Childcare.co.uk

[Cariad]

Just wondering if anyone knows if it's possible to remove the age from your childcare.co.uk profile?
It really bother me but it's just yet another piece of personal info out there that I don't seem to have control over and I'm not sure why it needs to be there. It could put potential parents off making the initial contact on some cases. What do you think? How do you feel about it?

[Richard]

To hide your age go to Email/Privacy Settings once you have logged in.

[jadavi]

HI Richard
Am I right in thinking this can't be done thru the iPhone app?
Cheers
JA

[Richard]

You need to login via our website to hide your age.

[jep]

I always think that my age is putting parents off i'm over 50.I have asked other people about this and they all say not to be silly.So after reading this i have gone and took my age off.The only thing is it has now got "Hidden" on instead. Never mind will be interested to see if it makes any difference lol.

[jadavi]

Hi I have also removed my age but find 'hidden' an unnecessary comment as it tells the public I have chosen to hide my age and its not their business what I have done. Is there any way this could be left blank instead, Richard, as so many of their details are if they choose to?

thanks Jackie

[Muffin]

[QUOTE=jadavi;1170644]Hi I have also removed my age but find 'hidden' an unnecessary comment as it tells the public I have chosen to hide my age and its not their business what I have done. Is there any way this could be left blank instead, Richard, as so many of their details are if they choose to?

I removed my age too but don't like seeing 'Hidden' either. I'm not sure it's necessary to show our age or that we have 'hidden' our age it's personal and could lead to someone not replying and missing out on seeing some wonderful childminders

[Mouse]

I removed my age from my profile as I thought it unnecessary, but think 'hidden' looks even worse I'm now thinking I'll have to go back to having my age on there.

Why is age important Richard, either for us or on a parent's profile? What difference does it make how old anyone is? As a cm looking at parents' profile it would be very wrong of me to take their age into account, so why bother with it? Why not just get rid of it completely...please

[bunyip]

I'm reluctant to crtiticise Richard's website because I'm not a paying customer, and I'm aware that he does a huge amount to support us through this forum, for which I'm very grateful. So I honestly won't be offended if he feels I have no right to speak out, and he maybe has every right to ignore my comments (well, just so long as it's said nicely )

Anyway, here goes for my 2d-'orth.

I really do not see the relevance of displaying someone's age in relation to childcare provision. If the sporting parlance is in any way transferrable then, "if you're good enough, you're old enough" (or young enough in some of our cases.) Ofsted reckon we're good enough, so why do parents need to know our age?

Sure, some parents will make judgements based on the age information before they've ever met or found out anything else about a CM. It's called "prejudice". I don't think that being "too young" or "too old" is any more relevant a judgement about my service than whether someone thinks I'm "too male", "too female", "too white", "too black", "too gay", "too straight", and so on.

Rant end.

[Minstrel]

While we are on the subject, I don't see the need for 'marital status' either.

[k1rstie]

I always read some of the listings (not really sure what they are called), and have a chuckle.


'happily married mummy to the best kid ever, ....bla, bla, bla, really well behaved, bla, bla....'


I would love to see someone write


'frazzled mum, wanting to return to work to excape the naughty brats, wanting to find a childminder who I can treat badly'


Richard, I do love childcare.co.uk, and think that parents will go to your site looking for care, before looking at our Borough site, which is really hard to use, and I always give up my search, so would expect parents to give up to. I have found most of my work through the site, (or can see that parents have looked at childcare.co.uk before looking at my website)


thanks Richard

[justgoodfriends]

I love it too.. although I do think that more people would sign up if the Gold membership fee was halved!

I always read some of the listings (not really sure what they are called), and have a chuckle.


'happily married mummy to the best kid ever, ....bla, bla, bla, really well behaved, bla, bla....'


I would love to see someone write


'frazzled mum, wanting to return to work to excape the naughty brats, wanting to find a childminder who I can treat badly'


Richard, I do love childcare.co.uk, and think that parents will go to your site looking for care, before looking at our Borough site, which is really hard to use, and I always give up my search, so would expect parents to give up to. I have found most of my work through the site, (or can see that parents have looked at childcare.co.uk before looking at my website)


thanks Richard

[scottishlass]

I thought it was free to go on childcare.co.uk - didn't realise there was a charge!

[mushpea]

a parent contacted me the other day plus one of my minder friends as we are near to her age, she didnt contact my other friend as she felt she was 'too young' so for me it worked in my favour but the she was ageist to my friend , to me it should be how many years childcare experiance we have not out age.

[Richard]

You do not have to show your age or your marital status to other members.

If you hide your age then it shows as 'hidden' and if you do want to state your martial status then it shows as 'rather not say'.

Richard

[Cariad]

I went ahead and took my age off but now I think it looks like I'm trying to hide something. I think I'll go back and show it again. Like I sid at the very beginning, it doesn't bother me but it does allow us to be judged before any contact is made. And no, I don't pay for my membership so I can't really complain! (I chose not to pay the additional membership as there are so few new parents joining up in my area)

[Mouse]

You do not have to show your age or your marital status to other members.

If you hide your age then it shows as 'hidden' and if you do want to state your martial status then it shows as 'rather not say'.

Richard

I understand that, but why is it included at all? What is the relevance of age, marital status and how many children someone has when looking for childcare or when looking for work? Neither a cm nor a parent should be swayed by age, marital status or whether or not I am a prolific breeder.
Can't those questions be removed? Given the option of 'hidden' or 'rather not say' is just as bad. It looks horrible. If the questions have to be asked, why not have the option to leave the answers blank?

Thank you, Mouse, 25, married, mother of many...

[jadavi]

If I was looking for childcare if wanna know if there was a partner as that means two adults will be having contact with Mt child (maybe) and also age wise a young person or older is part of the picture too that I'd need to know but you can tell the age from our profile...grown up children etc. No need to spell out the year...

[Mummits]

I understand that, but why is it included at all? What is the relevance of age, marital status and how many children someone has when looking for childcare or when looking for work? Neither a cm nor a parent should be swayed by age, marital status or whether or not I am a prolific breeder.
Can't those questions be removed? Given the option of 'hidden' or 'rather not say' is just as bad. It looks horrible. If the questions have to be asked, why not have the option to leave the answers blank?

Thank you, Mouse, 25, married, mother of many...

Well said Mouse. I don't like "hidden" or "rather not say" either, when what I want to say is "irrelevant". Can't these questions just be left blank?

[bunyip]

I thought it was free to go on childcare.co.uk - didn't realise there was a charge!

AFAIK, you can join for free but you have to be a fee-paying member in order to initiate contact with someone else or leave reviews for them (a whole nother subject.) My guess is that the paying members also get returned higher in the list of search results. I'm guessing this cos I have a free listing that doesn't appear when I search using my own post code.