What Child Minders And Other Carers Expect From Parents

When I was working as a registered child minder I was told at several training courses that I should work in partnership with parents.

This is great in theory  but some parents work in partnership more than others.

One parent had the idea that because she was paying me to care for her child, I should be the one to do the potty training: this wasn’t a problem as I have done this several times, however all week I would have her child dry using the potty and wearing pants rather than a nappy. At the weekend when she looked after him, she decided to put a nappy back on so come Monday morning we were back to square one.

I had a similar incident with weaning off a dummy. All week with me a child was perfectly content without her dummy, at the weekend she was given the dummy back. You have to be consistent with children for such developments to be a success.

I would also expect parents to dress their children in suitable attire to match the time of year. One parent kept forgetting to send a coat in spite it being the middle of winter ( because she drove to my house she didn’t think he needed one). I kept asking for a coat, but rarely did it happen.

As a child minder I liked to look good to the public when I was out with the children, it was embarrassing for people to see me dressed up warmly and the child in my care was freezing cold. Eventually I solved the problem by letting this boy use an old coat that my son had outgrown.

I expected parents of young children to put nappies, wipes and nappy cream in the bag. One parent didn’t send nappies so I bought some from the corner shop, when I added this cost to her bill she complained that they were more expensive than the supermarket nappies she usually got – funny that she never forgot to include them again!

Some parents go out of their way to work in partnership, if I took the children out during the summer we would often have ice creams which I charged to the parents one mother would put some change in an envelope in the bag for me to use if I needed it because she didn’t want me to be out of pocket until pay day.

Most parents will do their best for their children.

I expected parents to collect their children at the time agreed on the contract.

I sometimes felt that because I worked from home parents thought it didn’t matter when they turned up. Once a parent forgot to collect his children ( usually his wife did it) I think it was a genuine mistake, but then he asked if I required payment for the extra hour ( as it was for 2 children, yes I did want the extra fee).

I never minded if a parent was late if it couldn’t be helped: if they were stuck in traffic or held up at work, but I would expect a phone call or text message informing me.

Early years professionals and parents need to have a good relationship for the arrangement to work well for everyone concerned especially the children.

Please share any experiences with me.

As always comments, questions and topic suggestions are welcome.

Until next time.

Karen