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nokidshere
12-01-2010, 11:14 PM
5:45pm tonight. 5 Children in the house - 2 of them mine, a 13 year old, a 5 year old and a 3 year old who was snuggled on my lap on the sofa.

Monday night I barely slept as one of my boys was poorly throughout the night, the heating was on high and the house was very warm. All the children were behaving beautifully and Jess was snuggled on my lap watching sme inane childrens programme...

Inevitably I guess, I dozed off for a minute or two.....I snapped awake (as you do when you drop off unexpectedly) to find a parent in my house putting on his childs shoes. To say I was mortified is an understatement :blush:

The dad was fine, laughed and said I looked peaceful and it was a shame to wake me :eek:

what would you do now? Email and apologise and explain about the sleepless night? Leave it?

mammumof4
12-01-2010, 11:39 PM
:laughing: sorry, that made me laugh. but seriously i would have been so embarrased :blush: i quess it shows you had the kids so under control and content that the house was peacefull enough for you to fall asleep. :D i would be more concerned about how he got in the house :eek: did one of the kids open the door?
i would just send an email, text to say how sorry you are and explain the sleepless night :thumbsup:
if i was the parent i would understand, we ar all human after all xx

Pipsqueak
12-01-2010, 11:40 PM
whoops but it can happen to the best of us.

can I just ask though - how did the parent get in the house?

nokidshere
12-01-2010, 11:43 PM
The door is unlocked at 5:30 because all the parents arrive one after the other and I am normally getting their children ready to leave. 3 parents had already been and gone. In 10 years of minding and 30 years of childcare I have never fallen asleep whilst working :blush:

Pipsqueak
12-01-2010, 11:54 PM
The door is unlocked at 5:30 because all the parents arrive one after the other and I am normally getting their children ready to leave. 3 parents had already been and gone. In 10 years of minding and 30 years of childcare I have never fallen asleep whilst working :blush:

oh hunny i am not judging you at all,:panic: i just wondered if one of the kids had managed to unlock/open the door

PixiePetal
13-01-2010, 07:58 AM
I have to admit, in the sleepless night years, of dozing off for what must have been 10 mins when lo was asleep in cot. I sat down to watch the news on tv and felt my eyes going - you know the feeling.......SO heavy lidded I was getting a headache. Woke to a start and got up to potter about. :blush:

We are but human :)

Blackhorse
13-01-2010, 07:59 AM
I think the falling asleep bit is human and understandable..It happened to me once before too!!! but luckily the children were all down for their lunch time naps and didnt notice....

what I would be worried as parent is that the cm was asleep with the door open and kids could have gone out or a stranger in..that would be my only issue.

the falling asleep bit isnt soo bad...I think...

sarah707
13-01-2010, 08:05 AM
Poor you! :laughing: I'd just leave it tbh... drawing attention to it might make things worse LOL!

On a serious note, gone are the days when parents can just walk in.

I used to do that many moons ago before the Eyfs. I used to say to parents - I have nothing to hide you just come in and see that.

Now though it is a statutory requirement that you protect children from intruders... so you must have your doors locked all through the day and you must check every person who comes in...

I do think you need to reassess your arrival / departure policy.

Hth :D

Pauline
13-01-2010, 08:25 AM
Like Sarah says it is best not to leave doors open these days.

Might be worth just making a note of what happened and writing that you are now going to review your practice. You never know when the parent might suddenly decide it is a good idea to report the incident to Ofsted and you need to cover yourself and been seen to be acting on it immediately.

It is unlikely that it will happen, but better safe than sorry. Then forget about it :)

helenlc
13-01-2010, 08:46 AM
I was going to suggest reviewing your Arrival/Departure Policy. Maybe say that you will leave the doors locked at all times. And explain to the children about not opening the doors by themselves.

Then I would give a copy of this to the parent involved, so they are aware that you realise the potential of what could have happened and have addressed the issue and taken measures to ensure the door cannot/isnt opened by the children again.

I would also speak wih all the children (making sure the one who opened the door is present but not singled out) and say that they must not open the door. You may be on the toilet or changing a nappy but they must still come to you first and ask if they may open the door. I would note this down and again give a copy to the parent in question.

My own children are 9 and 12. They ask Who is it? at the door but invariably always wait for either myself or husband to be near the door too. I also like to be at the door when mindees parents come to collect - sometimes DD will be physically opening the door but I will be right behind her. I dont want mindees parents thinking that my DD will open the door to anyone at any time as I think they will worry about their own children getting out. Maybe I am a little paranoid?:blush:

As a fellow CM I did laugh a little at the thought of waking up and seeing a parent there. But as a parent, I was a little alarmed TBH that someone came in your house while other children were there.

(When I used to babysit years ago, I would often find myself falling asleep on the sofa. I used to set the alarm on my phone for about 15 minutes before parents said they would be back - that way I could wake up, wipe the dribble off my chin/cheek and smooth my hair down so it looked like I had been awake and alert all night!!!:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: )

Chatterbox Childcare
13-01-2010, 09:41 AM
Hope you feel okay this morning and had a good nights sleep.

Was a good job that the parent did not collect and go without your knowing

TheBTeam
13-01-2010, 09:52 AM
Sorry I did have a little chuckle, but as others have said, just be careful, i would keep a note just in case so that you can pull it out in the event that it did get reported later, but not advertise the note iyswim!

I would im afraid keep the door locked or at least change it for one where the parents cant open it, and i have a sliding bolt at the top of the door to my hall way, I do not lock my front door and no one can open from outside, but i do have my living room door bolted so that i dont need to keep using the key all the time.

Lady Haha
13-01-2010, 10:39 AM
I'm sure you are feeling bad enough and will take on board the locked door comments......

but, I had to laugh!!! Also, when you said three mindees had already gone, I imagined ALL their parents had been in, got their kids and gone and hadn't woken you cos you looked so peaceful!!