Acceptable time off for childminder

Nightbird

Hi,
I was just wondering how days apart from the usual Christmas, Easter and two weeks off during the year is acceptable.
My childminder has stated that she needs an extra 5.5 days off between now and August.
One of those days is the day before Christmas Eve where both myself and my husband are in work.
Do you think this is taking advantage of myself and my husband?

Wantobe

That's one of the disadvantages with a childminder- she is on her own so no-one can cover for her like in a creche. I found this too when my children were with a childminder, however in my case the advantages outweighted the disadvantages. She was kind, caring, my children were in a home environment, she was affectionate with them, had plenty of time for them, was flexible if on the odd occasion I needed to be late or early etc etc.

With childminding both sides need to be a little flexible, only you can decide if it is worth it or not. If your child is happy...

deisemum

Where is the childminder working as in your home or hers?

January

Wantobe wrote: »

That's one of the disadvantages with a childminder- she is on her own so no-one can cover for her like in a creche. I found this too when my children were with a childminder, however in my case the advantages outweighted the disadvantages. She was kind, caring, my children were in a home environment, she was affectionate with them, had plenty of time for them, was flexible if on the odd occasion I needed to be late or early etc etc.

With childminding both sides need to be a little flexible, only you can decide if it is worth it or not. If your child is happy...

+1

She's given you plenty of notice that she's going to need these days off, it's not like she's telling you a week in advance that she needs next Wednesday off. It should be loads of time for you to find alternative childcare for those days, maybe a family member would be willing to do it. I'm assuming she's looking for these days as unpaid leave?

Childminders are a lot different to creche's, as said if your child was in a creche there would be someone to cover those days off. I'm sure you would be paying an awful lot more if your child was in a creche rather than at a childminders.

If your child is happy with the childminder I'd tend to give those days to her instead of uprooting the child to somebody different and having the anxiety of the settling in period over again...

Nightbird

Thanks for the replies,

She is very good at what she does, but so are most childminders. I feel I have always been very fair to her as the parent.

All these days off means that if my child is sick Il need to take unpaid leave to stay home and mind him as all my holiday leave will be taken up covering for the planned days off . Im lucky enough to have a job and I dont want to jeopardise that by taking too much time off. She will in fact have more holiday days in the year than myself. My husband works away from home Mon-Fri.

I know what I have to do, and that is send him to a creche. Thanks for your opinions.

Nightbird

deisemum wrote: »

Where is the childminder working as in your home or hers?

She works from her home.

LegacyUser

Nightbird wrote: »

She will in fact have more holiday days in the year than myself.

I would imagine she also gets paid quite a bit less than you or your husband. Swings and roundabouts.

Nightbird

Guest/guest wrote: »

I would imagine she also gets paid quite a bit less than you or your husband. Swings and roundabouts.

Not my problem, Ive always paid her what she has asked for.

She made a lifestyle choice to stay at home with her kids.

LegacyUser

Nightbird - It sounds to me like you completely take your childminder for granted. One of my best friends is a childminder and she works ridiculous hours, ends up doing all the household chores, not just routine stuff everything. She gets home from work and goes to bed because she's that exhaused, she never gets days off. She has been in hospital due to been ill from tiredness and stress I would imagine. And before you say this is a once off it's not she worked for a woman previous to this and she was a complete wench. Give your childminder the days off she's given you more than enough notice and probably deserves it.

Khannie

For what it's worth:

When we had a childminder for our youngfella the way it worked was this:
If she asked for time off, no problem but she didn't get paid.
If we took the kids away on holidays or whatever, our call so she got paid for that time.

That was how it worked and it worked well.

Do I think she's taking advantage of yourself and your husband? Eh. No. I don't see how. It might be inconvenient for you, but it's probably inconvenient for my employer when I take time off. Do I care? Not in the slightest.

littlebug

Nightbird wrote: »

Thanks for the replies,

She is very good at what she does, but so are most childminders. .

Not necessarily... I could tell you a few horror stories. I remember someone telling me that if you're lucky enough to find a good childminder you should treat them well and do your best to keep them. In my experience a truly good childminder is worth her weight in gold and well worth being flexible for.
However if you've already made up your mind to send him to a creche then good luck with it.

Nightbird

username21 wrote: »

Nightbird - It sounds to me like you completely take your childminder for granted. One of my best friends is a childminder and she works ridiculous hours, ends up doing all the household chores, not just routine stuff everything. She gets home from work and goes to bed because she's that exhaused, she never gets days off. She has been in hospital due to been ill from tiredness and stress I would imagine. And before you say this is a once off it's not she worked for a woman previous to this and she was a complete wench. Give your childminder the days off she's given you more than enough notice and probably deserves it.

This caught my eye.
My childminders hours are 7.30am til 3.30pm Monday - Thursday and 7.30 til 12.30 on a friday. Im never late picking up, infact Im frequently early. Im never late paying her. Infact I have been paying her for her days off up until now because its easier to hand over a full weeks wage.

I even added an extra 2 days pay to her wage when I got my bonus. Believe me Ive looked after her because she is an excellent CM.

However one needs to draw the line somewhere, and as good as she is I cant jeopardise my job by taking too much time off in the year. Also I believe I work hard enough to be able to use my holiday days to spend quality time with my husband and child.

Not everyone is out to use and abuse Childminders. Infact I feel like the one who has been used. Who else would like to be dictated to about when to work and when to take time off work/ask favours for childminding without any type of consultation?

No matter anyway, Ive taken steps to ensure I wont be in this situation any more.

Thanks for your time.

Nightbird

Khannie wrote: »

For what it's worth:

When we had a childminder for our youngfella the way it worked was this:
If she asked for time off, no problem but she didn't get paid.
If we took the kids away on holidays or whatever, our call so she got paid for that time.

That was how it worked and it worked well.

Do I think she's taking advantage of yourself and your husband? Eh. No. I don't see how. It might be inconvenient for you, but it's probably inconvenient for my employer when I take time off. Do I care? Not in the slightest.

There is no flexiblility, Last year I was in hospital due to miscarriage, she refused to take my daughter til 6.30pm, the earliest time she could be picked up. I had to ask my sisters boyfriend to step in and mind her for the day. Is that my childminder going out or her way to be accommodating? But because she is so good with our child we let it go.

I hope everyone understands that Im not the villian. Nor is she really, shes just thinking of number 1 as does everyone I guess.

Khannie

Nightbird wrote: »

Last year I was in hospital due to miscarriage, she refused to take my daughter til 6.30pm, the earliest time she could be picked up.

I would have sacked her there and then to be honest.

littlebug

Your last post does shed a slightly different light on things tbh. You have to go with whatever works best for your family really. In my own situation the flexibility works both ways and I think that's how it should be.

As a word of warning.... when both of mine first started mixing with bigger groups of children on a daily basis ie creche and pre-school they tended to pick up every bug going... cue lots and lots of time off work!

Nightbird

Hi littlebug,hopefully it wont be the case but I will gladly give up my holiday time to care for my little girl if she needed me.
Ive decided to inform my CM of our decision tomorrow, Ive provisionally arranged to send my little girl to her new place on Monday as I have a feeling that CM wont be interested in working notice, I will however offer her notice till the end of the month.
Wish me luck.

MojoMaker

Wish you luck for shafting someone who'd like to have a little time off and which doesn't quite fit with your exalted schedule? You're having a laugh right?

I know, I know, not interested in accepting any responsibility your majesty. You pay her so why should she be entitled to a decent life of her own. Celtic Tiger wasn't built on that kind of lazy half-assed approach to industry and business!

Go on, crush her. Her loss after all. She'll think twice before jerking around a future employer to be sure

Nightbird

MojoMaker wrote: »

Wish you luck for shafting someone who'd like to have a little time off and which doesn't quite fit with your exalted schedule? You're having a laugh right?

I know, I know, not interested in accepting any responsibility your majesty. You pay her so why should she be entitled to a decent life of her own. Celtic Tiger wasn't built on that kind of lazy half-assed approach to industry and business!

Go on, crush her. Her loss after all. She'll think twice before jerking around a future employer to be sure

That is so bloody unfair.

A little time off? Seriously? Paid Christmas holidays , Paid two weeks off in the summer, Paid bank holidays Paid Easter break, Plus atleast 6 paid random days in the last year. Not too mention being paid a full day rate of 50e for a half day every Friday.

Are you trying to wind me up?

Nevyn

MojoMaker civil posting is expected of all posters in this forum and personal attacks are not allowed, please change your tone.

_Kooli_

Nightbird wrote: »

That is so bloody unfair.

A little time off? Seriously? Paid Christmas holidays , Paid two weeks off in the summer, Paid bank holidays Paid Easter break, Plus atleast 6 paid random days in the last year. Not too mention being paid a full day rate of 50e for a half day every Friday.

Are you trying to wind me up?

€50 a day. 7:30am - 3:30pm . Is that even minimum wage?

littlebug

_Kooli_ wrote: »

€50 a day. 7:30am - 3:30pm . Is that even minimum wage?

That's something that always comes up in childminder threads. Bear in mind that most child minders mind more than one child so probably double/ triple or more that figure. That's a fairly standard rate... it varies in different parts of the country. We don't know how many children the woman minds so commenting on how much she earns is irrelevant. Actually most set the fee themselves...

deisemum

As she works from her own home then minimum wage doesn't come into it as the childminder is self-employed and sets her own rate. In my area even qualified and insured childminders average €30 per day for a full time place and €35 - €40 per day for part time full day places.

stovelid

We're paying about 60 quid a day for a crèche (500 quid for two days a week) so you're not really saving a huge amount by paying 50 quid a day for a child minder.

LeoB

I dont like creche's. Well I am not a fan of them but it may be your only choice unless you know someone else. My wife minded kids for a few years and was not very well paid but she was in our house around our kids so we felt it was win-win situation. She used to bring kids to Doc if needed. You build up a bond with the child. We still see 2 of them most weeks and last year the parents went away for few days and we took the 2 kids for 4 nights.

I would get rid of the childminder a.s.ap. In fact after your miscarrage she would not have seeen my child again.

Good luck hope all works well for you.

LegacyUser

Nightbird - Similarly she could say why should she be dictated to about when she can take her holidays to spend with her own kids. You go on about her "lifestyle choice", well it was a lifestyle choice in both you and your partner deciding to work all day and get her to mind your kids. You can't stop her having a life which seems to be the mentality of a lot of people with childminders.

LegacyUser

Nightbird wrote: »

Hi littlebug,hopefully it wont be the case but I will gladly give up my holiday time to care for my little girl if she needed me.
Ive decided to inform my CM of our decision tomorrow, Ive provisionally arranged to send my little girl to her new place on Monday as I have a feeling that CM wont be interested in working notice, I will however offer her notice till the end of the month.
Wish me luck.

That's dead nice of you, you're quite the understanding parent. Yes she could have taken your daughter while you were in hospital, as most childminders would as they normally form a special bond with the family. But there doesn't seem to be any of that as far as you're concerned she should jump at your becking call and work whatever hours suit. So maybe this is the real reason she's not willing to do any extra hours. Oh and by the way she has her own kids who she minds all day and yours, Give her a break.

LegacyUser

Nightbird wrote: »

That is so bloody unfair.

A little time off? Seriously? Paid Christmas holidays , Paid two weeks off in the summer, Paid bank holidays Paid Easter break, Plus atleast 6 paid random days in the last year. Not too mention being paid a full day rate of 50e for a half day every Friday.

Are you trying to wind me up?

You seem to be forgetting you're entitled to 20 days a year paid holidays, paid bank holidays etc.

Nightbird

Well I offered my CM 4 weeks notice but she refused it as I thought and wants to finish tomorrow.
I was expecting this so thankfully I have alternate childcare in place for Monday.
Username, I dont know what your problem is but what employer would allow unlimited days off on top of the standard annual leave?
I know that my employer wouldnt.
Yes childminders do a wonderful job minding children, some more than others. Gardai, Nurses and Firefighters etc also do a worthy job but I dont think that even the employers of those people would put up with them taking too much time off outside the terms of their contract.

Anyway, thank you all for your thoughts.

LegacyUser

Yes, thankfully you have another childminder starting Monday until she upsets you and you need another one. Did you ever stop and think of the implications it might have on your children chopping and changing minders.

Nightbird

username21 wrote: »

Yes, thankfully you have another childminder starting Monday until she upsets you and you need another one. Did you ever stop and think of the implications it might have on your children chopping and changing minders.

Emm, ONE child.
Out of interest, why are you taking this so personally? Do you believe you recognise me from my posts? My child has only had one minder her whole life so I dont know where you get this 'chopping and changing' from.

Khannie

Username21: Register an account please. I wont be approving any more of your posts (I didn't approve your last one either).