childminder

[sunflower68]

Our neighbours moved in at Christmas; since then we have struck up a good friendship. However I have 2 problems - firstly she is a childminder but sometimes her partner takes the children to the park etc for her. He is in training to be a childminder and apparantly has a certificate as an 'assistant' . Could this be right? Secondly, on a few occasions we noticed him and one of the children had let themselves into our back garden and were playing on the slide. Now, we do get on well and share happy banter but apart from it being over-intrusive, is it legal. Say the child fell? Would we be to blame?? What do you think?

[missrandom]

yeah his front two are now out (aswell as 4 bottoms), he also had a funny extra tooth at the top, that came out today, i told him the tooth fairy will give him more money for that one as no-one else has one like that! He looks really cute. William had one of his top teeth "helped out" with an accidental punch from another boy! My daughter starts school in september, and ive always said no more kids ever but ive been getting a bit broody, but we will definately NOT have anymore, i imagine you could always feel like that and then when would you stop?lol

[sunflower68]

No I don't mind at all you hijacking my thread!!

Talk about kids growing up fast -- can't get over my eldest being 9 next month. I can't help thinking he is half way to adult hood; maybe half way to leaving home (gosh I hope not. ) As for my youngest she was born near the millenium - doesn't that sound ages away now? She's almost 8.
You both sound like you have your childcare sorted. It is so hard getting it right isn't it.

By the way Missrandom I am a teaching assistant. I was interested to know which course you are doing. 4 years ago when I started my job you didn't need a course so I'm just curious.

Anyway as to my problem, I am thinking that tomorrow I will leave some toys around in the garden by the paddling pool and see where they are when I get back! Isn't it cheeky to enter someone's property?
xx

[missrandom]

its very cheeky yes, i would never dream of letting my two do that. They jump over the wall to get a ball, but this is already aggreed with the neighbours, they get the ball and come straight back.
There isnt a course that you HAVE to do for teaching assistant, from my research its discretionary (sorry dont know if thats spelt right), they like it if you are nvq 2 level, but I am doing my level 3 in childcare, I am hoping it will give me the edge over someone else. Do you enjoy your teaching assistant role? What year group do you have? I help in my sons class (yr 2), and i was staggered to see how much the teacher has to cram into the day, it didnt seem very relaxed, maybe it was because its sats time?

[sunflower68]

Hi I think you are doing the right thing by the sounds of it and it certainly pays off when it's holiday time! I could not afford a childminder on my wages anyway...
I work in a special needs school, at the moment with very hormonal and confused young teens! They are lovely but very hard work. I like it because you get to the stage where they understand stuff whereas they would be so left behind in mainstream. At the moment it is fractions and blimey it has been a tense week, getting the point across.
There are lots of courses you can do if you want as well whilst at school. Good luck anyway! x

[annie0000]

Hi Ladies,

I have often thought it would be good to work in remedial adult education, much more rewarding than working in financial services! It must be a great sense of achievemnet when these kids grasp something - you notice it in your own kids, it's like somebody just switched a light on. My eldest has started fractions already, and he is not 7 yet. I thought your youngest was still only little missrandom - but then you have a different system down there don't you - do your kids start at 4 into reception class or something? Our kids go straight into Primary 1 after nursery at roughly 5 years old. We are definitely not having any more, my hubby went for the snip when Ciar was less than a year old, we never wanted to be tempted again! It does feel strange when your youngest goes off to school, but I think because I worked, it didn't seem so bad.

Let me know how the trap works sunflower. It sounds like your two are close in age as well, there is 13 months and 4 days between my two - that's why we decided fairly quickly that we would never have any more! lol I have noticed though, that it is getting easier all the time - not sure how long this will continue, but I find other peoples teenage boys quite funny and get on well with them, so hopefully mine will be the same - but still a few years to go yet.

I can't wait for Craigs front teeth to go, he looks a bit strange because he is tall for his age and looks quite grown up, but he has these itty bitty baby teeth with big gaps between them all as his mouth has grown and the teeth have moved apart. Ciar's teeth are an exact replica of Craigs - the dentist was quite taken aback by the similarity - although you can tell that they are brothers, I don't think they look that alike and their personalities are very different.

[sunflower68]

Annie it certainly does get easier - my boy goes off around the village on his bike hunting down his chums nowadays. Never thought we'd be doing this!!
They are 14 months and 10 days apart, funnily enough a few days different from my elder brother and myself. I wouldn't have it any other way, though do you remember the nappy days - they were hard!
And I didn't go to Tescos with them for about 2 years at one stage.
Not sure if the system is the same; it sounds so actually. The 'cut off' age is Sept 1st - anyone born from then to 31st Aug is in the same year and they all start reception in the academic year they turn 5. My son is July birth so was just 4 and a bit - so little!

[annie0000]

Hi Sunflower, my hubby had most of the nappy bit, and the highlight of my week is still going to Tesco by myself - ah bliss! My best bit is that at the weekend, they are happy to go downstairs by themselves, switch on the telly and grab themselves a carton of fruit juice and a brioch which I have laid out, and we get to stay in bed until about 8.30 instead of 7. We don't have reception class, our kids start in P1. They must start if they are 5 before school starts after the summer holidays (this year that would be 20 August). However, they can start if they are 5 before the end of February of the following year - most children would do that. however, they can defer until the following summer. So, the earliest they would start school is 4 and a half, but they could in theory be nearly 6 although in practice, no-one whos childs birthday is before Christmas usually does, but you can end up with more than a year between children in the same class which is a big difference at that age. Prior to this, children have an entitlement to 12 and a half hours per week in pre school - usually taken as 5 sessions of 2 and a half hours. This is nursery though, they don't do any formal learning at all until school where in my area, they will go from 9 til 3.15 after their first day.

My boys are in P1 and P2 and will go up to P2 and 3 after the summer holidays. We have a lot of composite classes though, the school only has 8 classrooms, and too many children for one class in every year except p4 and 5 which for some strange reason, only have 19 peoples in each wheras all the other years have over 30. They then have the bother of keeping brothers and sisters apart when you have people like us that have them really close together! I am sure that they all reach the same levels in the end, our kids just have a bit of catching up to do - but then in some countries they don't start until they are 7, so our kids would just be starting now!

[missrandom]

Hi, yeah Maisie just turned 4 mid may, so she will be a young one! William is a july baby, so he was very young! They do say, for boys, it can be very beneficial to start school later, at about 6.
I really want to work in SEN, I'd love too work with autistic and aspergers children, and disorders like that, it fascinating.

[annie0000]

Hi miss - both your kids would be 5 before they started school in Scotland. Our neighbours little boy was 4 in February, and is due to start after the summer, but she is thinking of changing her mind and deferring him til next year. She needs to decide before school breaks up in 3 weeks.

[missrandom]

its difficult from a parents perspective, i would wait. but my sister is a primary teacher, and she says they miss out on far too much, then they have to catch up, which is worse for them, they starting at 4? its a hard choice

[annie0000]

They don't have to catch up, they just start a year later and then stay in that year so instead of being one of the youngest in the class, they are one of the oldest. In Craig's class the oldest boy was 7 in January ( he had been deferred from the year before) and the youngest will not be 7 until next February. It is a tough decision to take, because 2 months can make a big difference at that age, and if she decides now to defer him, she may find that by the end of August she feels he is ready, but he will have to wait another year. I am glad that my 2 were Summer birthdays and therefore both turned 5 before school and I didn't have any decisions to make, because they had to start!

I wonder sometimes if our parents ever had all these dilemmas when we were kids, I am sure that they just went with the flow and got on with things, without worrying if we might be psychologically damaged by not having the correct trainers!

We make life so hard for ourselves nowadays. lol

[missrandom]

Oh i know, i'd love to escape to foreign lands, and chill out, and let the kids run around in the sun and pool after school! But someones set the posts high and the kids have to keeep going just so there at a "normal" level. With all my info on ofsted, half the time i wish they'd just let kids be kids and have fun, in a light hearted way, not continually setting benchmarks. i know they have to do it because of some peoples major failings as parents/teachers, but for the majority of us, it gets silly.
Its good they dont have too catch up, god knows what i would do, william is accademicaly advanced but emotionaly he's not, then what do you do?

[joko]

i don't see that what she does or doesn't charge other people is any of your business.

she is entitled to charge a fair price for her services but she is also entitled to not charge family and friends.
same as any other business person may not charge family etc... its no-one elses business

if i were a child minder, i would charge everyone - but not my brother or sisters kids!

[annie0000]

Hi Joko,

Yes you are perfectly right, it is her business - what we were debating was how we would feel if our child was injured while we were paying for then to be in a childminders care, by a child whose parents were not paying for them to be there, more of a moral question really. We were also talking about the risks posed by someone using garden equipment that belongs to someone else as part of their own business. It is relevant here whether she is acting in a paid capacity as a childminder, or simply as a friend popping into your garden. There is a whole different legal and moral stance when someone is paying for childcare.