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?

Maybe I'm just odd

I have found children with whom I don't have a structured settling-in period tend to end sooner than those who do

Mind you that could be due to the consideration between child/parent/cmer

I personally have found the ones without a settling in have been the ones that settle best. With most of mine we have had one of two hour or so sessions and then they start properly. I guess it all depends on the child and parents as well.

My worst has been the one i did most of the settling in with tbh. I will not be doing that again lol

Oh That gives me something to think about

both my ds and dd didn't have a settling in period with 2 different childminders. they both started when they were very young ( 4 months and 6 months)they both loved the cm on meeting them so they just started straight away.

I feel that especially for my dd it might have confused her to have 2 hours here and 2 hours there she wouldn't know wether she was coming or going.

I don't set a specific settling in period. Every child is different - some come in comfortably from day 1 but others need much more time to adjust. And some parents have more time than others to plan settling in. I've met parents who visit me the week before starting a new job and others who expect a 2-3 month settling in period.

So what I offer is one free taster session of up to 2 hours. Then the first 4 weeks is the settling in session. during the settling in I will only charge for booked sessions, but from the agreed start date its full fees even if they want to keep to shorter hours for a bit longer. If they have to start full time from day one then I won't refuse, but I explain the first four weeks is still a trial/settling in and if I'm not satisfied the child is settling in happily I will terminate the agreement.

I work on a "play it by ear" method by which I mean the parents & I discuss each week whether we are all happy to increase the hours for the follwing week or stick to the existing hours for another week. Sometimes its about settling in the parents as much as the children iyswim! I have extended the 4 weeks if is taking longer to adjust and sometimes we've gone onto full days very quickly.