGeVioLeT · 06/04/2008 13:17

i myself am rather useless at routines and have let my dc find their own - no contented little babies for me. strangely enough they are very laid back independent & contented little children.

and i don't disaprove of full-time working mothers by the way.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page