Alcohol and Childminding!

[EmmaReed84]

Okay, so obviously I am not talking about me personally drinking, but my husband! He works long hard days in London and has to commute, Friday's he does an early and is usually home by just after 5pm, when I have one 7yr old mindee left. He comes in, gets a beer from the fridge and sits in the garden, he only has one, then has a shower. Mindee does not leave until 7pm.

I have said before that he shouldn't drink around mindees but his arguement is "This is MY HOME, I won't be told what I can and cannot do after a long week at work, it's only one!" I know mindees parent would not mind. Once I said at collection "Oh, wine o'clock now!" and he laughed and said I didn't have to wait until his child left to enjoy a drink, but of course I would never, ever drink while working!

How would you handle the hubby situation, I can't really tell him he isn't allowed a drink, but what if I get one parent who is dead against it?

[shortstuff]

Personally I would respond that the mindee is your responsibility and as such they wouldnt be left alone with your oh anyway.

Hth x

[AliceK]

It's a tough one because on the one hand I can see you DH's point of view in that it is his home and if he wants a beer after getting in from work he should be able to but then on the other hand I wouldn't be happy for my mindees to be seeing anyone in my home drinking and as a parent I would not have been too happy if my children had seen their childminders husband drinking. If your DH wanted to light up a cigarette in the garden in view of a mindee would you allow that? To me it's the same sort of thing.
Can you perhaps keep the mindee out of the garden whilst your OH goes and has his beer so they can't see??

xxx

[Koala]

I think your hubby is quite right - I doubt he is tempting the child in your care to parteake or downing the strong stuff in fact he is probably staying as far away from them as he can and he probably deserves a beer at the end of the week.

And as shortstuff says - spot on.

The only one imo who can complain is you, fancy taunting you by sitting in the sunshine with a cold beer whilst you work away

I don't think your other half having a beer on a Friday evening - once a week - can be compared with having a cigarette - I definitely wouldn't allow a cigarette to be smoked on my premises as it is purely socially unacceptable and harmful to everyone however I find what your husband is doing is socially acceptable and not harmful.

[Chatterbox Childcare]

I have had parents come and have a beer in the garden - can't see why your hubby can't. He isn't responsible for any child after all.

[FussyElmo]

personally I wouldn't be letting my dh. Absolutely no chance would he be drinking without me

[littlebears1009]

My DH is the same he has a short shift on a Friday so does the school run on his way home and wants a beer at about 4. My DH does long 12 hour days sometimes 6 days a week so I wouldn't begrudge him a drink at the end of the week and his argument would also be it is my home! Don't push him, he might just turn around and say he's going to the pub for one instead then :-) as long as he isn't getting legless in front of the mindees I don't see it as a problem!

[rickysmiths]

I can't see the problem at all as long as he isn't going to be in charge of the children one beer late on a Friday isn't going to hurt.

[Maza]

When I was teaching we used to have a buffet lunch on the last day and the Head would provide wine. Looking back I think that was a bit naughty but as others have said, your hubby isn't in charge of your mindees. I think the parents are lucky to have someone to look after their child until 7 on a Friday evening. I wouldn't begrudge my hubby for doing it. My only thought is that if he is doing it in the garden, do you have a good relationship with your neighbours? They might not realise that it is just your hubby who is drinking, or that it is just one...

[bunyip]

I kinda agree with Mouse. I'd be more concerned that my OH was showing a lack of consideration for my job, my business, my choices. We hear a lot of "I'll do what I like in my own home", but a lot of that ceases to be the case when we choose, freely, to use our home as a place of work and a place of safety for other people's children.

That said, I don't see how the DH having a moderate level of alcoholic drink breaches any regulations. If he is not "the practitioner" then there is no bar (unfortunate choice of word ) on him drinking within EYFS.

I would be cautious however if there were any concerns from client families on the issue of alcohol; alcohol abuse within a family; or cultural sensitivities. You might also find Ofsted inspectors being individually difficult. This makes it tricky, cos I don't know whether it would be better to keep it low-key or go out of my way to show I'd consulted and OK-ed it all with client parents.

Really, there are 2 related problem at play here. One is the very British attitude to alcohol as a 'problem' when most other societies seem not to need to criminalise and make it problematic. The other problem is Ofsted's habit of making up new regulations by 'interpreting' or over-extending the EYFS regs.

I recall my Ofsted inspector commenting that she liked the way my beer/cider was stored out of sight, out of reach and locked away. It all seemed a bit OTT. It occurred to me at the time to ask what the blinking flip she thought she was talking about: it's not like my 2yo mindees at the time had sufficient dexterity to operate a bottle opener!

[NinkyNonk]

Sorry to jump in, but just wanted to ask...my childminding co-ordinator said I'm not allowed to keep alcohol in the fridge (or anywhere on view) but the inspector didn't mention anything on my pre-reg visit (I completely forgot to ask). Does anyone know about this?

[Rick]

He doesn't have to draw attention to it. Can he pour it into a glass? It would just be like any other drink. He's not in charge of mindees so I can't see a problem if he sits in the garden with a drink.

[bunyip]

We did wine-making as a practical science project at school.

It's quite labour-intensive, so maybe a few of the lo's crushing the fruit might not be a bad idea. OTOH they do tend to be a bit grubby, and I think I'd worry they'd introduce too many bacteria and kill off the saccharomyces before the fermentation got going.

[clareelizabeth1]

Just one beer on a Friday evening. You could put it down as your DH teaching the child about healthy drinking habits. Every day we hear about how much this young girl drunk before jumping off a bridge how drunk this young lad was when he drove off a motorway. We see the bad side of drinking and children see the wrong way to have a drink. Then we find our selfs trying to stop children seeing responsible drinking. I think you should let all children see responsible drinking before binge drinking becomes all they see.

[ziggy]

this is interesting

i love a glass of wine in the evening (after mindees have gone). I'm in Ireland and was told at inspection all alcohol has to be locked away during minding hours. So i presume we cant allow family members/visitors to drink while i have mindees here.

I can see his point of view but it is also a work place till mindees go home. There are lots of things we cant do during working hours

[EmmaReed84]

Thank you ladies. I don't begrudge him having a drink at all, although I am slightly jealous lol! The reason I asked about it was because when I did training I was told no alcohol at all around minded children.

I couldn't have even used the excuse about being at work, DH works in central London and at his company it's any excuse for a beer LOL!!

[Mouse]

Thank you ladies. I don't begrudge him having a drink at all, although I am slightly jealous lol! The reason I asked about it was because when I did training I was told no alcohol at all around minded children.

I couldn't have even used the excuse about being at work, DH works in central London and at his company it's any excuse for a beer LOL!!

I was always told that about no alcohol even being on show around minded children. Ours lives on top of a cupboard in the kitchen. I can't reach it, so mindees have got no hope. And none of them have ever even seemed to even notice it there. I do move it out when I've got an inspection due though!

[line6]

I find this interesting too. I think I'd be tempted to say put it in a glass and don't make an issue out of it.

[FloraDora]

Just found this document when looking for something:

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/sites/defau...hildcarers.doc

This is the quote on page 1:
'Childminders must ensure that no person smokes, or consumes or is under the influence of drugs (including medication that may have an adverse effect on the individual’s ability to provide childcare) or alcohol:
 on the premises at any time while childcare is provided, or
 in the presence of a child receiving childcare.
Both parts
CR1.9
Home childcarers must not smoke, or consume or be under the influence of drugs (including medication that may have an adverse effect on their ability to provide childcare) or alcohol while providing childcare. '

So after all our discussions its written in black and white - he can't.
Good luck with your discussions!

[Maza]

Just found this document when looking for something:

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/sites/defau...hildcarers.doc

This is the quote on page 1:
'Childminders must ensure that no person smokes, or consumes or is under the influence of drugs (including medication that may have an adverse effect on the individual’s ability to provide childcare) or alcohol:
 on the premises at any time while childcare is provided, or
 in the presence of a child receiving childcare.
Both parts
CR1.9
Home childcarers must not smoke, or consume or be under the influence of drugs (including medication that may have an adverse effect on their ability to provide childcare) or alcohol while providing childcare. '

So after all our discussions its written in black and white - he can't.
Good luck with your discussions!

Wow. This puts a dampner on things. Thanks for finding this. It's amazing none of us knew about it really.