Feeling like the worst childminder ever :(

[sara_jayne]

I am having a really bad day

I'm usually so careful but today, somehow, one of my mindees opened my usually locked front door (I must have forgotten to lock it again after my partner left for work) while I was preparing snacks in the kitchen and the next thing I know my daughter is in the road outside my house with one of my mindees watching her from the pavement.

I feel so awful. Thankfully our road is pretty quiet but it all happened in seconds and anything could have happened to them.

I've now locked the door again... and checked it a gazillion times... but is there anything else I have to do, like record it as an incident and tell Ofsted or anything? Will I be struck off? I can't believe I could forget to do something so important.

[Twinkles]

You do need to record the incident but as far as I am aware as no harm came to anyone you don't have to tell ofsted.

Have a look at your risk assessments and say in your report how you will prevent it happening again.

How about an alarm on the front door which gets triggered when the door is opened ( unless you turn it off )

You are not a bad childminder , though I can see how scary it was for you.
We all make mistakes , we all have accidents. It is what you do with the situation now that counts.

Now make yourself a strong cuppa.

[caz3007]

You are not a bad childminder, these things do sometimes happen, after all we are only human.

I am sure you have learnt from it and it wont happen again, so risk assess, write it up whilst its fresh in your mind and I am sure it will fine from now on

[Goatgirl]

Oh poor you, you must have felt dreadful when you realised what had happened!

I would say, definitely record it and re think your risk assessement relating to front door security, letting people into and out of your house etc.
Think through the reason it happened...
Then make sure you have a new, watertight plan so that you can demonstrate why it would never happen again.

Then be kind to yourself: remember that no one got hurt and you are only human. We all make mistakes.

I recently had a mindee tumble down the stairs: I was accompanying her, but she made an unexpected lunge forward and I just didn't catch her in time. I felt soo bad, but she was shaken up, rather than actually hurt - the parents were fine luckily. Came back with a list of near death experiences she's managed that week

Personally I wouldn't be telling Ofsted about it as no one came to any harm. They will be able to see the relevant paperwork when they next inspect you.

I think I would tell the parent of mindee though and get them to sign to say they have been told of the incident circumstances and the new 'door - safety plan'.


Obviously this is just my take on the situation. You must do what feels right to you

Hope you feel better soon

bws,
Wendy

[phoebe-alice]

Aww mistakes happen to us all so don't worry about it, I would record an incident report and a risk assessment just to make sure everything is solid.
But as for door alarms they are a life saver as I have lots of people going in and out and occasionally people forget to lock the door so the alarms are in place so I know where everyone is and to make sure no one is going out.
It can be a bit expensive to fit but very worth while to have, and puts your mind at ease!
I hope you feel better soon and remember non of us are perfect we all make mistakes. Big hugs.

[xdirtydancerx]

Aww bless you. I completely agree with what the others have said. You're only human and none of us are perfect. At least you didn't decide that they'd be alright out on the road for a while and leave them there ey?

[gegele]

they are some cheap sensor you can put on door and wondow so if open it sound like a shop.

might be enough to stop mindee.

breathe! relax no harm done.


I flt like the worst mom in the world a couple of month ago i left school wih mindee, turn around maybe 20yrdaway from school gate and realised my son wasn't theer!!!! i ran into the school and ds was by dd's class window looking at her!
i burst into tears (without him seeing) i thought someone took him!!!!

now i check and check and check again!!!!

[mufftie]

just take it as a very hard but important lesson learnt,

i sometimes forget to lock my door so im actually looking at fitting a yale lock so it automatically locks , maybe this could be the answer for you to give you peace of mind

[mushpea]

your not a bad minder these things happen to the best of us and I would take it as a lesson learnt the hard way!, I have a lock on my door and also some wind chimes above the door so that when the door opens they chime this is mainly because when my partner goes out of the door he forgets to tell me so when i here the chimes i know i have to go and lock the door.

[funemnx]

Aw bless you, you are a really great childminder or this wouldn't have worried you at all!

Have a look at my previous thread's, I've lost a lo from school playground and reported myself to Ofsted, I felt I was the worst ever (still do somedays)!

Chalk it up to experience

Becky x

[sara_jayne]

Oh thank you so much for being so nice to me, you're all so kind, I feel much better after reading your replies.

That is an excellent idea about the door alarm - I am looking for one online as we speak!

Is the incident report that I have in my NCMA Accident etc folder the right form to fill out or do I have to write up a separate report? Anyone got any examples if I have to do a separate one - I want to get it right

xxx

[singlewiththree]

I have a door alarm from the pound shop it has an on/off button so I can us it when I need to.

[The Juggler]

oh hon, how scary! hope you are ok. I have a chain latch and bolt up really high on my front door which I use every time I open/close the door when I'm working.

One of my 3 year olds one day dragged a chair from the kitchen when someone rang the door and pulled it down the hall to reach the chain I was watching him to see what he was doing but he had NEVER done this before so shows how easy it is. I could've been in the loo

[grindal]

Oh thank you so much for being so nice to me, you're all so kind, I feel much better after reading your replies.

That is an excellent idea about the door alarm - I am looking for one online as we speak!

Is the incident report that I have in my NCMA Accident etc folder the right form to fill out or do I have to write up a separate report? Anyone got any examples if I have to do a separate one - I want to get it right

xxx

When I record incidents I usually just write the date, time and incident on a bit of paper and ask the parents to sign and then I sign. I then file in my accident book. Someone suggested the other day that you should then link a relevant risk assessment to your accident or incident report.

[Minstrel]

I have a door alarm from the pound shop it has an on/off button so I can us it when I need to.

How do these alarms work, please?

[TammyN]

this happened to a cm friend of mine she was really shaken up as mindee had opened the door, it had been left unlocked and had goone out with her own dd up the garden path she found them on the path next door.
slightly different to the others she was advised by dev officer to inform Ofsted as the child was out of sight and off the premises. she had aready told mum who said he does it at home all the time she done an incident form, informed ofsted who in turn did come and visit the following week and review how she had handled it afterwards, ie risk assessment in place, up dated and that security measures were in place, she had put a notice on the door reminding her elder dd to lock the door after her
all is ok now but it really shook her up, she rang me in tears and i shot straight round to check she was ok.she's been minding for over 12 years and is someone i look up to, she is a fab cm as you probably are unfortunately these things happen, hope you are ok xxxx
Tammy