To the parents who employ a childminder or nanny?

[cookiepocci]

Quick question for the mums who use a childminder?
I am a mum to a 17 months old and I am considering becoming a childminder.

I am French and my husband is English. I talk exclusively in FRench to my daughter and my husband talks exclusively English to her.
However, my husband and I converse with each other in English.

Out of interest if I was looking after your child (along with my daughter) would you want me to talk French to him/her? or stick to English?

My husband is sure that parents would ask me to not speak French to their child and only stick to English. I am not sure that would be the case... what would you say?

My little girl understand both languages and speaks very well for her age (she makes little sentences 3/4 words in English/French)

I think you'll get a huge variety - and it would depend on age. for me I;d love you to speak French - if my dc were younger than, say 3. older than that then I think it might need to be a mixture.

I certainly wouldn;t ask you to speak only English. what a wasted opportunity.

First off you wouldn't be employed as a childminder - you would be self-employed (& have to run a business)

Secondly there are rules about using a language other than English - but I can't remember what they are (look in the EYFS document)

Whether or not a parent would want French spoken is debatable - whereabouts in the country are you? I imagine you might find more parents in multicultural areas (eg London) - but that might be my prejudice

I'd be happy for you to use French or a mixture - my CM speaks to ds1 in Brava, an African language, but although it's not her first language, has also been teaching him very well in acquiring language skills in English! But the other thing about French is that you might find a French speaking parent who would like a CM who could help you maintain their dc's French speaking skills.

I think you would find it all depends upon the parent, if the child was English they would want this language primarily supporting (although I am sure many wouldn't mind some French thrown in, I know I wouldn't) but you need to take into account if you have a child from another nation, you would have to take their needs into account, supporting their "home" language. I have a little girl who's mum is French, and although speak English to her I have puzzles, words in the playroom and even a little computer which speaks French to support her family. Many local minders have children from Eastern Europe and the local libary provides books and information to support the children and their families which is backed up by the childminder.

FWIW I'd go for a French speaking CM. I wish my DCs heard different languages more often.

I would have thought that most parents would want their child to be spoken to in English but would not be adverse to their child learning some basic French words. If, as the parent, you were a non French speaker it could be tricky if your child was coming home and trying to tell you or ask you for something in French and you didn't understand them.

As a nanny, the children I look after speak some Hebrew - so they have been teaching me. I can say a few words, sing happy birthday and I can now count to ten in Hebrew and in return have I taught the 3 year old to count to ten in Welsh and Spanish too

I would be more than happy to speak to my english children soley in french...what a fantastic opportunity for them :-)

I wiuld be thrilled to have this experience for my child if I needed a childminder.

We live in Germany (husband in forces-so you can choose to live in an English speaking 'bubble')

I chose to send DS (just before his third birthday) to a German speaking Kindergarten and it has been a great success, and he now understands nearly everything, and speaks a reasonable amount too.

He speaks only German to the children, and only gets confused because he knows some of the staff speak some English. AFAIK most studies show that children find it easier to learn when one person uses one language (although there are huge variations in what different families choose to do).

Don't know the rules, but it seems very sad that it could be a problem if that is what both you and future clients would choose to do.

BTW DS has been in Kindergarten now for 10 months, it took about 3 months before he understood what they were saying, and about 6 months to start speaking in sentences.

in our area of north london we have a lot of fench speaking africans and I think the parents would see your french speaking as an advantage.

i think it really depends on you area and the age of the children

cookie, it looks like it would be worth you asking parents of prospective mindees when you meet them, at least, and perhaps if you become a CM and advertise actually mentioning it and targeting your ads at French speakers.

The other CM I met when choosing spoke Japanese as well as perfect English and told me she uses it with her mindeeds. That was one of the things I was very impressed by, and language wasn't an issue in choosing the CM DS now goes to.

susiey, I wonder if you're in the same area of North London as me? (There are probably several areas which fit this description though).

When I have a kid I'd love to have them be multi-lingual so a French speaking carer would be brilliant! I would say speak a mix first and then exclusively French. I'm half-Middle Eastern and really wish my Dad had taught me Farsi whe I was younger. I want to try starting to use my spare time now learning French, Farsi and BSL, all three which I intend to use in the future and all three I would teach to any children I may have!

I'd go for French