A few words from angry mum

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I look after X term-time only every day. He is older than my DS and DD. The past few months have been really hard and his behaviour has been really hard to deal with. Most of the negative stuff has been towards my DD who is 6. The other week I had enough and I rang the mum and had a chat. I didn't use any negative words and was really calm even though I was really angry. The mum said she would have a chat with X then she went on the defensive. Said it was because he was bored and if I do this type of job and have so many children in my house then I should expect this sort of thing.

Parents will often go on the defensive, it's only natural. PFB syndrome and all that.

You should expect for this thing to happen but it doesnt mean its ok and that you have to put up with older ones being rude...they should know better and you were quite right to talk ot her about it. Maybe once shes thought about it though she will calm down. If you are confident though that you are providing good care then make that clear to her because if you are weak or look uncertain then she will gain momentum from it. Ppoor you, thats awful...you must be upset.

i agree, you have to be confident that this is not becasue of anything you are doing (or not doing). You also have to stress the point about the partnership between the 2 of you and open lines of communication.

I think it is natural for a parent to react a little negatively, had you ever said any thing about his behaviour before or was the telephone call a shock to her?

I had an afterschooler that I had to gently 'get rid of' he wasnt really naughty but rough and noisy(normal for 6) but he scared and knocked over the little ones.

Sometimes it is really too hard to juggle different age groups as one childminder, you cant always please a baby a toddler and an older one all at the same time, especially in winter time when the garden is out of use to get rid of energy.

I am sure you have done a great job but I think maybe its time for the child to move to an after school club with children his own age.

anyway if a parent wont discuss behaviour issues then its impossible to care for their child whatever the age.

good luck with any action you take.

What do you do with him? is he bored? sit down with him and see if you can resolve this with him, ask him what he wants to do while he is with you. If its something thats not going to be resolved then I would give notice as its not fair on your own dd.
I had to give notice to a child who just didn't fit in with my own children, he irritated them and they started to resent my time being taken up amusing him, to be fair he was easy to care for but had a few odd habits! say no more..
You have to do whats right for your family, they come first.
ONe of the biggest challenges of childminding is making the EYFS work with the playwork principles that come with looking after afterschool children, some childminders are beginning to be picked up on this.Many after school clubs are taking qualifications in the playwork principles and this looks like it will come in for childminders as well, i'm adding the 2 playwork units to my nvq3 and they work quite differently to the eyfs.