Childminding enquiry

[GrannyPeony]

Hello everyone.
I am really new to Mumsnet - just joined, and I am hoping for your help. I am a Grandma (so, obviously a Mum, but a long time ago). I have two grown up sons, one of whom lives in rural South Lincolnshire, nearest town is Spalding, with his wife and my two gorgeous grandsons. For many reasons my eldest son gave up full time work to become a full-time Dad when their second child was born, and my daughter-in-law returned to work full-time. This has worked very well. However, this year my youngest grandson will be starting full time school, and, naturally, my son is considering his returning to work options. They will really need a childminder, either for the pre-school morning and take to school session, or the after school pick up and keep until Mum picks them up - I believe he will be looking at part-time and/or shift work, initially. I live in mainland Europe now, so I am about as much use to them as a chocolate fireguard really, so this is my way of trying to help their looming dilemma. Obviously I want to protect their privacy and confidentiality - I have not told my son I am going to do this, but I am a Mum first and foremost and just want to be able to help them move to the next stage of their lives, and try to make his transition back into work slightly less stressful(!). I am hoping this network can point me in some positive directions. I believe he has made some enquiries amongst parents at my eldest grandson's, and my youngest grandson's nursery too. I think he feels if they actually lived in Spalding there might be a chance of finding a childminder, but he is worried that being pretty rural it is going to be hard/impossible. Any help, guidance, ideas would be really useful for me - I could then encourage my son to join Mumsnet, maybe, or is that not allowed? Thank you, in advance of any help.

Tell them to ask at the local school.....staff there may well know which childminders do drop offs, etc. Or ask on their local facebook page....my village has a fb page and I often see people asking there.

As mentioned by yellowbellycat, the village facebook page and the primary school is a good place to start. Also other parents and the Spotted Spalding facebook page.

This site lists a fair few childminders for Spalding: www.childcare.co.uk/find/Childminders I have had a look myself in the past when we thought we might need one. If your son is in a village/rural near Spalding, they may be limited. Our village near Spalding has a preschool and a primary but does not have any childminders, for example. The school offers wraparound care in conjunction with the preschool though - have you asked whether anything like that exists where your son lives?

Good luck. It's lovely that you are trying to help out.

Thanks for those replies. It sort of confirms how rare childminders are in rural South Lincolnshire. I have spoken to my son and told him I have made this enquiry, so I am not going behind his back. Can I ask another question - is it a really onerous task to register as a childminder these days? I just wondered why there are so few childminders around. It was a real option (when my two were very small) for lots of women whose own children were commencing full time school, but who did not feel they wanted to hit the traditional 9 - 5 workplace, or shift work, for a few more years. I was very lucky to have a childminder who had registered in order to look after her own grandchildren, and had space for my youngest son too. It was so good, as he had the company of her grandchildren, and she was like a third grandma to both my kids. If I lived in the UK I would consider registering so I could childmind my own grandkids - but I suppose regulations have become inhibitive over the years?

Excess paperwork and regulations

I have considered it, as has my primary teacher husband, but it has always seemed like we'd need to spend a lot of money adapting our home and garden, with no certain guarantee of return on it.