Hi there,
I feel like I'm going round in circles at the moment regarding my 10 month old dd's childcare, and would really love some second opinions.
We found a local childminder that we liked a few months ago. She has been a cm for 20 years so has loads of experience and the children in her house seemed happy and contented - she appears to treat the children as part of her extended family. Her references were really good too. I like the idea of my dd being in a family/home setting and getting to know one person. The cm looks after two 3 year old girls and one older girl after school, so I thought this might be a nice mix and not too busy.
However, I'm going back to work in 4 weeks and have just started settling in sessions. Since then, there have been a couple of issues that have led me to doubt my choice. Firstly, on our first visit, there was a big dog in the house (who apparently she looks after for her son several times a week). The dog was very boisterous and not being kept apart from the children or controlled in any way. I was very concerned about this as she had not mentioned the fact that there would be a dog in the house before! Since then, I have told her that I'm not happy about the dog being there and she was very apologetic and has assured me that she won't look after the dog whilst my dd is in her care. Still not happy that she didn't ask me about it beforehand though!
Secondly, when I returned from the first settling visit, I noticed that my dd was playing with some toys that had small parts and not suitable for a 10 month old. I have now mentioned this to the cm too and she assured me that this was an oversight and she is normally very rigorous about keeping toys separate. She said that she makes the older children (3 years olds!) very aware that smaller toys must not be given to the baby. Hmm - still not very reassuring though!
On the plus side, dd has seemed very happy there so far.
However, now that I'm inclined to doubt our cm, I keep focusing on negative points. For example, on our second visit (a 2 hour visit), she had put on a DVD to entertain my dd whilst she gave the older children their lunch. Now I'm worried dd will just watch TV all day long whilst she's there! Also, the house is very busy with the phone ringing a lot and people popping in and out and the cm is a very chatty person (which I originally thought was a good thing) but now I'm worried this will detract from her caring for the children. Also, she made a comment to me about my dd being a good baby and I had obviously not "spoilt her by picking her up and carrying her around all the time". Actually, this isn't true and I don't believe in this sentiment at all and it has got me worried that the cm won't give my dd the affection that she needs.
Sorry - this is rather rambling. I have since found a small local nursery (only 6 babies) that seems really caring and friendly and I'm wondering whether to put my dd there instead. But I'd still much prefer for dd to be cared for in a home environment. However, there are no other suitable cms in my area - believe me, I've searched! Has anyone got any thoughts on all this??? Please help me to focus my thoughts - this is driving me mad! 