Annoyed at neighbour...a bit

[Ripeberry]

Well, not feeling well today, had to cancel a mindee and just starting to feel OK this afternoon, went to go out to collect the kids and a man is ringing my doorbell.

He wanted to know if "Does Abigail live here and look after children?" I must have looked at him silly because it's not my name and yes I look after kids but I was not going to confirm this to a total stranger on my doorstep.

I just told him "My name is not Abigail" but I was still a bit perplexed at how he knew where to find me.

Turns out a neighbour had told him where I lived but instead of just giving my telephone number had told him where I was and to me that was an invasion of privacy as we get quite a lot of 'doorstep' salesmen and I usually try to avoid them

I had to go and he left his phone number, but not sure if I can help him as he wants a space for a 10 month old baby but I've already got one now on a Wed and Fri, so can only offer Tues and Thurs .

Would you be wary of people turning up on your doorstep?

[Andrea08]

it happens some times parents in the school play ground talk about me and say that they dont know my number but live in the corner house with all the toys outside... i do have a sign anouncing that im "Fun Days Childminding Service" lol tbh if some one was on child protection i would remove the signs but they wouldnt do that in a nursery!!!!

shame you cana help them with childcare..

[Ripeberry]

Well, just gave him a call and told him about the days I have available and he just said "Anything you have we'll take"
He wants to start straight away next week, will be coming tomorrow afternoon with missus and baby.

Got to spend the day sorting out the house...again! So in effect I'll be as full as I want to be with under 5yr olds
That will be 5 on my books Just a lot more EYFS work though

[Zoomie]

I once had a man call me, about childcare. He knew my street name (thanks to the FIS website, and considering there are only a few houses on my street ... ) and wanted to come and visit, but wasn't sure what his own contact number was, or even his own address. It just sounded all too suspect to me, and I basically said I couldn't help without that information.

It turns out it was legit, as there was an email from the DO asking if anyone had any vacancies a few days later, but no way was I letting a stranger in my house without some kind of independent verification.

PS Now I always ask for contact details, drop of a leaflet (and sus out the house) and then ask them to contact me again

[Chimps Childminding]

Wow lucky you, its REALLY quiet round here!!!!!

Good luck tomorrow, hope it goes well, though by the sound of it you already have it in the bag

[Lady Haha]

I had something similar a couple of weeks ago! I was just opening the door in the morning to take my son to school when I came face to face with this woman just about to ring my bell! We both jumped a mile

Turns out she lives over the road in some flats and had seen the ad on my car and guessed mine was the childminders house (toys in front window etc!). She needed care for her baby, but I only do schoolies, but I was kind of chuffed she sought me out like that!!!

[Ripeberry]

Dropped some info off at their house this evening, bit tricky as did not bring my torch so could not see the house numbers and for some reason two houses had the same number?

Found it eventualy and it had no house number on it
He was impressed that I had thought to drop off some info the night before, just a copy of my Ofsted report, fees and details of my website.

It is so weird as well as his wife is French and I'm fluent in French, so I bet she will be testing me out to see if I can be bi-lingual with their daughter (met her tonight as well), but the mum is still at work.

My current mindee is going to have a steep learning curve with all these new girls coming on the scene. The two babies are on seperate days, but my 2yr old mindee will meet both of them

Just got a bit of a dilema coming up as I won't be able to take on anymore under 5s as I need to keep one space a day open for existing mindee's brother who will start in May.

Do you think I should start asking for a retainer?

[Ripeberry]

Wow lucky you, its REALLY quiet round here!!!!!

Good luck tomorrow, hope it goes well, though by the sound of it you already have it in the bag

It's been quiet for almost a whole YEAR! Then in the space of two weeks loads of enquiries. Hope it picks up for you soon, sending good vibes to you