Do you provide car seats and booster seats ?

[Mel09]

Hi All,

I am new to child minding and have a 9 month old that is starting with me in Sep. Just wondered do I provide a car seat for her ? And if I have older kids do I provide the booster seats ? I realise this is probably my decision but just wondered what others did ? Thanks x

[venus89]

I do personally because then I know their history.

if they provide get them to sign to say that the car seat has not been involved in an accident.

[TheBTeam]

I prefer to provide all of the car seats, I like to know exactly how they fit in my car and personally don't want to have to keep taking car seats in and out to be relying on a parent to bring one, then have to strap it in before we can go out!

I don't mind if parents want to provide the very first baby one as they will often carry the child into the house in it, and sometimes for new babies it is nice to have their own one just for their child, although i do have one for the parents if they don't have or don't mind.

[sarah707]

I have a range for different ages that I've gathered over the years...

I find babies often come with their own and parents prefer me to use them but this gives me a problem with how to get them into my car :rolleyes:

Much easier to use mine and I know I can trust them too :D

[tashaleee]

I prefer to use my own - I know where they are from, I know they are safe, and in a lot of cases they are far cleaner than the childs own seat! My policy does state that I will use parents own seats if they want me to, but so far no one has taken me up on it..... Occassionally over the years I have had parents leave their seats with me if one is dropping off and one is picking up - but even then I tend to use my own seat for the child rather than theirs....

[Daftbat]

I use my own which i have accumulated over the years it makes life so much easier than relying on a parent leaving them with me. The only one i didn't have of my own was a rear facing baby seat but then i was given 2!! in the space of a week from parents i worked for - so i knew the history of them.

I now have so many that people are always commenting on them all lined up on the garage wall when not in use.

[Deb]

I use mine, I know they fit and to be quite frank some of the seats that parents use are unsuitable. In fact I have one parent who doesnt use them at all and the kids are 5 and 7, they think I am bonkers having 10 car seats lol

[Jen4Kids]

I was told on my ICP course to always use your own, as you know they will fit in your car. I dont actually use my car at the moment (but will when insurance renews in october) Due to having 4 children of my own, ive got 3 high backed boosters and 1 booster seat in the car and, 1 forward facing Britax Freeway and a Graco first stage seat in the cupboard, but the last 2 seats were my childrens so parents may feel they look too old :(

[littletreasures]

I've got a variety of car seats which I use for the children. I like to know they fit in my car securely and I know the history of them as well.

[sweets]

not every car seat fits snuggly in every car so you are better using your own as you will know they are correct to go in your car

[christine e]

I prefer to provide all of the car seats, I like to know exactly how they fit in my car and personally don't want to have to keep taking car seats in and out to be relying on a parent to bring one, then have to strap it in before we can go out!

I don't mind if parents want to provide the very first baby one as they will often carry the child into the house in it, and sometimes for new babies it is nice to have their own one just for their child, although i do have one for the parents if they don't have or don't mind.

I do exactly the same!

Cx

[huggableshelly]

most of my parents walk here and only one has ever offered to buy a car seat for their child, everyone else has presumed I've got them wich I have hee hee but i'm fussy lol, I like matching ones and as soon as one gets too scruffy to use i change them all which works out to be every 2 years :panic: but still i dont like having scruffy things and can be very wasteful lol.

[madasahatter]

I agree with everyone else, it's best to have your own. I have:
1 x stage 0
2 x stage 1-3 (forward facing with inbuilt 5 point harness)
2 x high boosters with backs
2 x boosters
good grief 7 car seats...didn't realise I had that many!! only got space for 4 kids in the car LOL

[Tired]

I use my own, as everyone else said, I feel more comfortable knowing they fit properly.
But when I used a childminder, I, as the parent, had to supply one, and fit it each week. So I would drop my daughter off, spend 5 mins faffing about putting the seat in, and at the end of the week have to take it out and get it home again.
I found this really inconvenient. But the childminder said she didn't want to be responsible if it was not fitted properly etc. Looking back I think thats odd, as she was responsible for every other aspect of my daughters welfare from 8am to 5pm, so why not the car seat?

[PixiePetal]

I don't drive but keep a couple of boosters, a high booster with a back and am waiting for argos to have a cheapish 1-3 stage with 5 point harness, just for emergencies when DH could take me in car. All ok with parents:thumbsup:

[~Chelle~]

I provide my own, that way I know the history of the seat. Usually with babies, the parents bring them in their car seat and I use that until they are old enough to use mine.

One of my mums brought her car seat in, the very first time I looked after her son, and it reeked of smoke. Told her that I prefer to use my own as I know that they fit in my car. At the end of the day my hallway reeked of smoke, imagine what the car would have smelt like!!

[singingcactus]

I use my own too. Although just recently I had one very large child come here and her parents wanted her in a high back booster. She had sized out of all of mine so I had to ask her parents to provide theirs, as she was only part time and I would have needed to work for over a month just to pay for a large booster for her. As it turned out, she used the same high back booster that I had and she was too big for it!!! SO now I just decided to not have that particular child in my car. (don't have her at all now but that is another story lol)