Christmas and Childminding

[EmmaReed84]

I have a few questions around this subject

1 Do you plan on buying your mindees a present and how much roughly will you spend? I have bought my mindees a gift and only spent about a fiver (I have an insanely large family plus my own two children)

2 What do you tell your mindees about Father Christmas? There are so many different stories I dont want to confuse them. (I tell my son that Mummies and Daddies have to BUY the presents and send them and Father Christmas then decides on how has need good or not (he once saw me put his presents away and asked...thinking on my feet lol))

3 What dates would you charge extra for having them? I am having mine right up until 23rd but I have the following week off until after new year... (phew)

4 Do you secure your tree to the wall? We have a free standing 5 ft tree as do most but I heard you can buy a sort of bracket thing that secures it from falling down??

5 What sort of activities can I do with my 15 month old mindee. The others are 2 1/2 plus so I have lots of ideas but struggling with inclusive play as some of it may be hard for 15 month old I put her in the highchair and tried to do somethings but she tried to eat it all lol

lol Thats all I can think of for now...will probably have more

[Carol M]

I spend between £5-£10 at Xmas(more on Birthday)
I talk to parents to see what they say to children who are old enough and go with that.
I work TTO so can't answer 3.
I put our tree up the first day of the holiday and take it down before mindees return. We usually do a huge Xmas tree mural with mindees which is in effect their xmas tree.
Carol xx

[sarah707]

I spend about £5 - £10 each.

If you risk assess your tree and the risk of it falling over or being pulled you will probably find that, depending on the ages of children involved, you want to fix it to the wall.

Hth :D

[VeggieSausage]

I buy children a book and something very small for about £2 (like a pack of bumpeez or something similar). I don't charge extra for any days as I don't work on bank holidays and all other days are just normal fee. I agree with Sarah - risk assess tree and you will draw your own conclusions.

Crafts for 15month old - I make calendars (cut out christmas shaes for them to stick on, then they can add glitter etc), cards (then they post them to mum and dad - taking a photo at the post box of course!), crackers, painting using christmas colours, playdough using christmas colours, cut out xmas trees - lo's can paint them green and decorate etc etc ....there's loads of stuff you can do :)

[karensmart4]

Hi,

1) I have bought paper bags for the children to decorate from one of the little craft catalogues (activity), I will then buy gifts that will fit into the bags-books/chocolate lolly/christmas card or something similar.

2) I don't tell mindee's anything specific about father christmas - I read different christmas books i.e. Santa's not Well, Santa can't decide what to wear- (not the proper titles but I've just washed my floors and am trapped in a corner, so can't check) :)

3) I don't charge extra over christmas, in my newsletter and my notice on my door it say's- Last working day is 21st Dec, we are having a party on the 22nd from 10.30 til 1.30 (free) return to work on the 4th Jan.

4) I have secured my main tree in the past, it has been in the front room window and I have used fishing wire to secure it to the top opening window handle (iukwim). I only use that room for sleeping children now so there's no running around. I have a table top tree to use in the playroom, the children pile loads of decorations on it and it stays that way until the 2nd/ 3rd Jan when I spring clean ready to start the new year.

5) I know what you mean about the 15mth old putting everything in their mouth. When the older children are using crafts I put our lil one into the highchair (so they can't wreck others work) and I give them a piece of card, a nice clean brush and a small pot of water. For a christmas card for the lil ones family I sit them on my lap and encourage them to do some mark making-it doesn't matter what it looks like, it's their own masterpiece and the family will (should) love it.

Good luck and have fun :)

Karen

[rickysmiths]

I have a few questions around this subject

1 Do you plan on buying your mindees a present and how much roughly will you spend? I have bought my mindees a gift and only spent about a fiver (I have an insanely large family plus my own two children)

I spend more on the full time children than the part timers because I earn more money on them. Between £5-15

2 What do you tell your mindees about Father Christmas? There are so many different stories I dont want to confuse them. (I tell my son that Mummies and Daddies have to BUY the presents and send them and Father Christmas then decides on how has need good or not (he once saw me put his presents away and asked...thinking on my feet lol))

I don't go there, never have, its not my place and it has never caused a problem.

3 What dates would you charge extra for having them? I am having mine right up until 23rd but I have the following week off until after new year... (phew)

I have always worked up to and including Christmas Eve and as its not a BH there are no extra charges. If I was asked to work Christmas Day, Boxing Day (I have worked one of these in 17yrs), New Years Day it would be triple my normal hourly rate.

4 Do you secure your tree to the wall? We have a free standing 5 ft tree as do most but I heard you can buy a sort of bracket thing that secures it from falling down??

I actually have had a tree that hangs on the wall for years. I got it when we first had my daughter and lived in a flat where we didn't have much room for a tree on the floor. It was a display tree in a Garden Centre and I persuaded them to sell it to me! When we moved to a house we have a real tree as well but don't decorate it until the mindees have gone on Christmas Eve. I have the hanging one up in the playroom.

5 What sort of activities can I do with my 15 month old mindee. The others are 2 1/2 plus so I have lots of ideas but struggling with inclusive play as some of it may be hard for 15 month old I put her in the highchair and tried to do somethings but she tried to eat it all lol

I have little ones this year. I do handprints with paint I have mixed glitter in, I make cards and let the children mark make in them. This year I will be making photo calendars, I use tiny cake tins 3" cut paper circles and let them marble paint them and then sprinkle glitter on them, turn them over and do the other side and then put them on the tree as baubles.

lol Thats all I can think of for now...will probably have more


Thats all I can think of at the moment.

[singlewiththree]

I have a few questions around this subject

1 Do you plan on buying your mindees a present and how much roughly will you spend? I have bought my mindees a gift and only spent about a fiver (I have an insanely large family plus my own two children)

I spent between £5-£10 but I only have 3 under 5's and 2 over 5's so not too expensive. This year they all have a book from the book people and we are doing a calendar for their parents along with the usual crafts

2 What do you tell your mindees about Father Christmas? There are so many different stories I dont want to confuse them. (I tell my son that Mummies and Daddies have to BUY the presents and send them and Father Christmas then decides on how has need good or not (he once saw me put his presents away and asked...thinking on my feet lol)) The same

3 What dates would you charge extra for having them? I am having mine right up until 23rd but I have the following week off until after new year... (phew)
I don't I'm only working until 22nd then I'm having Christmas off!


4 Do you secure your tree to the wall? We have a free standing 5 ft tree as do most but I heard you can buy a sort of bracket thing that secures it from falling down?? I just risk assess it but don't secure it

5 What sort of activities can I do with my 15 month old mindee. The others are 2 1/2 plus so I have lots of ideas but struggling with inclusive play as some of it may be hard for 15 month old I put her in the highchair and tried to do somethings but she tried to eat it all lol I have a 15mth boy, 2x3yr old girls and does a scaled down version of what the others do but he is rather advanced already completed most of 16-26mths. He enjoys glueing, playing with clay, flour and sugar when baking, he can stick precut trees etc onto card if he goes to eat it I just lift his hand down to the paper instead. I am helping him make a calendar for his parents using half of it as photos and the other half reindeer foot prints, flower hand prints etc and sticking them in the calendar

lol Thats all I can think of for now...will probably have more

I find that if you just offer them what the others are doing and I still put a toy on the highchair then he has a choice whether to join in or colour. I often leave him playing unless he goes to the highchair as babies are often not given enough choice and made to join in with what the older ones are doing when it really isn't suitable.