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mushpea
05-01-2010, 05:56 PM
HI our boiler has just packed in the engineer cant come out untill the morning and tommoro is my busiest day with 3 under 5s and 4 over, am i still ok to have children with no heating? do i need to inform parents then give them the choice of sending them or not? and if they choose not to send their children can i still charge or not because its my thing due to the heating?
was thinking of texting them 'please send in warm cloths tommoro as heating broke , man comming to look at in morning" would this be ok or do i need to ask if they want to still send the kids or not?

Blaze
05-01-2010, 05:58 PM
IMHO you should offer parents the choice given the circumstances & extreme weather...& if they choose not to send their LO then no charge - that's what I would do HTH

Pipsqueak
05-01-2010, 05:59 PM
doesn't there need to be a certain minimum temperature? I think the EYFS just says about maintaining a constant adequate temperature. someone will be along soon who knows more about this stuff! sorry to be no help

Blaze
05-01-2010, 06:02 PM
doesn't there need to be a certain minimum temperature? I think the EYFS just says about maintaining a constant adequate temperature. someone will be along soon who knows more about this stuff! sorry to be no help

LOL - I was just looking as that's what I thought - can't find it though!

SARAH>>>>:laughing: :D

mama2three
05-01-2010, 06:02 PM
agree with Blaze - its really cold and I think you need to give parents the choice of whether to send their children in. I know it may mean quite a drop in income though.

tulip0803
05-01-2010, 06:04 PM
Do you have a plug in radiator type heater or could borrow one? I have one as an emergency & was told that it was fine particularly if behind the fire guard. I gave parents the option - they still sent but I did have heat in the room.

jelly15
05-01-2010, 06:07 PM
I would borrow a heater and put it behind a guard, if you can't then I would give the parents the choice and if they didn't come no charge (but don't tell them no charge unless they choose to stay home).

mushpea
05-01-2010, 06:08 PM
No havent got them radiators but am going to look in argos and c what they have, trouble is we are broke after christmas as everyone probably is and loosing a days money isnt going to help when we need to pay for the boiler to be fixed although obviously i dont want cold fed up kids here and would do the best for them.

sarah707
05-01-2010, 06:08 PM
The Eyfs says -

Rooms should be maintained at a temperature which ensures the comfort of the children and staff, including non-mobile children.

The Eyfs does not give a set temperature but the accepted for comfort especially (as the Eyfs says) considering non-mobile children, is around 18 - 20c.

If it drops below this, then parents should be contacted to collect.

I would say give the paernts the option but explain you will monitor the temperature and if it drops they must be available to collect.

Do you have an electric fire you could use / borrow and stick to one room until the boiler man gives his 'I need parts see you Friday' verdict?

You might warn parents that there are no guarantees he'll be fixing it tomorrow as well :rolleyes:

Poor you! Stay warm. hth :D

margimum
05-01-2010, 06:09 PM
If it's likely to be fixed in the morning I would probably open. Can you get one room warm? even the kitchen if neccesary. Kids don't feel the cold if they're wrapped up and dancing around!!:laughing:
Hope it's fixed asap.
margi x

sweets
05-01-2010, 06:10 PM
it depends how old the children are. if they are babies then i think i would say i couldnt have them but 2,3 and 4 year olds could wear lots of layers to keep warm. I would ring the parents and ask them to wrap them warmly, you never know one of them may have a heater you could borrow.

mama2three
05-01-2010, 06:13 PM
can you go out - softplay / toddlers? or do you need to be in to observe the boilermans sharp intakes of breath and shaking of the head? :rolleyes:

Ripeberry
05-01-2010, 06:27 PM
Camp out at the library or even just visit a shopping center for the afternoon, just to keep warm.

FizzysFriends
05-01-2010, 06:29 PM
I would ask neighbours and local friends to borrow a heater or 2 and if not then go to soft play or something or to a friend childminder locally?

Tink
05-01-2010, 06:32 PM
Poor you, no heating in this weather. Hope it can be fixed, you'll have to do some dancing keep yourself warm xxx

Chimps Childminding
05-01-2010, 06:35 PM
I would ring parents, tell them the problem and give them the option. As has been said, there is no guarantee he will be able to fix it tomorrow and although he is supposed to be in the morning the way the weather etc is he might not even get to you until lunch time!!!! Good luck!

PixiePetal
05-01-2010, 06:42 PM
I had no heating today - well after 10.30am. Power cut so our heating went off too.

Stayed in the warm - heating had been on till then. Was supposed to be on again by 2pm so thought we would manage, then elec people said 6pm :eek: Phoned mum to fill her in and she said she would come a bit earlier.

Mindee went home early at 4.30 when mum could get him. I didn't want him here when it got colder and dark, but as he was moving about he did not get cold in that time, if he had been younger I would have asked for sooner.

jaja
05-01-2010, 06:47 PM
do you have a condensar boiler? look outside at the pipe and is it frozen?

We had the same problem about two weeks ago and the pipe was frozen and the boiler had a cut of saftey meter and it switched its self off....

Hope you are ok and somewhere warm, sending hugs xx

tashaleee
05-01-2010, 06:50 PM
I think you have to be honest with the parents and tell them the situation and then allow them to make the choice if they want to bring their child - if they choose not to then unfortunately I dont see how you could charge as you are not able to provide your 'normal service'.

Chatterbox Childcare
05-01-2010, 06:54 PM
Don't you have another childminder you can call on to help or even invade?

Surely you would lose more money than it would cost to buy a heater from Argos, especially if you need parts and it goes beyond tomorrow?

mushpea
06-01-2010, 08:05 AM
Ok I told the parents last night the problem , expalined that the man was comming to look at the heater today and said we will be buying heaters this morning, one family of 3children's dad is at home today so they will stay with him, the schoolie is here and the 15month old is undecieded as dad is waiting to hear if his school is shut so i probably wouldnt have had him anyway due to the weather.
we managed to borrow one fan heater which is keeping the living room warm , i have put the rabbit run around it and hope this is acceptable by ofsted.

manjay
06-01-2010, 11:04 AM
I closed early yesterday for the same reason. I am also closed today and as the boiler engineer is stuck in snow I will be closed tomorrow too. I don't have anyone I can get to who I can borrow any radiators off and I can't get out to get to buy one. Our schools are closed so probably wouldn't have had most of them anyway but it is definitely way below a suitable temperature in the house. So just me and my 2 youngest snuggled under duvets on the sofa:rolleyes:

nannymcflea
06-01-2010, 11:10 AM
Hope all without heating are managing to keep warm, sending you warm hugs.

LittleAcorns
06-01-2010, 12:30 PM
I hope you get your heating sorted soon, I cant imagine how chilly you are, I have open plan down stairs and only 3 radiators (knocked a wall down which resulted in loosing 2 rads & our kitchen is too small for one!!!) temp is usually nice a toasty despite few heaters.....today the heating up full (literally, Ive never put it up full) and Im cold!!!

Kelly
06-01-2010, 01:29 PM
I'm in the same boat!!!! heating packed up at 3pm yesterday, we did manage to get someone out last night, but he wasn't 'qualified' to work on an oil boiler. Been trying to sort out something all day with no luck, I have an electric fire in the front room and I don't have any kids at mo so we will be fine.

Keep warm and safe :thumbsup:

mushpea
06-01-2010, 02:59 PM
wll the boiler man has been, fan has gone and gonna cost 200 pounds to fix but he cant fix untill friday as he needs to get the parts, tomoro i would have only had the schoolie and his mum will probably not go to work if the weather dont improve, will have to see what happens on friday, we have got a small fan heater in the living room which is keeping it nice and cosy but the dining room is freezing!, the mindees that did come and my kids sat in the living room with lunch today which they thougt was great casue i dont normaly allow it.

miffy
06-01-2010, 03:16 PM
wll the boiler man has been, fan has gone and gonna cost 200 pounds to fix but he cant fix untill friday as he needs to get the parts, tomoro i would have only had the schoolie and his mum will probably not go to work if the weather dont improve, will have to see what happens on friday, we have got a small fan heater in the living room which is keeping it nice and cosy but the dining room is freezing!, the mindees that did come and my kids sat in the living room with lunch today which they thougt was great casue i dont normaly allow it.

Just what you didn't need :rolleyes:

Can you borrow any more heaters from anyone?

Hope he gets the parts and fixes it for you Friday

Miffy xx

miffy
06-01-2010, 03:17 PM
I closed early yesterday for the same reason. I am also closed today and as the boiler engineer is stuck in snow I will be closed tomorrow too. I don't have anyone I can get to who I can borrow any radiators off and I can't get out to get to buy one. Our schools are closed so probably wouldn't have had most of them anyway but it is definitely way below a suitable temperature in the house. So just me and my 2 youngest snuggled under duvets on the sofa:rolleyes:

Oh no!!! Hope you get it fixed soon.

Won't a kind neighbour take you in and warm you up?

Miffy xx

mushpea
06-01-2010, 03:48 PM
thanks guys, My neighbour is acutualy a parent of a child i care for and has lent us the heater !!!, we spent the morning at another minders house and tommoro i am not sure what to do yet cause its probably only me and our kids and we'll cope, hes comming friday morning so hopefully it wont take to long to sort, will only have a baby mindee friday so can keep him out of the way and if the schools are shut i wont have him anyway. could be a very quiet week!!
as for the price i am sort of pleased cause i was expecting it to be a load more than that maybe even a new boiler, it has taught me though that i need to keep and emergency fund and not spend all our money over christmas:blush: :rolleyes:

manjay
06-01-2010, 05:08 PM
Oh no!!! Hope you get it fixed soon.

Won't a kind neighbour take you in and warm you up?

Miffy xx

One of my parents has offered to have us for the day but they live a car journey away and there is no way I am going out in the car. I have ransacked hubbies shed and found an ancient heater and we have had a lovely day watching films snuggled in the lounge. Hopefully it will get sorted tomorrow and I am so glad I have cover on my boiler so I don't have to pay anything!

Hope you get yours sorted soon Mushpea:thumbsup:

mushpea
07-01-2010, 06:58 AM
One of my parents has offered to have us for the day but they live a car journey away and there is no way I am going out in the car. I have ransacked hubbies shed and found an ancient heater and we have had a lovely day watching films snuggled in the lounge. Hopefully it will get sorted tomorrow and I am so glad I have cover on my boiler so I don't have to pay anything!

Hope you get yours sorted soon Mushpea:thumbsup:

you too!!!! roll on friday,,, would you mind if i asked you what sort of cover you have on your boiler and how i would find out about this please? is it casue its a new boiler or is this somthing different