Re: Dogs!
I have been speaking to a mum who was looking for a childminder and she found the perfect one, but she had a dog. The mum didn't feel comfortable leaving her lo with a dog she didn't know, she she carried on looking. I think if the childminder had made certain things more clear then the mum would have been happy to use her, such as not leaving the dog alone with her lo, checking garden etc for poop before letting lo out there to play etc. Little things like that really make the difference for some people.
Personally, I don't think there's a problem with having a dog and childminding, it's good for the children, but there are certain things you need to consider to keep the parents/Ofsted happy and to cover yourself if anything went wrong.
There are all these horrible stories in the news about children getting ripped to peices by a loving dog that has never shown any signs of causing harm. This obviously frightens parents and makes that little risk assesment light bulb flash in Mr Ofsteds head.
I was bitten by a dog when I was alot younger. Pretty badly, I have a scar above my lip where it's teeth cut straight through to my gum. But I don't have anything against dogs because I know if I hadn't been sitting on it and pulling its tail then it would not have bitten me. I do feel a bit angry at the owner for alowing me to do this to their dog though while they were sitting across the room! (I was at a friends house at the time.)
I would happily send my children to a childminder that had a dog, as long as I was asured my children would never be left unattended with that dog, and that appropriate behaviour was taught about handling the it.
''We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.''
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