your own children (just curious)

[LittleLegsCM]

Morning all!

Was just curious, how strict to you are about your own LOs being 'ready for the day' when you're working?

I'm only actually working monday & tuesday's during the holidays as all my others are TTO unless needed so this morning when my son woke up later than usual (as he was up quite a bit during the night :angry:) I didnt rush to get him dressed, just left him in his PJs etc while eating his breakfast & mindee turning up.
He's only 22 months and mindee today is 22 months also so didnt think it would be a problem but now thinking about it, does it look a little unprofessional? Like I'm not organised enough or something?

over analysing as always! lol x

[AgentTink]

I have never woke up my little girl just because i am working. As long as i am ready and prepared then i dont think there is anything wrong with my little girl still being in her pj's.

In fact because i dont do school runs I tell parents that they can bring their little ones in their pj's if it makes the morning easier for them. I have never had a parent complain, and in fact my daughter is normally still asleep when the mindees arrive so the parents dont even see her :)

[Chatterbox Childcare]

Your children are on holiday and if they need to sleep then let them.

To put an opposite slant on things - I have a mindee who comes at 6.30am and goes back to bed (he is still there now) - do I get him up and get him dressed because others are coming later?

[Mouse]

I've never got my children up and ready for the start of the day.

I'm the one working...not them :thumbsup:

[singingcactus]

In my house all the kids are stupidly early risers, so they are always up and fed no matter how early the kids arrive. Will have one arriving at around 5.30 next term and I know my son will still be up and about.

However, I don't insist he get dressed, unless it is a school age child arriving. I only take on school agers cos he wants me to, so that is the price he has to pay for him to have friends round each day :p

I guess if I had late risers then I would view it all differently, but I don't, I have kids who see the first crack of pre-dawn as an order to get up and get going.

[EmmaReed84]

The way I see it.

I am a HOME from HOME child carer... I am the one being paid for work, so as long as I am ready then that is enough. (I certainly wouldn't answer the door in my fleecey polka dot jammies lol)

My mindees arrive at 6.45am, and most days I answer the door and both my boys come downstairs in their JimJams. I don't see a problem, it is not my kids who need to be professional, I think it would be a bit unfair to them TBH lol

[JCrakers]

If its school, then my two are up anyway. When mindees arrive at 8am my son is leaving for school.
School holidays I let them lie in. My dd is now lying in the lounge in pjs,duvet and pillow watching the Olympics with laptop on her knee. She's 10 and we've had a busy couple of weeks off on holiday so it's nice for her to relax.

My DS is in his room on his Xbox chatting with friends.

[maisiemog]

My DD is usually in the shower when my mindees arrive and she's 4! Nothing wrong with it at all, after all we start work earlier than the parents!

[Kiddleywinks]

I work from home, so I'm up and sorted, my kids are on holiday, so they can take full advantage of that imo
I certainly don't feel guilty about it, I'm sure if parents were on holiday with their children they'd be just as relaxed about it all

[kellib]

My son is 7 and loves his sleep so he's sometimes still in bed when mindees arrive in the holidays, there's no way I'm waking him as he'd just be grumpy all day and that's no fun for anyone!!

There's been days when my own son has stayed in his pj's all day when mindees have been here and we've just stayed in :D

[smurfette]

My first one arrives at 8, and as our kids leave for school at 8 they are about to go out the door with their dad when he arrives. They are 6,8 and 10. Holidays I have told them I dont want to see them before 9 as they were getting up when they heard the door and being full on from the word go,,and then being cranky later in the day because they are out playing Til 830/9 at night and then not asleep Til 930ish. I am not a morning person And can't cope with their demanding my attention and full on chat first thing, like to get mindees fed and sorted. They potter upstairs play nintendo read etc and finally now are learning to sleep on since there is nothing to get up for! They are less cranky later then!

This week and last I am doing a run for a little one to camp and back so they have to be dressed to come with me, otherwise they chill in their Pjs until I want to get sorted to go out or they want to play out. This is their home and their holidays, surely this is an advantage to working for yourself and at home?!

[blue bear]

holidays are for relaxing and re charging batteries. my mindees often come in pj's, dive under the duvet and watch a dvd. i offer home from home so if they have been having late nights i see nothing wrong with offering the type of provision they need. i think its one of the things we can offer that a school holiday club cant and is a great selling point.
obviously if we are planning on going out i warn them so they go to bed on time the night before and come dressed.

[LittleLegsCM]

Fab :thumbsup: thanks for the replies :)

[mindingmummy]

Durning term times my daughter needs to be up and ready when the mindees arrive otherwise we just wouldnt get to school in time.

During the holidays though she has been sleeping in and in her PJ's when they arrive.

Towards the end of the holidays I will need to get her back into routine though.

[Chimps Childminding]

My sons are adults now, but I never got them up when they were younger although I didn't start minding until they were 5 and 6!! But certainly as early teenagers they surfaced around lunch time usually :rolleyes:

[amanda1309]

I've never woke dd before mindees come.

Even when at school I dont wake her till I have to and sometimes all little ones are here before she surfaces :blush:

[bunyip]

One of my EY mindees arrives around 0700, sometimes in night clothes, sometimes dressed for the day (depends how long she's been up.)

In that warm week we had this spring, she arrived in a light top and shorts, which I left her in all day. (Can you see where this is going?)

Mum collected her at tea time and asked, "has she been alright in those pyjamas all day?" :blush:

Actually, mum didn't mind, and we still laugh about it.

[ChocolateChip]

My mindees don't normally arrive until 8am at the earliest, so on a school day my eldest will be getting ready to go out the door for secondary school, and my other two will be getting washed and dressed by then anyway, but in the hols I only get them up to be ready if I want to go out.

[caz3007]

On a school day my son 9 is obviously up and dressed before the first mindie arrives as I dont start until 7.30 and we have to leave at 8.15

But in the holidays he often hides in the back room and once the parents have gone runs upstairs to do his teeth and get dressed.

I am ready and thats all that matters to me

[LittleLegsCM]

It occurred to me earlier, I've got ofsted appearing next week for my first graded inspection, I suppose I should probably make an effort to get him dressed before they arrive, or do you think they'll be ok too?

[Bluebell]

my 7 year old hates getting dressed and often stays in his pyjamas - I try and get him to get dressed but don't force him. The only 'rule' is that the tv goes off as they can watch upstairs if they want but today they were chilling and watching cbeebies so I let them leave it on. (normally my 7 year old watches power rangers or something and one of the 2 year olds that comes is petrified of it so the rule of turning it off when its finished changed to turning off as soon as they come.

[migimoo]

My own 2 are normally still in bed when mindees arrive in the hols-my 13yr old DD will get up at lunchtime if not disturbed however my LO's adore her and make every effort to visit the loo as much as possible to 'accidentally' wake her up...luckily she loves them too so takes it all in good humour.

I really wouldn't be bothered what my parents thought-they're paying ME to care for their child not my children!

[Tealady]

If anybody says anything, just remember that we are not supposed to deprive a child of sleep!