Childminder question
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I use one that my friend uses for her son and I have always observed her son happy after he goes there. We had a long settling in period so first half an hour then an hour a few times. Then two hours then an afternoon. My son doesn't fall asleep independently and she doesn't rock them to sleep either so when he is there sometimes he naps when he is in the buggy and sometimes he goes to sleep very late like 5pm because he's busy all day playing. He's a bad sleeper anyway so doesn't make much difference to my nights. The main thing for me is that my son seemed at ease around her. And she sends me a lot of pictures in the day I can see he is happy. She also follows a nice curriculum with them.
Hey! My boy has gone to a CM since 9m. 1. Ofsted is great I always read their reports - for some reason I find ‘outstanding’ CMs hard to come by but we got lucky with one. Most are ‘good’. 2. His CM either has a travel cot or floor mats. My boy sleeps on floor mats cause he wanted to be like the big kids. At least with me he’s never willingly slept 😂 I think she rocks him. The two other kids are older so not as high maintenance. 3. I think there’s always peaks and troughs with childcare. In my experience the childminders I’ve met are home from home set ups which are quite relaxed. With this in mind I have found they don’t always do as I ask 😂 - think Nan and grandad. Nothing deep but like I think they’re more formal in nurseries. My boy loves it there though and she has her kids around and husband and he’s obsessed with them all and I find it really lovely. She takes them out for breakfast at our local caff and to the park etc etc. If you have any specific questions let me know!
Also often CMs won’t stretch your funding if you’re using it. So you’ll need to budget to cover summer holidays for example. Also sorry I saw a post about regular pram napping and this is actually against ofsted. They can have occasional naps if they fall asleep on way back for example but regular long pram naps aren’t permitted. Also try and have an idea of what you want/ expect. I find some are quite good on teaching and others mainly just take care of them and take them to the park. Neither is right or wrong but you might have a preference of what you want.
I have a childminder and she is amazing my LO went to a nursery for a couple of weeks then I tried the childminder and was such a nicer experience she really took her time to get to know him and wasn’t stuck to nursery policy etc also worked out cheaper and loads more flexibility although I can’t say that for every childminder