Is this a normal thing for CM to do?

[Theresnoplacelikehome]

I like my daughter being with a CM. Before she was at aschool I liked that she would get a normal every day routine, a home away from home etc.

Now she is at school she is only at the CM after school for 3 hrs til 6pm. SO I see it as chance for her to do activities and play with the other kids.

However, I found out yesterday that in the last week she has been sat for 1.5hrs in the drs surgery as CM own son had an appointment and then yesterday she and the other mindees (babies) were taken straight to CM's sons judo class from school and all had to sit on the bench for an hour whilst he did his class. She says they will now be doing this once a week.

It's annoyed me a bit. Surely one of the things you have to sacrifice if you are a CM is the fact that your own kids can't do after school clubs if you have other mindees who will be sat there for an hour. I pay her to take my child to watch her own do judo?

I don't want to moan if this is a generally accepted thing for CM to do though... what are your thoughts?

Ok for the doctor's appointment (these things can happen), but for her mindees to have o sit through a judo-lesson every week is not acceptable.
Speak to her, maybe you can find some form of arrangement? Maybe she shouldn't charge you for the time her ds is at judo?

Docotrs appt - if an emergency/unplanned but necessary it wouldn't bother me.
A general appt though would as it could have been planned for a time when there were no mindees to consider. An hour and a half in a doctors surgery is not a good idea if it can be avoided.

The club is a little bit as well. I would want to know what the mindees are doing during the hour that the club is on. Are they being entertained/are there activities or a safe place to run around in and let off steam?

I wouldn't mind. My cms ds regularly has to attend hospital appointments and she takes dd2 (and dd1 if its during the school holidays) with her. She always asks if Im ok with it and they are not the type of appointments you can choose a time or a day to fit in with when you are working.

I also wouldn't mind the judo club, but I would think that she should take along something to entertain the other children.

I decided to use a cm so that my dds have a more home like environment than a nursery or after school club, and dd1 thinks of it as her second home.

Did she ask if it was okay to watch the judo or tell you it was happening?

I wouldnt mind the doctors appointment, presumerably she didnt want to sit there for 1.5 hrss either but hoped for a 10 min job

I wouldnt make my own kids sit on a bench for an hour while the other had a class, i would take them to leisure centre cafe/for a walk/to the closest park or whatever.

Are you sure the judo isnt every week now but that she only had to stay for first session and from next week will be able to just drop him off?

I'm a CM and yes my own kids don't do any classes anymore as I have to give priority to my business.
But, I keep one day free for my own familly as some parents expect you to be available for 50hrs a week when you have your own children.
It gets easier if the CM has older children as the activities are held later.
Pity the OP's CM does not have a friend who could take her own child to the activities.
Must be hell for the kids, watching for one hour

As a childminder for many years I would personally not expect children to sit through my own children's activities. I have taken minded children to short dental appointments in the past because its impossible to get appointments at late evening or at week ends. It should have been explained to you what the children would be doing, and what do your children actually think of having to wait? It might seem like being paid to do nothing to those of you who are not childminders but in actual fact we have to go through an awful lot to get our registration to prove that we are capable of being very responsible people trusted to look after children, we attend a constant stream of training courses covering many subjects and we have to be able turn outings into eductional exercises that encorporate the 6 areas of learning and be able to write up observations on each child. Does the CM in question make these outing as interesting as possible?
I have found that I suddenly become a bad childminder when someone owes me some money!

Can I ask, how do you know it was 1.5 hours at the doctors? Did the childminder confirm this? It just seems a very long time for any doctors appointment to me and I am wondering if it was shorter than that but seemed like an hour and a half to your child? Sorry if I am wrong, its just a thought. The Doctors thing wouldn't bother me as the CM has to think of her children too and I assume that she has other children on role too? So going on the days she doesn't have your DD might mean she just has different mindees to take?

I wouldn't be happy with the weekly class. Dr appointment ok, though.
Of course cm's dc should be able to attend activities, but not while I'm paying her to have my ds. I'd be happy to work out an arrangement where she took ds to the playground nearby or even used an assistant or cover cm to look after my ds (as long as I'd met her myself and approved of the situation), but not for ds to sit and wait through the class, regardless of if he had toys there or not.
Fortunately, I do not have this problem. My cm is perfect in every way She really is, I completely lucked out!!

doctors and dentists are a no brainer, do you expect the cm to not take her own children to those? or should she book time off, like you would, to take her own children thus leaving you with no after school care?

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I agree, its is very hard to get an appointment with a doctor so sometimes you have to take mindees with you. You can't always get time off from parents if they can't get back from work in time so what do you do?

I do think the cm should have left the child in his/her class though and come back to pick up, I know its hard, the kid wants Mum to watch but the mindee is bored, I know I've also have had the same when my son was first playing football, I used to take one of the mindees into the park next to the sport centre if the weather was ok and only watch now and again.

I wish I was getting £6.50 ph, we are lucky to get £3!