finding childminding hard this time of year

[lou lou]

hi who finds childminding this time of year really hard at the moment i am finding it hard i look after two little boys with a lot of energy and one of the boys has a very short attention span i have just had a dreadful lunch time with them my little girl is so scared of them so i cant leave them on their while i do dinner so she has to sit on the worktop and watch me so one of the mindees thought he would try and pull her off so i had to stand him in the corner and all my other mindee wants to do is lump on the children and generally just be an idiot i really cant do anything with, they have been outside this morning to have a bit of fresh air but it so much better in the summer when they can be out all day. What can you do with a child with a short attention span i really struggle with him, today he just thought it was funny if he kept hitting my daughter in the stomach it is no wonder she is scared i really seem to be having more bad days than good where is the rewarding bit?

[amanda1309]

I try to attend a soft play or playgroup most mornings as it helps to calm down the20 yr old wins i mind.
Doing this means we have a calm and relaxed lunch and then can do some planned activities on the afternoon if they are not sleeping.

hth

[Polly2]

It is hard this time of year. I also attend soft play, toddler groups, game of footy in the park... I have a year pass for the community farm so we pop there - anything to run the energy off.

I feel for your daughter sounds like you have had a rough day :(

[Ripeberry]

You,ve got more patience than me. If any mindee hit my children on purpose they would be on the time out mat straight away and would stay there until they stopped. Also you can terminate contract if they are putting you or your child in danger.
Can you not just take them out anyway even if its raining, put wellies on them, some spare clothes and just let them get on with it.
Do some winter treasure hunts in the garden, cut out some sparkly snowflakes and put them in bushes, that kind of thing.
Keep them busy for a time. Its not fair for your own child to be scared in her home where she should feel safest :(
Hope you find a solution :)

[The Juggler]

make sure parents leave wellies, invest in some outdoor suits (waterproofworld.co.uk- £15.00 incl. p&p) and get them outside, in the park, long walks, digging in garden and in the sandpit, watering and filling everything.

I have 3 boys on a friday and its a necessity.

[ORKSIE]

Go to as many........
Toddler groups
CM groups
Other CM houses
Parks
Libraries
Soft play
Country Parks

as you can....and wear the little monkeys out:thumbsup:

[mama2three]

i agree - outdoors whatever the weather. we had great fun collecting the rain last week. left it up to the child to find what they wanted to collect it in and put them into 2 teams to encourage working together. great fun and worn out mindees!
I would definately not put up with physical violence from a mindee. you havent said how old he is , but it needs to be tackled. time-out , consistency and talking to parents as a start. You can tell parents you are working with the child by channelling his energies elsewhere ( outside in the rain!?) and tell them they need to work with you to stop this behaviour or you will be forced to terminate.