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If you're getting enquiries at the moment, what are you doing about having families round to visit?
Are you doing virtual visits or meeting families in the garden?
I have a new family looking to sign up and I'm unsure what to do. To get to my garden we'd have to go through the house anyway. Are the rules still that we can't have other adults in the house?
:D
I was thinking about this the other day ... I had a mum booked in for a visit the monday schools were closed! ... we've kept in touch as she didn't need care till sept, and actually, now, unless one of us decides we can't possibly work together, child is coming ! ... However ...
Now that from 4th July, we can have someone from another household in the house, they are coming over the following week ( on a non working day ... I NEVER ( RARELY ) do visits when i'm not working ... i like parents to see what it is REALLY like here, not what they imagine in the calm of just them and me! ) ... we will do a quick flit through the house to see playroom etc, and then we'll sit outside and have a chat/play/cup of tea. If it's raining, well, we'll just have a chat inside, in the kitchen ( as it's half of where we play anyway! ) at either end of the kitchen table! I was thinking that i'd have to make a little video showing all the rooms and talking about them to send to parents, but now i don't need to!
I said just one parent and the child who is looking to join me. If the other parent wants to do a quick visit another time, or join us in the garden, that would be fine, but not any other children.
it's tricky!
( changing the subject sort of ... i have said only one parent to drop off/pick up ... one mum has said can't they both come as bringing 2 children? !!! NO !!!! .... 'but what if we need to drop one of later?' ... still NO !!!! :laughing: )
Sarah's webinar last week went into a lot of detail about this. From what I can remember we should aim to do outside meetings but we can walk them through the house to get to the garden if we have to. I would leave all the relevant room doors open so that they can get a proper feel for the place. We are allowed workmen/women in, so this is similar. I would ask them to try and not touch anything as they walked through - a bit harder for young children to resist though, so that will require some thought. Then you need a plan B for if it rains. Come December/Jan/Feb, will the parents be happy to sit outdoors for a meeting? We can't really plan that far ahead though.
You have to think about getting them to sign things digitally or having another 'safe' way of doing it.
You could do virtual meetings and chat to the child virtually to help with the settling in process. I don't really want videos of my home going out to prospective families. I don't mind them seeing me in my home in a virtual meeting where the focus is on me, but I'm not comfortable with them having a video showing the layout of my home that they could then show to other people. Still photographs of parts of relevant rooms would be my preferred option.
Loocyloo, like you say, I think it is best at the moment to do the visits when there are no other children present.
At the moment I don't have any spaces until next September so not too worried about new families right now more concerned about current parents as I too have said only one parent can collect then yesterday Nanny and Grandad both turned up at the door totally ignoring the marking on my pathway :angry: I hastily passed the child out the door no polite conversation so they have probably told mum I was rude :laughing: Parents seemed to have completely forgotten about the rules about what we can and can't do, grandad used to collect on a Wednesday before lockdown but from my understanding they aren't supposed to be in close contact as they aren't single so can't make a support bubble its only from this weekend the rules change!
We are now, under government guidelines, allowed to meet up to one other household inside providing we distance so i would have thought we can meet indoors although outside in the garden is still preferable.
The dfe guidance still states no parents in the houseQuote:
Originally Posted by mumofone
That conflicts with them saying we can meet with people from other households inside so long as we distance.
That's information for the general public the dfe deal with childcare schools etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by mumofone
Its the same as we can have all thr children but we can only go out in groups of 6 because that's the government directive.
No one ever claimed it had to make sense
I've signed up 2 new families over the last week. What I've done is go round and visit children at their homes - staying outside. I've had photos on my ipad and I've talked them through those. Both families found me through my facebook page so they'd already seen a lot of pictures showing what we do. The children have then come to the house and had a quick walk round while parents waited outside. It seems to have worked and everyone seems happy :D
That's a good way of doing it Mouse. What are you going to do about signing contracts?
Have you found a facebook page generally useful then? I am hoping to get up and running again - we just have a few things to do on the house first (slowed down by lockdown). I think I might have to try a bit harder to get clients here than when I lived in London and so I might have to look into setting up a facebook page.
We've done child record forms etc online (emailed backwards and forwards). I've completed contracts, emailed them across to be checked, printed out the final page and taken that for parents to sign. I've figured out that if I'm having their children in the house I can cope with them having signed one piece of paper!
I've found my FB page really useful for getting work. I get a lot of enquiries through it and if I don't have the spaces I pass the info on to other childminders. I don't think my page is particularly dynamic compared to others I've seen but I've got over 100 people following it. I do think parents like to see photos so it's the perfect way to show them.
I think the wording is not allowed "unless essential"...i'm sure there will be some bending the rules as with all of this.Quote:
Originally Posted by FussyElmo
Essentially its guidance however consider track and trace if you were to interview a parent indoors and then they test positive. That means you will have to close.Quote:
Originally Posted by mumofone
I think the evidence is overwhelming that the virus infection rate is higher indoors than outdoors.
But if you are confident in your ra about having a parent interview inside as this is what we all have to be confident in
Hello everyone, Had two weeks break ( husband worked all the way through so still had our planned holiday, unfortunately not where we had booked). So haven’t been active on here for those two weeks.
Have read this with interest as I had an inquiry today from someone recommended to me . I don’t know what to do now 😱 due to phone her back soon.
What if she came not during childminding hours wearing a mask and I wore a mask? For a quick look? I know we’re not allowed people in during childminding hours but on the days I don’t work surely it would be okay?
I don’t think I could take on a child without a parent physically visiting and looking where their child will be . Everyone is different I know
I had a mum and babe visit last weekend. I usually only do visits in working hours, so they get to see the true chaos, but mum was just grateful for a quick look round.
She knocked on door, i walked her though house, showing and explaining, and then we went outside in the garden and chatted. Worked well for both of us.
I'll be going over to see her one evening to sign contracts. I'm not happy to have it done electronically. I want to know that I've explained everything! We're going to sit outside to do it and talk though evening. Child will then do a couple of settling in sessions. That's going to be the hard bit, as usually have parent to stay for first session, but think mum will just drop and then come back in half hour. She has older children, so couldn't come without them anyway. 2nd session might be a bit longer.
All new ways of working!
Oh good loocyloo I feel better now ! I wouldn’t be happy sending a child of mine to somewhere I haven’t been to see in person so I can understand parent wanting to come and see in person even though they won’t see the chaos usually occurring during the day. I don’t do any paperwork electronically apart from printing off.
I’m glad I was recommended to her from a couple who’s children I had for years.such difficult times at the moment.
Thank you for your help.