Childminders - can you tell me ...

[FeelingLucky]

Do you usually charge for settling in period?

I give a first session of up to 2 hours free. Everything else is chargeable. But during the settling in period there is no minimum charge - can book by the hour or half days etc until the full contract starts.

Thanks Ayla99

When I started CMing I didn't charge for settling in period... but I ended up giving LOADS of free hours of childcare for every child, and a couple of parents took the p and would arrive late... like an hour or two late! But they weren't paying for the care so weren't that fussed. They also liked looong settling in times, spread over 2-3 weeks... ;)

Since then I always charge for settling in. They are taking up a space, using my resources, eating my food, are in my care with undivided attention

i do a one hour and then a two hour session for free for very little ones, and maybe and afternoon play session of 2 hours for preschool or reception.

i'm a parent not a CM but just wanted to say I appreciated my CM offering to do settling for free. (we did it over a few days). On the final settling day, he was there for about 5 hours and because we were only contracting for 6 weeks (long story), I ended up paying her about 2/3 of her day rate as a goodwill gesture. not that i wouldn't have rather been with him myself that day, but I felt like she was putting her resources into getting him comfortable for what was only going to be a fairly short-term source of revenue for her.

Free settling periods although surprisingly little parents actually bother to take up the offer, in fact in the last year, no parent has. Shame, it's their for all our benefits, but most especially the child.

If a parent is staying with the child for a general "getting to know each other better" session, I certainly wouldn't charge.

If I have sole charge of a child, then I charge my normal rate.

I don't charge when the parent is there, but I do charge otherwise.