On the verge of stopping cooking at night.

[nipper]

Tonight, one of my parents turned up 15 minutes before they were due to collect and sat outside the house in their car.
Meanwhile I was running around like the proverbial chuck trying to feed four mindees and my own two a meal of sausages, mashed potato and vegetables prepared from scratch. These were mindees that go at 5pm anyway. Me thinks I am not being paid enough for doing their job for them and it is really beginning to get on my nerves.
Next time she does it, maybe I should run out and offer her a cuppa:rolleyes:

Question, why do I even bother?

[Koala]

Ha Ha :laughing: Well they are paying for it so they are going to get their monies worth :laughing: :laughing: HA Ha

That's what my other half says to me, or words to that effect (words I couldn't possibly put on here)

[FussyElmo]

Tonight, one of my parents turned up 15 minutes before they were due to collect and sat outside the house in their car.
Meanwhile I was running around like the proverbial chuck trying to feed four mindees and my own two a meal of sausages, mashed potato and vegetables prepared from scratch. These were mindees that go at 5pm anyway. Me thinks I am not being paid enough for doing their job for them and it is really beginning to get on my nerves.
Next time she does it, maybe I should run out and offer her a cuppa:rolleyes:

Question, why do I even bother?

Were the mindees having tea ?

[nipper]

Oh yes! We sit down at 4.30 or thereabouts to have tea, even if they are being picked up at 5. Yes stupidly I said I would include cooked tea when we did contracts over a year ago now, but I can't help thinking that she realises she's onto a good thing here. The thing is, if I started implementing a charge for evening meals now, I bet I know what she would do...pick them up earlier!

[merry]

I would try not to look out of the window so you won't see if she's there. I provide meals as part of my service so I wouldn't see it as doing her job but as doing mine. My mindees start going home at 5 up to 5.30 so I have to be really organised in order to have them all fed and cleaned up before they start leaving. It would really upset my timetable if parents turned up early and once Mum or Dad is here there's no way the children would want to finish their meal so food would be wasted. Maybe she doesn't want to interrupt mealtime. You have every right to renegotiate the contract if that's what you want, better that then feeling resentful towards the parent who, after all, is sticking to what they agreed and not trying to trick or use you.

:)

[Buttonsjan]

I've swopped to a cook meal at lunch time, after some training called 'food for talk'. Loads of plusses for getting families to eat together, so I offer a snack/high tea to put them on til they get home.

[ivy]

I provide my mindees a cooked meal at lunch time and then at tea time it can range from a sw , bowl of chips , bns and toast , tea starts about 3.30 usually finish by about 4pm .

[phoenix2010]

Sounds like alot of work , Ive started simplifying the evening meal as my last one now gets picked up at 530 instead of 6 and he never eats it anyway

I think the suggestion of swapping is a great idea , isnt that what most nurseries do , cooked lunch and a lighter evening meal about 4pm

Just say that its become a bit much to get a full meal on the table in time for everyone to eat and get picked up on time

[jackie 7]

i do cooked lunch and tea is sandwiches or fishfingers or beans and stuff like that. i am often stuck for what a 2 year old will eat. did carrot and cheese mini muffins and they were liked but made too many and i had to eat them.

[mushpea]

I do a cold lunch unless its mega cold outside and dont do tea anymore, I got fed up with kids not eating what I put in front of them or arguing and being silly whilst I cleared away so I told parents that as of xx date I would no longer be doing a cooked meal but would offer a snack instead because I felt it would be more benifical to the children if I spent more time with them and could provide more fun activities with them if I wasnt cooking , i also told parents that its more benifical for families to eat together and spend that quality time with each other and that sold it to the parents. now I finish and 5pm and we eat when even it suits us, my two are older so dont go to bed till late so dont matter so much when we eat.

[nipper]

Problem is, it's two school aged sisters and sometimes (like today) they have packed lunch for dinner. I wouldn't feel comfortable sending them home having had sandwiches twice. It's only one day a week. Maybe I'll just grin and bear it.

[tigwig]

I've had this loads of times! One particular parent never ever tells me if she is coming early or sending dad. The times they have turned up just as I'm dishing it out is unbelievable. One time mum even hung around 10-15 mins before it was ready, just so I could give her tea before she went home. Predictably the child refused to eat and screamed at the table, putting off everyone else. It's happened again since too. Why an earth they are incapable of just taking her home and feeding her at home is beyond me!

[nipper]

Time to mention it in a newsletter me thinks. I am going to outline our routines, including times of meals and say please try not to come between x,y and z time. Unless you need to collect early and your child will not require an evening meal. I personally think that 4.30pm is too early to eat an evening meal anyway, especially when we get in from the school run about 3.30pm and have a snack and a drink then. I would prefer my own two to eat around 5-5.30pm as we usually do at the weekends.

[Little Puddings]

I only cook a hot meal because my own children need yo eat beforw they are off to football training, athletics, cubs and scouts. My girls have packed lunch so they need a hot meal. Also I find I have more time left over for my own children if I do hot meals as I don't fancy starting to cook at 6pm. I have been lucky that the children tend to eat things at mine but not at home :)

[wendywu]

I do cook , but if parents turn up early the child has to leave their food and go. I cannot be doing with loads of parents waiting around disrupting meal times. :panic:

[Cottonsocks]

I do the same as you Wendywu. Most children have packed lunches so I want to provide a cooked tea. We all sit down as a 'family' , but if parents turn up early the children leave their food & go & I explain they hadn't had time to finish. I have had a parent turn up a couple of times whilst I'm dishing up & I was asked to put it in a container so they could eat it when they got home!!! At the moment we have tea at 4pm but I'm going to be changing this Sept at the latest to 5pm as it's just too much of a rush to walk in from school run & straight to it.

[Little Puddings]

I used to have two siblings who were picked up between 5-5.15 so we used to eat at 4.30, if I for any reason were running late I used to txt mum to say 'don't rush'...
My last lot that had evening meal didn't get picked up until 6 and we would eat at 5 or 5.30 at the latest. I'm usually starving by 4.30 as I always eat with the children.

[scottishlass]

Most of my wee ones finish at 5pm and I do them a snack at 3.30 but dont do tea. (Do there breakfast and lunch tho)I only do one tea a week for pair of siblings and that is only cause they are with me until 7/8pm x

[lynncjt]

My youngest one goes at 3.30 and last schoolie is dropped off at 3.45, the others leave about 5.00 or soon after, so I do a cooked lunch for the little ones and a substantial snack for the others at 3.45. Parents all seem happy with that.