This ones been bugging me for a while......

[Louise0208]

Do you or your mindees pay for outings?

i personally pay for them all but ask parents to provide spending moneys, unsure if is the done thing or not but after an 'incident' with my old CM thats the way i do it!

incident was:......

last year when i was working in a bar (20hrs pw) i was paying my CM (with help from tax credits as i am single parent) to look after my 4 children then aged 11, 9, 4 & 12 months.

CM decided she wanted to take kids out for the day.....But.... she decided to take them alton towers & i was to pay for it (including the extra hours as i usually picked up at 4pm but they wouldnt be back till 6pm) & if i didnt pay for it then i had to find other arrangements & still pay CM as it would be me that wouldnt send them not her not working.

as i was only on minimum wage & having to pay CM it would have still been cheaper taking the day off (unpaid) as alton towers for 3 (baby was free) would have been roughly £70 + her fees on top.

The bar i worked in was run by my best friend & she was desperate for me to work as she had other plans & offered to pay for the kids to go to AT as long as i paid the extra fees (still an expensive compromise but i didnt want to let her down) & my boss requested the receipts from AT so she could see if the accountant could try & put it against the tax.....CM said no as she wanted to claim for ALL the childrens entrance fees .....needless to say i was pretty peeved.

i would have been severly out of pocket if i had sent them, then again if i hadnt

Yes this has bothered me for over a year when i feel like ive been ripped off it gets my goat for a while!

[suzyblue]

I dont think that was at all acceptable for you childminder to expect you to pay. As the trip wasnt fully in your contracted hours she should not have even considered it and if she really wanted to go then she should have ASKED you and definitely not charged for the extra hours.
Thats an awful position to put you in - and then to not give receipts so that she could put them though her books when she had not paid!

This situation would have made me mad too!!!!

PS I would try to cover the cost of mindees outings and if it wasnt possible, I would ask for a contribution but would be prepared for parents to ask that their children didnt go. I have never done this though as I have never HAD to attend an expensive theme park!

[Pipsqueak]

I think your old CM was wrong - in this instance. A trip of that magnitude would start with lots of talks with parents and the cost of the trip.

for small local trips to softplay, minor outings, farm etc I pay - anything over £8 I ask for a parental contribution. If parents don't want to send their child and the majority do then yes I would ask them to find alternative care that day and charge half fees. Saying that I have never had this happen.
I do ask that parents provide spends.

I try to factor in and absorb costs, keeping them low as possible but parents are always consulted - even if I am paying.
Last year I managed to get some subsidised theatre tickets and gave parents 2 days notice of what I intended to do....

[singingcactus]

If I take the kids on an outing then I pay for it. I have never asked parents to pay. If parents who were due to attend that day didn't want their kids to go and could make other arrangements then that is the way I would go, however if they could not make other arrangements then I would change the day of the trip or the destination. I also wouldn't charge for care if they chose not to send their child on the trip as it would be ME who is changing the venue of care and parents have the right to say they don't want their child to be cared for in a different place.
What your other cm did was fraudulent anyway. To claim for something she did not pay for is dishonest and I would not want someone so blatantly dishonest teaching my kids her bad ways - good on you for changing your kids situation!

[SamWilliams1980]

I think that is shocking, she basically held oyu to ransom because she wanted a fun day out. I would have refused permission for them to go and tell her it had nothing to do with the cost.

The way I see it and policy i use. If i wish to take the mindee(s) on a trip its my choice, not the parents and if they did specifically ask then and only then would i request payment. At the end of the day parents already pay me to provide childcare which i do to my best ability. There are plenty of free/cheap things both in and out doors and trips.

Bloomin heck i feel angry for you and i dont know you lol. Some childminders take the p$@@ and give others a bad name. What a crappy way to run a business too!!!!!!

rant over

[Polly2]

I think your cm was not at all considerate of your circumstances

I cover toddler groups and soft play, visits to farm.

I was attending a music group that did not do discount for cm's and charged £4.50 per child it was fab though and all parents wanted me to go and all covered cost. But that was after I explained the benefits to their child and gave them all the info and I gave them the choice.

Not sure what I would have done if one parent couldn't afford it ?? Probably not gone.

[fiona]

i have never charged a parent for a day out, i send a letter home explaining my wishes for a day trip and any views a parent has, then i send home the risk assesment and permission slips, i NEVER tell the children and i ask parents not to! then if i am running over hours thats MY fault and i do not ask parents to pay the extra, we went to the zoo recently and had a great day, (even took a mindee who was not due that day) as i was within my numbers and her mother was not charged for the day, although she did pay me.

I dont like childminders that are underhand and do this its hard enough finding good parents.

[wendywu]

One question if you and not the CM paid for your childrens entrance to AT then how could she put the entrance ticket through HER accounts . Tut tut very naughty.

[berkschick]

I cover toddler fees but ask for parents to pay for outings in the holidays.

BUT........

At the end of June, I gave every parennt a print out of my plans for the whole of the summer holidays with how much everything would cost. We went out every single day but it mainly worked out to around £6 per week per child as I balanced free trips (picnics, museum, feed the ducks, drop in, 1p bowling, 95p cinema showings etc) with paid trips. All my parents were more than happy with this. I would NEVER dream of taking children to somewhere so expensive without talking at length to the parents first. And if we are late back then thats my problem! We went to the beach for the day over the summer and I had all mindees for 3 hours extra but didnt charge for this.

[loocyloo]

i did have it in my contract for fulltime children ( over the age of 5 ) that parents would cover costs of days out - BUT, i quickly realised ( before a holiday period ) that one particular mum would think it was her 'right' to say she didn't think xyz was appropriate ( and that would stop us going, with other under 5 mindees, plus my own children ) so i never charged her! ( didn't have any other over 5 mindees! )

i don't do very expensive trips out - personally, i couldn't face any theme park with mindees! ( did do legoland, as mindees were free on my annual pass, and we , pretty much, spent day in duplo world ) but i couldn't do rides where we couldn't all go together.

and if its my choice not to be home at usual pick up, then i check its ok with parents, and i don't charge! yesterday mindee should have been picked up at midday, but as we planned to meet friends, i said i would drop home 4ish. when i dropped mindee home, mum paid me for the extra hours even though i had said several times she mustn't! so, as i have mindee again tomorrow, we are using that money to go out for the morning and treat ourselves!

[georgie456]

She didn't really give a choice did she?! And after all that to then refuse to give you a receipt as she wanted it to go through her books!!!!!!....well, I would have been furious to be honest.
I think she was in the wrong here. If I take the kids on a big trip like that, the cost is fully discussed agreed well in advance and if the trip causes me to go over a child's contracted hours, I don't charge the extra hours.

[jumpinjen]

I think this is really unprofessional..... I do ask parent's for fees for a trip but probably one out of the 10 we do in the summer hols. For the rest I choose free or low cost places and cover it myself and ask parents to send a few pounds for bucket and spade, ice creams etc. If they pay the fees I buy the ice cream! And I always ask all if ok so no-one feels they are being forced to pay when they can't afford it. I also don't charge additional hours over contracted fees.

You are right to feel narked over this as she was extremely inconsiderate of your costs with three children and fees to pay, I wouldn't pay £70 for my own family day out, let alone expect a family I care for to pay for it.

i scrounge round for free tickets and two for ones and spread the cost between all aswell sometimes, for example, i need to pay for one adult, and two children as the other four are free, i then split the cost between 7 and we all pay a small amount to make it work.....there are always deals for alton towers around as well.

Hugs, jen x

[Mouse]

If I'm planning a big trip out I let parents know in plenty of time. I ask them to pay for their child, or make alternative arrangements for the day.

If the child comes with me I charge their normal fee for the day & the cost of the trip, but nothing extra if the day runs longer than their contracted hours.
The way I see it is that if they don't want their child to go on the trip, then I am not available for a normal day's work, so can't expect them to pay. And if the trip last longer than their normal hours, I can't charge extra as it's me making it a longer day, not them.

Parents have always been happy with that & I think it's fair. If it's a trip that isn't costing much I'll pay & pay for lunch, but I ask parents to provide some spending money for an ice cream orsmall souvenir. Again, parents have always been happy with this.

I think the OP's cm was being incredibly unfair. I bet you'll find her charges paid for her own ticket!

[snufflepuff]

Goodness me that is terrible! Especially refusing to give you a receipt so she could put it through her books even though she wasn't the one who was paying!
I asked parents to contribute towards two outings in the summer, and covered the cost of the others myself. No parent paid more than £10 over the whole of this year. I also made sure I checked with them first before organsing anything, and didn't charge for extra hours used because of the outing.
I'd never be brave enough to tackle such a huge outing with several mindees, let alone tell parents they must pay for it!

[claire'scherubs]

I ask parents to pay and no one has complained yet, it is in my policies.

However, if I ran over time then I would NOT charge for those extra fees and I would drop them at home

[Louise0208]

I ask parents to pay and no one has complained yet, it is in my policies.

even if it would cost a parent £70+ ?

[claire'scherubs]

[QUOTE=Louise0208;835382]even if it would cost a parent £70+ ?[/QUOTE

I wouldn't take them on a visit for that much money, have been to Banham before, but TBH Alton Towers is too far away for me xx

[Marshmallow]

OMG, I am dumbstruck !
I regulary take 3 Mindees all over, I live in Peterborough, and we have been to Science Museum, London.Bewilderwood, Norwich.Twin Lakes,Milton Keynes to name but a few, I have picked them up at 6. in the morning and returned them at 10 at night.
I arrange inadvance and cover all the costs myself, and any extra hours involved are down to me, if I wanna take them then thats up to me.
We do local as well, Pantomines, Bowling and Cinema on a regular basis, and I would never never charge any extra for time or incurred costs
If I'm taking them, then I budget for it

[caz3007]

I pay for all trips, buses etc, but then we dont go to expensive places. One of my mums suggested Butlins for the holidays, but she said she would pay for her two, so I would have to pay for son and myself. luckily the newspaper often has get a child free or for a £1, so would use that.

[SYLVIA]

I personally don't charge entry fees. I don't charge extra hours if it's my idea to go on the outing. And that CM should not have put the fees through her books if you paid for them! Sounds like she's got it made!