Fandangles
19-04-2008, 09:29 AM
I used to childmind about 12 years ago (yes I am old!!) and am returning to childminding again. Reading through this forum I realise just how much childminding has changed and, looking back, I reckon Ofsted would have had multiple fits if they had inspected me like they do today.
I went to the toilet ALL BY MYSELF. I dragged all the kids round all of my family and friends' houses which were not remotely child proofed with not a hint of a risk assessment. Had loads of friends round my house with all their kids and let the lot run round happily making a riot. I never planned a single day - we just did what we felt like doing. The minded kids often stayed round for sleepovers (is this allowed now?).:eek:
I refused to have colour coded towels for the kids on the basis that my kids were friends with the minded ones and didn't have separate towels when they went there (would I get shot now?). Told the inspector she could put down that I was a dirty cow because I didn't care :blush: (oh the stroppiness of youth!).
One of the good things for me about childminding was that I could do things round the house, get things from the shops - all the normal things that other mothers at home with kids do .:blush:
Luckily for me now I am planning to childmind with my sister on a small nursery model so the whole Ofsted planning thing works OK with that. However I can't help thinking that some of the things that some parents look for in a childminder are being extinguised. I became very good friends with all the mothers of children I minded to the extend that the whole lot of us went on holidays together and they liked me because of all the chaos round my house. They wanted their children to be in a real family environment and not an educational establishment. One of my minded children simply never left. She carried on being minded by my au pair when I went to work and is now my daughter's best friend in the whole world.
Oh well it better not be true that you can't teach an old dog new tricks because this one is going to have to study hard!
I went to the toilet ALL BY MYSELF. I dragged all the kids round all of my family and friends' houses which were not remotely child proofed with not a hint of a risk assessment. Had loads of friends round my house with all their kids and let the lot run round happily making a riot. I never planned a single day - we just did what we felt like doing. The minded kids often stayed round for sleepovers (is this allowed now?).:eek:
I refused to have colour coded towels for the kids on the basis that my kids were friends with the minded ones and didn't have separate towels when they went there (would I get shot now?). Told the inspector she could put down that I was a dirty cow because I didn't care :blush: (oh the stroppiness of youth!).
One of the good things for me about childminding was that I could do things round the house, get things from the shops - all the normal things that other mothers at home with kids do .:blush:
Luckily for me now I am planning to childmind with my sister on a small nursery model so the whole Ofsted planning thing works OK with that. However I can't help thinking that some of the things that some parents look for in a childminder are being extinguised. I became very good friends with all the mothers of children I minded to the extend that the whole lot of us went on holidays together and they liked me because of all the chaos round my house. They wanted their children to be in a real family environment and not an educational establishment. One of my minded children simply never left. She carried on being minded by my au pair when I went to work and is now my daughter's best friend in the whole world.
Oh well it better not be true that you can't teach an old dog new tricks because this one is going to have to study hard!