Child Care Cost South Kildare

Ebony1

Just wondering what the going rate is for child care in south Kildare. We're currently paying 30 euro per day and 15 euro for a half day. Our childminder is not registered and has recently lost her illness benefit payment. She's now informed us that she wants at least 40 euro per day. She also said that she will not mind our 2 year old for half days if she doesn't get at least 3 full days per week. Most weeks we would have 3 full days but because my husband only has casual work at the moment, there are weeks that we don't need her for 3 full days. She's putting us under a lot of pressure, and we don't think it's up to her to decide how long she minds our son for. We don't feel that we should pay her to mind our son if my husband can do the same for free. We also provide her with all the food, toys, nappies etc.. that she needs. We really think that she is trying to compensate for her loss of illness benefit as she was happy with the arrangements (pay, the amount of full and half days which usually change on a weekly basis) we had before that. I tried to get a feel for the national average for child care and as far as I can tell, we are paying her the average amount, especially taken into account that we provide everything she needs. Anyone any thoughts on this ?

Moonbeam

I would get a new registered insured childminder and pay them the extra money.
I can understand that she wants a min guarantee of hours and that is only natural and what I would also expect.

gsxr1

If you are happy with her and want to keep her on just say no to the pay rise.
Its in her best interest and wont have any choice but to stay .
She wont leave. With so many peeps not working, the need for child minders is also getting smaller.

It cost me 27 per full day in one of the best creches in Naas with qualified minders.

30 of an unqualified person is taking the micky

Ballyman

gsxr1 wrote: »

If you are happy with her and want to keep her on just say no to the pay rise.
Its in her best interest and wont have any choice but to stay .
She wont leave. With so many peeps not working, the need for child minders is also getting smaller.

It cost me 27 per full day in one of the best creches in Naas with qualified minders.

30 of an unqualified person is taking the micky

Where is the creche in Naas for €27 a day? You can PM me if you prefer

Moonbeam

and me too please.

I dunno how a creche can exist while only charging that.
Unless it is a subsidised community creche?

rondeco

I'd love to know that creche too please!!

Le_Dieux

gsxr1 wrote: »

If you are happy with her and want to keep her on just say no to the pay rise.
Its in her best interest and wont have any choice but to stay .
She wont leave. With so many peeps not working, the need for child minders is also getting smaller.

It cost me 27 per full day in one of the best creches in Naas with qualified minders.

30 of an unqualified person is taking the micky

Ebony 1: The above advise is well worth taking in. What GSXR says is so true - she will NOT want to lose You. She is taking the pi**, and will retract her demands when challenged, of that I would be fairly certain. Also, the fact she is NOT registered gives her less leverage.

As GSXR says, if You are happy with her, then give her a chance to drop her increased demand before making a final decision. I know I would.

Good luck, and please keep us informed.

gsxr1

I would rather not say as it may be different for new children.

My lad has been there for years.

Children IMO are far better of mixing and having fun in creche . Its far better for them. Its a fight to get my young one to leave every day.

We had a child minder, but came to realise that sitting watching TV all day with the occasional walk and coloring in session was hardly stimulating.

If you get a creshe to take the child for the right money, you should really consider it. They come one leaps and bounds

Ebony1

Thanks all for comments and opinions. Glad to hear that we're not the unreasonable ones. We are looking into other options as I do agree that there are some advantages offered by a creche that you wouldn't get from a childminder. We've not giving into her demands and she's being very nice to us for the last week. So you may be right that she doesn't want to loose us. We found another local childminder who only charges 25 euro for a full day and seems to be very flexible with times too. We'll certainly keep her in mind in case our current childminder starts demanding again. This is the third time she's done this to us, and it's always around the time she looses money elsewhere (e.g. husband on reduced hours, loss of illness benefit etc..). Myself and hubbie have decided that this is the last time we'll put up with it (we've never given into her demands by the way), and the next time she threatens us with having to find someone else to do it for that money, we will take her word for it. We like her to stay on because she's very good with our son and she does take good care of him and we trust her completely in that regard. No reason though we can build that sort of trust with another childminder or creche.

Rabidlamb

OP, we were paying €50 per full day to a local woman (South Kildare) for our 2 year old & 4 year old.
We paid her 52 weeks a year even though she got holidays when we got holidays.
Cash in hand btw, she was very good.

rameire

for comparison of costs,
it cost me 29 euro per day for creche for a 15 month old in Athy, hours are 7 to 7.

Moonbeam

not fair!!

and these aren't community/subsidised creches?

rameire

nope.

gsxr1

Not for me either.

ozypozy

Sorry to jump on this thread so late but I'm looking for a creche/childminder recommendation in south Kildare if anyone could recommend one.

It's all very short notice as my husband got a call tonight to say he has a job provided he can start in the morning with a bit of

Based around Calverstown area if that is of any help, we're not from the area so don't know anyone to ask!

TIA

TheBazman

We are in Calverstown and use Kidz Akademy in Kilcullen

lip

I was paying 130 pw from 8.30-3.30. My daughter goes to playschool now,so it has lowered. But can I just say,think you're being a bit unreasonable with your minder. This is her income and she probably needs to know from week to week what her wages will be. I pay my minder even when daughter doesn't go to her because she is very good to me and will take her even when shes sick,unlike a creche. While I do understand your position as to why you should pay when your child doesn't go,you have to look at it from the childminders point of view too. Plus,if you use a creche,you will be expected to pay for the days agreed to at the start.
I do think that 40 a day is a bit steep,but you will always pay more when its part time.
My childminder is the best in the world,and my daughter does not sit watching TV all day and is very stimulated.

Ebony1

I have no problem paying what we are paying now and reading all the other posts, we are paying her adequately. She started minding my son 1 day per week and is now minding him (mostly) 3 full days and 2 half days. We thoroughly explained our situation to her before she started and she was happy with it at the time. What bugs me, is that she started to complain when she lost her illness benefit after two years and she's not entitled to get dole. That's not my fault, there's is no obligation on me to make up for her loss of "fraudulent" income. Really, she shouldn't have been getting illness benefit in the first place. She could take on more children (she minds another girl 3 full days at the moment) but that's not something she wants to do. That's her choice. We all make our own decisions. I'd love to be paid 30% more too, but I'll be a long time waiting before that happens.

lip

Hi,didn't mean to sound unsympathetic,I was just looking at it from the childminders perspective. I agree you are paying her adequately,but now that she has lost her benefits(which she absolutely shouldn't have been getting in the first place),obviously she now needs to have a solid income each week and is probably panicking. Circumstances have changed for her,and yes,she is chancing her arm,but can you blame her????
If I thought my minder was taking the piss,and annoying me as much as yours obviously is,I would definitely look elsewhere. There are plenty of lovely people out there who would be delighted with the extra cash. I do hope you get it sorted.

Bullhilll

I pay more than you mention .I greatly value my minder and my children receive A1 care and love her . I believe that everybody is entitled to a fair wage. As an indication I think that is €5 per child per hour with some adjustment for more than two children. This is my view which may not be everybodys but its worth making this viewpoint known as I feel strongly about this.

cliona88

It's hard to believe that people give will pay sixty euro plus to have their hair looked after but when it comes to their most precious belongings, they refuse to pay minimum wage to have them looked after.

Moonbeam

cliona88 wrote: »

It's hard to believe that people give will pay sixty euro plus to have their hair looked after but when it comes to their most precious belongings, they refuse to pay minimum wage to have them looked after.

You don't pay 60 euro plus a day for your hair.
A childminder has the option to take more children on and earn more then minimum wage an hour.

The problem with childminding is that it is not regulated in Ireland and also that you have to earn a wage then pay the childminder who also needs to earn a wage.

Ebony1

I fully agree that there should be more regulation in this area, with set guidelines on costs and regulations that will be beneficial to parents and childminders alike. Costs in Ireland are extremely high compared to our European counterparts, where most countries operate a subsidised scheme. Why can't this be introduced here ? Such a scheme could take the parent(s) earnings into account and set an appropriate fee up to a certain limit. This would make sure that lower earners would pay a lower amount. The difference between what a parent has to pay and what the childminder should get is covered by a government payment. Higher earners would therefore not get subsidised. Schools could also easily run a pre- and after school care program for a minimal fee from the parents. It works elsewhere, so why not here. Granted, it comes at a small price . . . as in child benefit would be lower in other countries. Personally, I'd trade my child benefit for subsidised childcare any day.

blackbird98

Ebony1 wrote: »

Our childminder is not registered and has recently lost her illness benefit payment. She's now informed us that she wants at least 40 euro per day.

Ask her straight out if the increase is due to her losing her benefit.....if so, then ask her was she declaring this income while claiming benefit? With the increase in costs, will she now be registered and have everything above board? insurance, registered assistants, etc? does she realise that while minding children that she is wholly responsible for their welfare while in her care?

I would seriously consider the implications before using her again.....In relation to her demanding set hours, whether you use then or not, I think this is standard practice....if you can't guarantee the hours, then she will get somebody who can.

We had a similar situation (regarding hours) a few years ago, and even had to pay "holiday pay" to the creche.

gsxr1

blackbird98 wrote: »

Ask her straight out if the increase is due to her losing her benefit.....if so, then ask her was she declaring this income while claiming benefit? With the increase in costs, will she now be registered and have everything above board? insurance, registered assistants, etc? does she realise that while minding children that she is wholly responsible for their welfare while in her care?

I would seriously consider the implications before using her again.....In relation to her demanding set hours, whether you use then or not, I think this is standard practice....if you can't guarantee the hours, then she will get somebody who can.

We had a similar situation (regarding hours) a few years ago, and even had to pay "holiday pay" to the creche.

You have a good point there.

What if the child had a slip, burn or fall. Good forbid.
Where does the liability stop?
The unregistered uninsured childminder with no qualification?

Say the child had ongoing problems from the injury.

Who pays then?

You and your child.

It happens.

Ebony1

I know it's over a month since the last posting, but just thought that I'd update everyone. We more a less went along with guaranteeing at least 3 full days per week but refused to pay more than 30 euro per day. That went well for a couple of weeks but she was still expressing some dissatisfaction, specially since the mother of the other girl she minds agreed to increase the daily charge to 35 euro. Last week was the final straw. We paid her for a full day Monday, Tuesday and Thursday (although my husband was only working half days for two of them days) and had her mind our son for a half day Wednesday (well within the agreement). We asked her to mind our son for half day on Friday (this would have given her 3 full days and 2 half days for the week). Well her response was that this wasn't good enough, we'd to pay her for the full day or her exact words "go find someone else to do it for ****e money". So I took the day off work, which she also took offence too. Thank God, we had already someone else in mind since the last wobble and we contacted her at the weekend and yes, she could take on our son and would love to look after him. She's only charging 20 euro for a full day (as our son is over 2) and 15 euro for half, which is fair as there's nearly as much work looking after a toddler for half a day as there is for a whole day. She minds up to 7 kids (from age 10 months to 9 years) and all of them have different days / hours which means most of the time she has about 4 kids in the house. Half her house and garden is kitted out to entertain kids and she is litteraly on the floor with them all day entertaining them. Our son went there for the first time yesterday, and he was over the moon when we picked him up. Honestly, I don't think I have ever seen my son happier and I am blaming myself for not having moved him there sooner. Hindsight is a great thing !! We're between 30 and 50 euro per week better off and in my opinion my son is getting better care. Lately I got the impression the previous minder was leaving him in the buggy far too long and had him watching tv too much so that she could get on with her own housework as my son was never really tired when I picked him up but was kind of cranky most times. He would be shattered by the evening on the days we'd look after him but less crankier. And yesterday, although he was as tired as he would be with us, he couldn't stop laughing and chatting, so much so he even laughed in the middle of the night !! I'd say we have finally made the right decision and to see that happiness on your son's face, well . . . no amount of money could pay for that !!

MummyD

Hi Ebony,

Good to hear that you got a good child minder now. I will be moving over to Ballitore and will be looking for a childminder for my 2yr old son. Can you pm your childminder's contact?

thanks.