1st parent visit - advice please!

[csherr80]

Hi

I have recently registered as a childminder and I have a lady coming to see me this week with her little boy. Its my 1st visit from a parent and I am nervous about making sure I have remembered everything!

I have all my policies and procedures, all about me form and parental permission slips for outings, suncream, administering first aid etc as well as the parental responsibility form. As of yet I haven't written a permission slip for playing on large play equipment or allowing children to sleep in a buggy as to me this seems a bit like overkill

At the moment I don't have any contracts as I have ordered some and I am waiting (desperately!) for them to arrive.

What is the general way to go about a first meeting with a parent? Do I give parents information to take away and let them come back to me to arrange a 2nd visit, to sign paperwork, if they decide to go ahead or can I go ahead and sign contracts etc on the first meet if that's what the parent wants?

Secondly how do you go about organizing settling in visits? I gather these are offered once the contract is signed but before the placement begins - is this right?

[csherr80]

Anyone??

[Jiorjiina]

Usually when I meet parents for the first time, we get massively sidetracked into playing with the kids if they've brought them.

I try to cover: policies and procedures (I have a print out of all of mine, and I hand it to the parents to flip through once the kids and I are playing), daily routine, activities and places we go, etc, but mostly I just let them ask the questions. It helps that I have a website with everything on it too, so they come with an idea of what I'm like and how I work right from the start.

I don't sign paperwork on a first visit, mostly because they usually want to go away and either look at other places, or have some time to think about things. It's usually a second visit that we do paperwork. I've even done it at the same time as an initial settling in visit because that was the only time a parent could do it!

I usually email parents a copy of anything they want time to read (usually the policies and procedures, for they are many and tedious).

I'd be surprised and frankly a little suspicious if a parent wanted to sign contracts on a first meeting, unless we already knew each other...

The main thing is to relax, be friendly and play with the kids. Good luck!

[karen m]

Entirely up to you if you and parent decide that they / you would like to sign contracts on your first meet then go for it. I think most of my parents have signed on first meet

[serin]

For my first parent visit I show them round downstairs (kitchen, living room, garden). We have a chat and I show them the toy box and what I have to offer, activities we do etc. I tell them my fees, holiday pay etc. They then go and think about it and let me know if they want to take things further. If they say they like me, we arrange a second meeting for contracts. It is never done on the first meeting. I would say never give them the permissions forms and contracts to take away and give back. You will not get it back.

[sing-low]

I would say first meet is a chance for you to get to know one another and decide if you can work together to look after the lo. It's just as much about you feeling that the family is a good fit for you as vice versa. You are interviewing them too!