Thinking of opening a drop off Creche on Saturdays for people to leave their children for an hour or two while they shop

[nolongeraworriedmummy]

The premises I have seen are in a nursery so its very child safe, I have a police check in place, Children will be allowed to stay up to 2 hours a time and I am thinking of covering 3 upwards or something like that.

Does anyone have any experience?

I knew someone would get all sanctimonious.
Yes, of course children shop with their parents. BUT - sometimes wouldn't it be nice to go and do it in peace while they're enjoying themselves? E.g. Christmas shopping? I doubt for most people it'll be every week. For those of us who don't have relatives locally it would be a godsend ocassionally (strangely no-one ever talks about the evils of children being palmed off on grandparents). And who says it's the same ones as are in nursery all week (though doesn't matter if they are BTW)?

My ds asks every week to go to Eye Eye Kea (Ikea) as he loves the ball pit.

When my ds was in nursery - the sessions were only 2 1/2hrs long, there wouldn't have been time to go to town and back again (non car driver).

I know children shop with parents but there have been times when dd hasnt wanted to come, and there are also times when I have wanted to get presents to help santa and birthday presents without dd being there.

I had thought of all ages as premises are okay for that but If I end up with just babies say 3 under 2 then it isnt financially viable

to be brutally honest, I think if you're going to have only 8 children at a time then it will be a non starter because parents just won't want to plan their shopping trips around when they can get their children into the creche.

you will have to have people pre-booking children in, and again people just don't organize their lives like that over a weekend - with so few children drop in will be impossible to do.

I disagree, wannabe.
It's just the sort of thing that would make my life easier. For instance at the moment we're renovating the house. The idea of taking spirited DD1 (aged 3) on an extended tour of bathroom showroom is hideous (we've tried it). I would happily book in advance. I think it slightly depends on the area - if it's the kind of place where many young families have moved away from GPs and don't have support, I think it would work better.

Most people have more than one child, though. There is no way I would pay £20 to go shopping child-free, tbh.

I would pay that sort of money for particular circumstances (not for a whizz round Tesco obviously!).

Will there always be a helper with you? tbh I wouldn't leave my child with someone on a drop in basis when there was only one adult in the building and 8 children.

i would pay whatever i pay a babysitter.over lunch would be good, a child free lunch lovely.

but assuming that you had families with two children each that means you could only accommodate four families at a time - imo it would be one of those places that would be impossible to get a place when you wanted one so people just wouldn't bother.

yes a helper with me, its not a definate decision, I said in the title I was "thinking" so obviously finding the pros and cons very useful.

But assuming if you were always full with only 8 places you could look for new staff and expand?

obviously with a helper I would be able to take more that 8 as well if we are both qualified.

"don't people shop with their children anymore?"

Not if I can help it, no. It is hell, they hate it unless it involves stuff for them, I hate it unless I can look for what I want and BabyDragon tries to run away.

And not all children will have been in nursery or at school all week.

I know someone who works in a day nursery.

They open every Saturday from late November and throughout December - it's very popular apparently!

Also maybe have more than one "sitting"?

But the creche would be too expensive.

I am not being santimonious actually

whenever we have gone shopping, we work out which shops and plan a route

a short one

take crisp bribes

sorted

mine would be outraged at missing out on going round the shops and being left in a creche

also, if you were taking advanced bookings I think it's highly likely that people would book days in advance and that their plans would change or something would come up and that a lot of people probably wouldn't bother to turn up which would mean you'd have free spaces but no children to fill them.

Sorry, I know I sound really negative, I just think that given the small amount of children you want to accommodate, plus the fact you have essentially quite a high lower age limit so no babies, that it would be unlikely to work.

Yes Giddly was looking at starting smaller and then building up with more than one sitting.

I know its not in the same league but the trafford centre only does 2 and above and so does the much smaller one near where we used to live and they both seem to do okay.

I'm glad your shopping experiences are so positive, OO. Mine used to be fine, and I genuinely hope mine will be in the future.
At the moment DD1 hates it. We can't always keep it that short (e.g. while trying to sort out new bathroom and kitchen which involves boring discussions with sales people - even I start loosing the will to live). She would be thrilled with a creche.

Generally girls like shopping though don't they. My dd when she was 5 or 6 would happily wander round the shops for ages. Ds on the other hand hates it with a passion and would be more than happy to play whilst I shopped.

Here is a link to our local one Braehead I have never used it though.

ooh thanks seb will have a look.

Taking an under 2 shopping is much easier than a reluctant older 2 ime. The worst an under 2 can do is scream loudly and prolonged in the pushchair. Taking ds shopping which he hates with a passion is a nightmare, he drags his feet, tries to run off etc etc.

I'd gladly stick him in a creche.