CM Club: How important is settling in?

[KatyMac]

I think it's vital. I have never had an effective childcare contract with both parents and children without a good settling-in period.

How does everyone else feel?

Am I a wuss about this? Is it irrelevant?

If a parent ignores my advise about settling-in, should I take on a child? Should I ask the parent to sign a disclaimer stating it is against my better judgement?

Or should I refuse the child? (very uncomfortable about this)

I am starting to write a policy

So far I have
"I feel very strongly that an effective settling-in period is vital for the safety, happiness and health of your child. Changes, of any sort, can cause stress levels to rise in children and a new childcare setting is a prime example of a stress trigger.

Depending upon the age and stage of development of your child settling-in can be as little as a 10 minute meeting and up to a graduated pattern of leaving your baby which may take up to a couple of months. As long as you can fit in with my times available and are prepared to take my advice on the length of each session, these are free."

What else can I add?

I have a settling in policy much the smae as yours. The only thing i don't like is the free of charge bit which i am going to change. I started a new little mindee (19 months now) in August. I had done settling in visits since May. Started off with an hour here and there. Went up to half days fairly often then some full days. She cried and was upset for a lot of the visits until around halfway through then cried now and again.

When she actually started she cried a lot tbh as she suddenly realised that this was an everyday thing and was v stressful for us as a family. So i did months of visits for no money and worked my arse off and she cried when she started anyway

I'm not sure how many visits to offer free iyswim? How many visits do you offer KM? And would you do what i did over a period of months?

I would yes - long settling-in's are good imo

It is hard esp for 9-15m old - I think they are the hardest age to settle (I could be wrong)

It hard - I always say that settling in has to be on my terms & may need to be cancelled (as I don't want it to be used as a shopping trip etc)

If they can't fit in with my times available then I charge

Hi Katy Have answered in the staff room but will cut and paste it to here

Katy I have taken most of mine without a settling in period, a lot have moved over from Germany/Cyprus, arriving just days before Mum and Dad have to be at work, to be honest it has worked out fine, but them they have all come from other childcare, so are used to it.

I have done straight-ins as well as settling-in. I prefer settling-in [understatement] but a lack of time to settle in would not put me off if the family were 'right' IYSWIM.

Hmm i am knackered 99% of the time and i have 4 dc so any quiet times are precious. I hate having to squeeze mindees into my days off/hols to give long settling in times.

I am going to offer a set period of settling in and then charge for the rest i think. Too often it's used as free babysitting.

Are these reasonable age ranges to split children into for settling-in recommendations?

Under 6 m
6m to 24m
24m to 48m
48m to 8yrs
8yrs plus

I agree about the free babysitting btw

Generally I have lots of space - esp now

Well atm i have 2 dd's of my own who are under 5 so if i have mindee under 5 then settling in visits are really hard to do in my working day anyway.

I usually end up having to get DH to take one or both dd's away so i'm not over my numbers lol

Is that allowed?

Sorry I didn't mean to be rude

When DH & I were first registered DD was under 5 & even when I was working with another childminder we were only allowed 5 under 5's because DD was still counted even if she was with DH

Is it prescriptive to have minimum settling-in periods?

Erm i don't know actually KM. If he takes them out then i am not over my numbers. It's the only way i would ever be able to do settling in visits sometimes.

It is reccommended that we do them but like Shoshe and BALD i have had arrangements where there has not been any settling in time. Usually when another childcare arrangement has broken down.

But you would be over the numbers on your certificate (IYSWIM) wouldn't you?

Yes i would. If current mindee gave notice (just for instance) and i had a new mindee starting,in my policy document it says i offer settling in times,i either have to do as i said before,get dh to take the dd's out and i do settling in visit. Or I have to say sorry i am not able to do any visits unless i tell current mindee i need to take a day off/hols.

It is crazy isn't it?

Do be careful as you won't be insured......

So what would you do KM? I have had to do the DH taking dd's out before. I have never asked the Care Commission because they never give a sensible answer

I haven't been in that position - DD is over 8 & I am never full

I think if I was - I would ask leaving child to have time off, maybe or not start settling in until other child left - but it would cost me which ever way I did it

I refused a mum who phoned on Wed pm & wanted 10 hrs on Friday - without me even meeting the child - maybe I'm not business minded enough

I wonder if is should change my policy to include a clause thingy that i can only do settling in visits if it doesn't take me over my numbers.

I would not be able to leave a gap between one mindee leaving and another starting to enable me to have visits IYSWIM?

The insurance thing is a worry. Wonder what other CM's do?

Hopefully they will come here and answer

How old are your DC's?

And do you only do F/T? I always have a patchwork of P/Ters

Well my ds's are 17 and nearly 13 so eldest ds does not count in my numbers and the dd's are 4 and 2.

I have 1 F/T mindee who is here 7.45am till 5pm
1 before and after schooler who is here 7am till 9am then 3.15 till 6.30/7pm.
1 after schooler who is here 3.15 till 5pm.

I will bring this up with my Development Officer as it's something which must cause problems with lots of CM's?

I am sorry - I really didn't mean to cause a problem for you

I still don't know what to do about insisting/suggesting a settling-in

I had to do an extra day for one of my mindees on a day when I dont usually have him and I rang Ofsted to talk about this.

They said that as it was only for a short period of time and not a regular thing, then they were ok with it as long as my insurance company said it was ok with them too.

So, it kinda boiled down to Ofsted saying it was ok as long as they and your insurance company were notified.

Hope that helps!

Oh KM don't be daft. It is something i should think about. I mean if there were clear guidelines it would help other CM's and myself.

I will speak to my DO about it and see what she says. She is pretty useless sadly so will no doubt get back to me after the Christmas period.

Thank you KM x

I have had many children start without having a settling-in period (for many different reasons), and I really do not have a problem with this.

If a parent would like settling-in sessions and is going to leave the child with me (and I have the space), then I charge my normal hourly rate. I am happy for parents to stay with their child for a "social visit", and do not charge for this - it is just a "getting to know each other" visit for the parents as well as the child.

I have started mindees in the same week as meeting them. I have just put a 4 week settling in period on the contract. I normally know before then if it's not going to work.

Have also done some emergency work where have spoken to the the mum on the phone the evening before and child has come the next day.

I cannot be turning work away at the moment. So will do what ever the parent wants, some will not want extra hours 1st others will wants lots and I will charge for it.

Took to long to type otherwise would have said 'same as ThePrisoner'