Trying to understand why?

Why do some parents just assume that being registered means you must take their kids and if you do not, they feel the need to lie and tell as many people as possible stories about how you work, being full when you are not, nitpick about who you have etc?

We have close links with the local primary offering before/after school. But now it appears the office is not handing out our number, or somebody has gone in and said we are full.

We feel this has arisen because we have said no to a couple things:

1. Picking up a child from their house and taking to school and quibbling our fees. Are we wrong? Would anybody here do it?

2. A parent who knows about us, refuses to engage with us. But even then she only wants 10minutes here or there as and when, no contract.

Add into that we have had blatant un-registered childcare going on and you still get moaning about registered minders. I feel this is gossip and it is getting out of control.

If we could do it, I would say to my partner scrap the school runs and not bother. I think another minder may have already scrapped the school because of how parents are acting. The school is not at fault, it is the small group of very fussy parents who want the world and want to pay nothing for it.

It is making my partner feel like rubbish at the moment :(

Oh I am sorry you are feeling low.

I am pretty sure a school would not get involved in gossip in any way (unless of course they suspect a safe guarding issue) as they have too much to worry about elsewhere. How do you know that the school is not giving out your number? I would ask to have a quick, polite word with the Head/secretary to find out if this is the case. I know most schools near me don't give out any numbers at all because it might be misinterpreted as them recommending someone's service when in fact they don't know how good/bad that service really is.

It is very hard competing with after school/breakfast clubs and unregistered childminders. Maybe have another look at how you are marketing yourself and think of your unique selling point - how is your service better for the children than the other local options. x

It's so hard when everything seems to be against you ... rise above it and continue to be professional and offer a good service ... they will get their comeuppance in the end xx

Thank you for the support :)

I would understand if we were not committed, were rubbish at what we do etc, but I just do not understand why these parents are doing this? It does seem to have begun all over something so small. Is it really true they cannot find anybody? blatantly saying they childmind in front of my partner with no registration is nothing more than bullying. Children I understand, but adults! educated adults at that! this is like office power games/politics. Hence why we child mind and stay away from office work.

Or is it as our gut feeling is no other childminder will do what they want because it is just not worth it? Taking all the mindee's out of your way just because a parent is too lazy to take their own child to school...

I know the school is not at fault, far from it! the receptionist knows my partner and they have always supported and worked with us.

We are tweaking our posters, making a bunch of flyers and just getting out there. Thats another thing, why is the school not signposting these parents to childcare.co.uk or other childcare search engines? I think they are but these parents are ignoring it... but why?

IMO, lots of people expect everything to land on their laps these days, and are too lazy to be bothered sorting out even the simplest of tasks - I mean seriously, having to go online, contact some childcare providers, then arranging to meet them all before deciding on the one that's right for you, you know, the one that charges the least amount of money but gives over and beyond short of actually keeping their child/ren till they're 18, well, it is hard work you know, or did you not get that memo :rolleyes:

As Sarah said, keep professional and rise above it.
Easier said than done sometimes, but trust me, when the unregistered minder has an accident, and they will..., parents will be the first to b1tch about it... without of course taking any responsibility for putting their child in that situation in the first place :panic:

In terms of any bad mouthing, a solicitors 'cease and desist' letter sent to the culprits might be worth looking in to

I entirely sympathise, though it's worth remembering that nearly all businesses face unjustified criticism to some degree. I've faced various instances of malicious gossip and crackpot demands. Some of these are just because I'm a man; others have involved being accused of racism :( . The worst was from a woman who nearly ran over a family on the pavement outside school, who got nasty when I gave a factual statement to the police: she has been bad-mouthing me around the playground for a few years now.

Tbh, none of this has stopped me having a steady flow of enquiries. It's unpleasant but I'm too much a stubborn old bu88er to care. In fact, she's done me a favour. The idiots who believe that sort of rubbish are precisely the people with whom I've no wish to work. So it means the idiots will self-select themselves out of my client base and I don't have to waste my time on them. :thumbsup:

I would ask at the school office. Did they used to give out your number, and have they stopped? If so, you're entitled to ask why. It might be down to a parent's comment, but if that's the case I'd want to know why school didn't raise the matter with you. Alternatively, it could be a new school policy about 'recommendations.'

One solution might be to reach out and help the school office. The old head at our village school refused to give out CMs' numbers because she said it implied favoritism and she wasn't allowed to recommend any individual setting: which was a lie, because she always gave out the number for the nursery in the next town which runs a before/after school club and with whom she had an all-too-cosy relationship. :(

When the new head started, I asked if I could provide a list of contacts for all the registered childcare settings doing school runs. His response was very positive and the letter went to all parents and was put up on the school website too. It's good for us and good for the school. All I had to do was get permission from each setting and write a disclaimer that the school doesn't favour one setting over another: parents must meet and judge for themselves. I also slipped in a short explanation of why registered settings are the only ones the school can recommend and the dangers of unregistered individuals. :thumbsup:

Ok guys some progress! We pulled together, our two teenagers also mucked in and we re-designed our posters and made some new cards to hand out.
My partner took them with her whilst doing the school run this afternoon. The amount of years we have been childminding has earned her the respect from staff, Teachers, Ta's and receptionist alike. as suspected! It is a parent who is telling everyone we are full!

We have a good idea who it is!

But! The posters, cards and a list of signposting to all the major childcare search engines gained huge brownie points from the Head. Basically we did what ofsted say we must do when a parent wants to move on or finds us with no spaces they require, we signpost them to other providers. Exactly what we did back along to anyone we cannot accomodate.

Anyway thats done now, I dont know if this will make things better or worse but hey ho, onwards and upwards :D

@bunyip that last bit of your post, I didnt see that quick enough... that would have been really good to do down here! there are about 3 or 4 parents doing unregistered care for under 4's and more than two hours. They even boast about paying each other. Missed opportunity. Maybe my partner could go in as a follow up visit to make sure things are ok with our details/posters and then let them know.