a family friend who visits regularly

[hulahooper]

We have a friend who works evenings and gets v bored in the day. Before I became a child minder, she would come round ever day just to hang out with me and my own kids. She has no kids of her own but just likes to be out of her parents house.

Will that need to stop now I'll be caring for other people's children? Obv, she would not ever be left on her own with the children.

Just wondering how this works please.

Sent from my LT26i using Childminding Forum

[lilac_dragon]

At the very least I'm sure she'd need to be CRB'd.
But surely if this was a frequent thing, how would you get on with your work? If you worked in an office she couldn't expect to pop in and out all the time.

Can you guarantee she'd "never be left on her own with the children"?
What if you needed the toilet - cross your legs, take the children with you, take her with you?
What if a lo fell and hurt themselves andyou needed to take them to one side and clean them up/look them over?
What if you needed to answer the door - take her with you?
As you'd have to sign her in and out every day in your visitors book, what do you think Ofsted would make of it?
What would your parents make of it? They may feel you're not focusing on their children.

It's terribly hard if she's a good friend, but if it was me, I'd have to explain that this is a proper job and has it's restrictions during working hours.

I'd be interested to hear other people's opinions

[hulahooper]

Thanku for your reply. My husband and I were talking about it last night and I said the same that if I worked at Tesco she couldnt sit next to me.

Shes quite a clingy friend and we dont want to offend her but itd be nice to say I cannot have u round when I'm working because it's work n logging it in n parent permissions etc. Kwim?

Sent from my LT26i using Childminding Forum

[k1rstie]

if your friend enjoys being around kids all day, and likes the lifestyle you have, why not suggest she registers to be a childminder too?


(this is both a tongue in cheek reply and / or a serious suggestion !!)

[sarah707]

Childminding is a very hard job - you will be on the go most of the day if you are doing it properly.

Your friend will find that you will have less time to gossip because you'll be busy meeting the children's needs - so it might be best to explain that now.

Hth

[loocyloo]

i was going to suggest that you register your friend as an assistant, as well as explaining that when you are working you won't be able to sit down and chat all day ( could always be useful as a second pair of hands etc )

OR, as i read it, perhaps you would like an 'excuse', then tell her that your conditions of registration/insurance etc don't allow you to have people in the house that are not CRBd etc

good luck which ever way you go!