Mindee leaving for a year!

[AdeleMarie88]

Hey all, I have a mindee, who I have looked after for 18months now, who I have been told today, is leaving in Jan for a year! His parents are film makers and they are going abroad to shoot the film. I am really sad! She has asked, very nicely, what the likelihood is of him coming back to me in jan 2015 for a few months before he starts school. Whilst I would love to say yes, she is a lovely parent, and he is a lovely boy, I don't want to lose either, other than charging some kind of fee how could I possibly guarantee this?! And if I was to charge a fee, how would I go about calculating it? Has anyone else been in a similar situation? X

[Mouse]

Sad as it is, I wouldn't even think about trying to keep a space open.

A year is a very long time and anything could happen. The family could decide not to come back, you could have existing parents wanting to increase hours, you may have all sorts of enquiries that you want to take on, you might win the lottery and give up childminding completely! Apart from that, the child will have moved on and may not even remember you after a year. They could take time to settle and it might not be the happy reunion you & parents expect it to be.

I would wish the family well and tell them to get in touch when they're due to come back and you will let them know what spaces you have

[AdeleMarie88]

I know you are right, he was my first mindee, not sure I am ready for this, I don't want to let him go! Haha

Would you advise against advertising a position for just a year then? X

[The Juggler]

Sad as it is, I wouldn't even think about trying to keep a space open.

A year is a very long time and anything could happen. The family could decide not to come back, you could have existing parents wanting to increase hours, you may have all sorts of enquiries that you want to take on, you might win the lottery and give up childminding completely! Apart from that, the child will have moved on and may not even remember you after a year. They could take time to settle and it might not be the happy reunion you & parents expect it to be.

I would wish the family well and tell them to get in touch when they're due to come back and you will let them know what spaces you have

what she said ^^

[Mouse]

I know you are right, he was my first mindee, not sure I am ready for this, I don't want to let him go! Haha

Would you advise against advertising a position for just a year then? X

I would bring the contract to an end and let them go. It is tough, especially when it's your first mindee, but you have to get used to it. It's the childminding circle of life! I tend to look after children from babies until they go to school. I have 4 or more years to get used to them going and I have plenty of warning that it's going to happen, but it's still not easy with some of them (others I put the flags out once they've gone )

I wouldn't specifically look for a year long contract, but it might work out that someone comes along only needing you until then. I still wouldn't give any commitment to the current family as it really does tie your business up for something that might happen, but might not.

[AdeleMarie88]

That's true thanks! Just got to suck it up! X