Hi everyone, I just wanted to get thoughts on something! My son is 22 months old and he has been going to a childminder from 10 months. Initially I had great difficulty finding one as we moved into the area when he was about 8 months and a lot of the local childminders I’ve been recommended around me were full and had a waiting list. We finally found one who lives 25min walking so not so close. But she was great and our son created a bond with her. I think I might be a bit perfectionist and have high expectations when it comes to who looks after my son because I still always had some very minor issues, or rather, overall not issues but more of “ah I wish she had/ did this” (which I didn’t even raise with her as very minor - eg her lounge where the kids played is very very tiny, like it felt crowded when the 3 kids were in there; or she is managing a local daily playgroup which in a way was great because everyday the kids went there and socialised with more kids but on the flip side it meant that she was required to be there to open and close the playgroup from 9 to 12 and then for that reason they would come back home a bit late and she had to cook and feed them so by the time they went for the nap it was pretty late and I wished she didn’t have that extra responsibility/ side hustle). But I have to say, overall we got on well and my son was happy there. Then one of the local childminders I initially contacted reached out to let me know she had availability and I decided to change him from January to that new childminder who lives 10min walking from mine, and she also works a bit later (until 6) which would come in handy as I started a new job that requires me to be in the office more days - these were the main reason for the change. But also, I have to say, what played a big role is that two of my close neighbours who I get on well and have slightly older kids recommended her very very highly and she finally had a free spot from Jan so I grabbed the opportunity. We started settling this week… and even if my son seems to have adapted well… I have this weird feeling that maybe we did a mistake and the previous childminder even if she lived further away was better. This new childminder has a bigger place but the flat is so so so dark… lights are on from morning but these are not strong lights… and overall I feel there is a damp smell coming from the bathroom when I went. She operates a slightly bigger setting as her husband is her assistant (which I didn’t mind as Ininitially thought this would be a good transition before preschool when he’s 3) but I don’t know, maybe I have too high expectations, and my reasons are weak and superficial and more gut feeling… But I have to say I really struggle to see why my 2 neighbours so highly recommended her. She is fine don’t get me wrong, but I don’t feel the magic they were talking about and I feel I have moved our son from a very good setting to an average one. The additional bit that is bugging me is that her English is not good. Now if English was my first language or my husband’s there would be absolutely no problem, but it is not. We are speaking to our son in our native language at home and relying on daycare for him to learn English (which he started to - this is a pretty common technique for bilingual families to only speak native language with your child). So overall I am really torn to still give it a go because it’s only been 2 days or try to get back with our previous childminder (she might have found another other kid though)… Sorry for the long message and I hope it doesn’t come across as snobbish, I’m really not but I just want the best for my baby.