Is it just me who feels that childminders do a great job?

[leo69]

Let me know. I feel we are getting terrible press on this site.

I know a lovely nanny who does a great job if that helps

I think they do a great job!!

But I think a small minority give childminders a bad name by not being transparent with their fees and charges, hence my opinions on the other thread

i have a wonderful CM, who has the DCS on an ad hoc basis, she lives in the neatest , tidiest, cleanest house i have ever seen, does wonderful activities with the children, all food and snacks are fresh and homemade, she has endless patience, and she has become a good friend, could not praise her enough

I love my childminder, she's great.

Ds loves her too, sometimes it takes us 20 minutes to get him out of her house in the evening.

Glad to hear that. I read some threads and feel like it's a bit of a bit*hing ground to complain about all childcare.

my CM is fantastic and I happily rave about her and recommend her to lots of people. Really flexible, lovely with my dd, family environment. Much prefer to nursery or daycare for littlies.

My cm is fab and I have nightmares where she tells me she's finishing. Infact she did tell me she was finishing earlier this year and I sobbed for hours. Managed to persuade her not to.

She is good to dd, if slightly flakey at times. But I couldn't work without her.

Really, leo? If anything I think of mn as pro-cm, anti-nursery....

Well i've read a few of the wrong threads then.There are a few unfair comments

When I worked in Sales, we were often told on training courses that an unhappy customer would on average tell 5 people. A happy customer may not tell anyone.

Therefore I am not surprised that you find more negative comments about childcare providers than positive ones on a discussion forum such as Mumsnet.

I had a wonderful CM who was sent from heaven, I still keep in touch and class her as a friend / surrogate mother.
The one we went to after she retired was a evil, mad bitch from hell so I can't agree or disagree.

My DSs childminder was lovely. completely batty, but utterly lovely. I'm sad that I don't actually need her any more tbh.

and that is a good point nannynick. Maybe we need a "come and praise your childminder" thread (in fact this will probably be it), and maybe we should all tell more people how fab we think our childminders actually are

any childcarer,whether nanny, CM or a nursery is doing a great job if you are happy with the way they do things and your child/ren are happy and thriving

if you are not happy then change them

if you are happy,then mention sometimes to them you are pleased and a thank you goes a long way ( as does a bottle of wine)

agree with Nick, that people dont normally rave about good stuff ie childcare, but def moan about bad childcare, and yes as this a is a board for childcarers whether nanny, CM or nursery, then the threads are going to often be moaning/complaining about them, as this is the place mums can let off steam!!!

My childminders are just fab,
they are a married couple who are both registered childminders and they are like surrogate grandparents for my DS.

he just loves them

and they came so highly reccomended that i never even considered any other childcare options

I agree that we are not respected enough in general. I think childminding is hard work, but enjoyable and rewarding. I know a childminder who has just stopped minding, as she felt people looked down their noses at her as if she couldnt get a "proper job".

I have been using the same woman since dd was 6 months old, she is now nearly three.
I was very sick at Xmas and she would come in the morning to pick my DD up, and bring her home for me.
She's dropped other mindees home with their parents because the weather has been bad.
She takes them on trips in the summer, which I dont have to pay for.
She made home made bread with DD.
DD loves her.

My childminder is fantastic too. She is infinitely patient and kind (far more so than I am!), has a wonderful range of things for them to do, cooks lovely healthy food and I can't imagine letting dd go anywhere else at all.

I love all you wonderful Parents who appreciate and say that you love your CM's.

We often get bad press, but I think most get appreciated by our Parents.

Would be nice to see a Good piece about us in the press tho.

We love ds's childminder. He can't wait to toddle off into her sitting room when we arrive, and often doesn't want to leave, she seems really caring. She has 5 kids aged 7 to grown up and 3 other mindees who are siblings aged 2-8 (2 before and after school) and I think he gets lots of people giving him attention and playing with him. She takes the kids to the park and to a singing group at the library.

I think myself and the other cms in my group do a fantastic job - we are very united, plan lots of activities and outings together, like trips to the fire station, and other safety outings, boat trips, etc, all with education and fun firmly in mind.

But it is true we are often looked down on, and many people think you are just doing it so you can stay at home with your own kids. Whereas nursery workers are in it because they really love childcare.

I hate hearing negative stories about cms, only because it is a shame a bad few let the rest down, and we all get tarred with the same brush.

IMO the eyfs even though a complete pain in the arse, could actually be helpful to us in the longterm. It proves we are provding the same standards of care and education that nurseries have to. Cms who just plonk kids in front of tv, and do not truly earn their money, or care about child development, will probably slowly start to give up !

I used one for a day a week from Jan to June and she was WONDERFUL (and I'm very hard to please when it comes to childcare!). I'm really hoping that if I return to work in a years time she might have the spaces to help us out again.