Is this standard process by childminders?

[BernardButlersBra]

Got an email from our childminders today asking if we needed any assistance with our children’s transition to another provider. We are confused as we weren’t aware of this?! They basically reply saying you weren’t very happy with our change in opening hours so we opened up our wait list filled our slots. A few months ago they emailed out of the blue announced they were changing their closing time from 500pm to 530pm. We replied acknowledging the message, stating it didn’t work that well for us and was there no consultation? They said no. We confirmed we acknowledged the email and would start with the new hours -we started the new hours last week. Then it all went quiet until today! Husband is on the verge of tears, lm of the opinion let’s go get some more childcare. Is it odd that they didn’t just terminate the contract with an end date? There have been no other issues e.g. always pay on time, never late to pick up, if one of them is sick then we collect ASAP. I guess they know they are in a position of strength and want no dissent in the camp!

Do you mean from 6pm to 5.30 pm?

That's very strange, when is your child meant to stop going there? Have you picked up the phone to speak to someone?

You might have to just find somewhere else anyway, they sound rubbish.

I don't understand why a later closing time would make any difference to you?

They sound awful. I never found childminders very satisfactory at all. I would consider a nursery. More reliable. And don't go on holiday or go off sick.

I think the timings in the OP are a typo. I think she meant either from 530 to 5 or from 6 to 530. Either way, it’s very unprofessional but I wouldn’t want someone like that looking after my children anyway.

No it isn't a standard process. Frankly your childminder sounds weird, I'd run!

It’s a typo

SORRY I MEANT CHANGE FROM 530 TO 500. ITS DIFFICULT TO GET THERE FOR 500

It’s not just me then -these are the only childminders we have used so far

Oh, l am!

It's odd. Completely the opposite of my childminder.

Weirdly the same thing happened with ours. She reduced her hours by 30 mins, then dropped a day (we work full time, but I happened to be off on mat leave so it was temporarily fine) and then gave some ridiculous reason to terminate - we had to find a nursery place with 4 weeks notice. We think she was trying to nudge us out but when we didn’t bite, she had to push. No idea why!! 😂 Needless to say, we won’t be using childminders again!

In a word: no. It just sounds like you've got an odd childminder!! I would speak with them though in person, just to make sure you're on the same page (presumably you have a chat anyway each drop off/pick up?)

That hasn't been the case with any of the childminders I've known, and all would go out of their way to be flexible for a current family even if their new pick up timings were earlier. When our childminder put up her hourly rate (for the first time in 4 years), she said current families could have a discount, for example, but we paid the "new" rate anyway and she didn't charge us extra on occasions we were late due to tube delays etc beyond our control whereas all of the nurseries in our area had extra fees if the parent was more than a few minutes late*. From conversations with colleagues and friends, I hear of a lot more stories of "bad" nurseries/needing to change nurseries at short notice than I have heard stories about childminders. It only seems to be on here that childminders are considered to be sub par to nurseries rather than in my day to day world.

*We both work full time in professional jobs with a London commute of 1hr plus each way, without any family within 3-4 hours drive, so our childminder wasn't the "easy" option but it worked extremely well for us.

@cardboard33 its interesting as must be thread dependent; I find on here childminders are pushed way more than nurseries and I’ve seen so many disparaging comments about nurseries, mostly about low paid ‘girls’ and ‘one room all day’ sort of remarks.

I know childminders who are reliable, professional and give children an enriching environment and range of experiences. I also know childminders who gather at the shabbiest soft play centre in town every day sitting around gossiping about the parents of their charges. The fact you had a great childminder doesn’t mean bad ones are a rarity, any more than our amazing (and expensive!) nursery doesn’t mean there aren’t poorly maintained and poorly staffed ones.

how old is your child and do you receive the funded hours? LAs pay a lot more for under 3s so if your child recently turned 3 there may be a financial motive.

or does your child have SEND? My son is autistic and I was shocked at the utter discrimination against him when I looked for providers for his funded hours. Send is seen as a lot of work and with high ratios and low support from the LA it’s not practical to take them.

im a childminder myself and have heard theses discussions by early years providers. I want to stress this isn’t just childminders I’ve heard nursery and preschool managers saying these things on training courses too. It’s an open secret.

I promise there are good childminders out there, just as there are bad ones. The same as with nursery.

it may be just a miscommunication and she thought you gave notice when you questioned the change of time. If you haven’t been given official notice you should insist they work the notice period while you look for alternative childcare. If you challenging the notice gets her to extend your space but you feel she really wants you to go then keep the space while you look. Once the trust is gone for your childcare you need to change it but you don’t want to rush to get a new provider as any decent childcare will have a waiting list generally

How strange, my childminder cut hours short this year too, also to 5! I think it’s because all of the families using her wfh or work shifts so it doesn’t make a tonne of difference and 8-5.30 x 5 days is a very long week!! I do understand it but was also surprised at the change, the day rate also hadn’t changed so same cost for 2.5hours less each week.

I mostly pick up at 3 anyway but it is a bit annoying at times when you need the late pick up

See. This was one of my theories, children aren't super little anymore and we do use funded hours. It all seemed a bit too much of a coincidence to me

No SEND we are aware of or they have flagged up to us?

@Burntt well, yeah after this stunt then the trust had gone and l can't go back. So l won't be discussing it further with them.

I have had an instinct she wanted to lose a day as well. So before we know it then they would close early and we would have to find another provider for the other day.

They've given away our hours and days from the start of September so odds on we won't find a replacement before then. Which they very well know

Is your child aged 3? She may have been trying to push you out by stealth as 3 year old ms receive less funding than babies or 1-2 year olds.
Not great! It’s a shame as my childminder was the best!

Not that far away! The sneaky way they have gone about it has rang alarm bells. Plus the epically long WhatsApp messages sent to justify themselves! No need for them if you are in the right surely?! I didn't want a debate, l just stated this is the first time they had communicated that so l hadn't realised and when the last day would be

Not been my experience of childminders - mine were always very flexible and accommodating (within their boundaries, which were fair enough).

Good luck finding new childcare though - argh. I guess you’d have had to move eventually with the new finish time being too early though. But unfair, sneaky and petulant for her to go about it like this.

That was my point - don't tar the same types of childcare providers (ie: all childminders, all nurseries) with the same brush as there are fantastic and not so fantastic ones, plus what works for some families/children won't suit others. And it doesnt have to be an either/or scenario - we did morning in a school nursery combined with childminder afternoon (she collected him from school) for preschool.

However, to go back to the OPs point - it does seem to have been handled poorly by this specific childminder and if the OP really wants to know then they need to ask. It could be for any number of reasons or a misunderstanding at the time of the email response.

Hope you get something sorted!

My childminder does both. Going to exciting places or cheep playgroups with her friends where she can drink tea and chat. But the kids benifit from these freeplay groups, and she's human and needs adult contact, that a childminder would otherwise not get much of.