Outside napping

[Penny1959]

Trine,
I have read through all the posts and there as many for sleeping outside as not.

As you say in one of your posts you are hoping to attract parents with similar values re using the outside environment. The good thing about childminding is that there are as many different parents as there are childminders - and some parents prefer some childminders while other parents prefer other childminders. Therefore as with this thread some will love the idea while others will not.

So please do not be put off childminding just because some have different views - we are all entitled to our opinion but you do not have to change your ideas. You have a vision for the type of setting that you want and I for one think there is a lot we could learn from scandinainan childcare practices.

Not going to comment on the smoking issue as you want to provide a smoke free environment and it is just a matter of getting DH to agree!


Good Luck in establishing your childminding practice

Penny

[sweets]

i agree with the poster about never choosing a smoking household for her child as i wouldnt either!

but the way she said the rest is very harsh.

its all about choice and personal decisions, which we have to respect.

as for the original subject. i leave my mindees outside to sleep on the patio in ok weather but wouldnt if raining or freezing. i remember my mum leaving my little sister out in the fromt garden in all weathers tho to sleep, everyone did it then and no one pinched her! lol

[Trpta108]

Trine,
I have read through all the posts and there as many for sleeping outside as not.

As you say in one of your posts you are hoping to attract parents with similar values re using the outside environment. The good thing about childminding is that there are as many different parents as there are childminders - and some parents prefer some childminders while other parents prefer other childminders. Therefore as with this thread some will love the idea while others will not.

So please do not be put off childminding just because some have different views - we are all entitled to our opinion but you do not have to change your ideas. You have a vision for the type of setting that you want and I for one think there is a lot we could learn from scandinainan childcare practices.

Not going to comment on the smoking issue as you want to provide a smoke free environment and it is just a matter of getting DH to agree!


Good Luck in establishing your childminding practice

Penny

Thankyou Penny!

[wendywu]

[[

QUOTE]QUOTEhmm good choice you will be giving the parents, inside with the smoker or outside in the frsh air with the foxes/ dogs/ cats/ baby snatchers.[/QUOTE

][/QUOTE]

There always has to be one doesnt there

[buildingblocks]

What an interesting thread!

I agree with you on this

our culture tells us its not right.
I find this interesting as when I was little (back when dinosaurs existed lol) most children were put outside in prams to sleep and it did us no harm also before central heating so I think that should possibly read in our present day culture. I am also of an era that if you are ill you open windows for fresh air not close all windows and turn the heating up hubby does not agree with me on this one bless him.

I would love to adopt this method myself but would worry what parents thought.
I agree as I love the thought of being outside - oh to live near woods and spend all day there

Maybe you could put together an information pack about your outdoor methods for parents to become better informed.
if any one does this I would love to see what they produce

I would be interested to know the ages of people who agree and disagree with this point of view of sleeping outdoors as I imagine it is younger childminders who possibly don't agree with it and older childminders like myself who think it is a good idea - but I am probably wrong on that.

I am lucky in the fact that I could leave my children outside to sleep and watch them as I have a covered decked area outside my playroom and they would be in fact in my sight 100% of the time which they are not normally as they sleep in a separate room with a monitor on

[Trpta108]

I would be interested to know the ages of people who agree and disagree with this point of view of sleeping outdoors as I imagine it is younger childminders who possibly don't agree with it and older childminders like myself who think it is a good idea - but I am probably wrong on that.

I agree with it and am 32. But as I said in Denmark, where I am from, this is still the done thing. Most parents in Denmark do have bigger, comfier prams and some nurseries even have special outdoor 'bed-prams' .

[sonia ann]

I would be interested to know the ages of people who agree and disagree with this point of view of sleeping outdoors as I imagine it is younger childminders who possibly don't agree with it and older childminders like myself who think it is a good idea - but I am probably wrong on that.

I was thinking the same yesterday

[Daftbat]

Sleeping outside is in my opinion ok in warmer weather or where its fairly mild but to be honest I am not happy with it in colder weather. As a parent I would not be happy and as a childminder I think it's not for me.

I am even more flabergasted that a childminder would consider using an outside space regularly for sleeping children in order to allow a smoking room for someone else!!!!! What is the world coming to??? What is more important the health of the child or the supposed comforts of the smoker????

As someone else has said there is no actual issue since Ofsted would not allow it anyway - thank goodness.

[Polly2]

"our present day culture"

Buildingblocks you have worded it much better than me! This is what I meant

I am 38 by the way

[gigglinggoblin]

I am 31 and I half agree. Wind would worry me more than cold, in very windy weather all sorts could fall or get blown onto the pushchair but then I dont have a covered area. Also the fact that I have a pushchair not a pram so children cant lie down, roll over etc as they would i a travel cot. But I would and do leave them out if they fall asleep in the buggy, as long as they are wrapped uip and have a rain cover non extreme weather doesnt concern me. The only reason I suggested getting a bedroom registered is so you have another option if outside isnt safe for whatever reason.

As for the poster who was rather harsh - I would love to come back a year after you start minding and see what you think of your comment then! I suspect after some time caring for several small children at once you might have a different view.

[loocyloo]

my LO sleep outside or inside depending upon their needs.

i have a LO who would not sleep in a cot during the day as far too much to investigate & look at! but LO was only 9mths and needed sleep in a 10hr day. parents were happy for LO to sleep strapped in buggy, that lies flat, in my totally secure garden. as she got older and longer ( !!! she is very tall ) she moved into the cot and was better at going to sleep!

yesterday i put LO in the garden to sleep, as we needed to be going to school earlier than usual, and if i'd put her in the cot, i would have had to wake her up to go out, where as, sleeping in the buggy, she could sleep as long as she needed and woke up in her own time! ( a much happier child! )

i have never had a parent say they don't wish their child to sleep outside, always suitably clothed and covered with fleeces etc. if it is a foggy, or damp day, or cold, then i put the raincover over.

they sleep just outside the fench windows and i can see them at all times.

my mum used to put my brothers and i out to sleep in the garden! my children slept outside the majority of the time! i'm 39 by the way.

[Chimps Childminding]

In reply to the post about ages, I am 48 and I think that being put outside to sleep is something that we "older" minders would have been used to!!

As for the smoking issue, unfortunately only your dh can help you on that My hubby moans about the house being taken over by minding stuff (toys/equipment etc) and to be fair, it is as much his home as mine - told him if he doesn't like it to stay at work longer till mindees have gone and I have tidied up

[Winnie]

I would be interested to know the ages of people who agree and disagree with this point of view of sleeping outdoors as I imagine it is younger childminders who possibly don't agree with it and older childminders like myself who think it is a good idea - but I am probably wrong on that.

I am lucky in the fact that I could leave my children outside to sleep and watch them as I have a covered decked area outside my playroom and they would be in fact in my sight 100% of the time which they are not normally as they sleep in a separate room with a monitor on

I'm 52, and as i said in an earlier post when i had my first child the health visitor and all the childcare books encouraged sleeping babies outside all year round- except in foggy weather.

I still agree with this even though times have changed and it has become the accepted norm to have a nursery heated to 16C ,and central heating/double glassing is 'normal' (and it is probably what you younger girls see as normal- maybe that is why you are throwing up your arms in horror?) If you were out on a shopping trip (not in a shopping centre of course ) do you throw your arms up in horror and say you can not possibly take a baby shopping because he might fall asleep in the pushchair and get cold??- no you wrap him up warmly and he is perfectly happy- its the same with sleeping outside. If they are wrapped up, laid flat and within sight (with RA done) then it is perfectly acceptable

In this country our nurseries have baby sleep rooms that are dim and warm, they appeal to mothers protective nature by being ‘warm and safe’ but they certainly are no safer than any other set-up –if they were then no child would ever be allowed to sleep outside anywhere! I feel that other countries (Denmark being one) have a much more balanced view of what is healthy, wrapping children in cotton wool and sanitizing every aspect of their lives is not healthy but it is an understandable reaction when most of us live our lives far removed from the natural world in cosy centrally heated houses with cars that will warm up before you get in them. Well nourished, healthy children come to no harm- whether they are sleeping and playing- engaging with the outside world.
And for the record I do have some double glazing but my heating runs off a woodburner, I survive

[Trpta108]

Sleeping outside is in my opinion ok in warmer weather or where its fairly mild but to be honest I am not happy with it in colder weather. As a parent I would not be happy and as a childminder I think it's not for me.

I am even more flabergasted that a childminder would consider using an outside space regularly for sleeping children in order to allow a smoking room for someone else!!!!! What is the world coming to??? What is more important the health of the child or the supposed comforts of the smoker????

As someone else has said there is no actual issue since Ofsted would not allow it anyway - thank goodness.

To set the record straight, as mentioned in another post, I will register another bedroom for sleeping on cold/windy days but on first floor rather than ground floor which would have been my first choice. Also as mentioned, in scandinavian countries they do put children outside to sleep regularly and they wouldnt do that if it was such a terrible thing.
If you read Sarahs post in this thread you can see that Ofsted does allow smoking in the setting, but not while children are present and must be ventilated well before children are to use the space. My husband has finally agreed to only smoke outside or in the bathroom where it doesnt linger as much. I would prefer a completely smokefree environment (I cant stand the smell myself), but it seems I dont have much choice.

[caz3007]

To set the record straight, as mentioned in another post, I will register another bedroom for sleeping on cold/windy days but on first floor rather than ground floor which would have been my first choice. Also as mentioned, in scandinavian countries they do put children outside to sleep regularly and they wouldnt do that if it was such a terrible thing.
If you read Sarahs post in this thread you can see that Ofsted does allow smoking in the setting, but not while children are present and must be ventilated well before children are to use the space. My husband has finally agreed to only smoke outside or in the bathroom where it doesnt linger as much. I would prefer a completely smokefree environment (I cant stand the smell myself), but it seems I dont have much choice.

I am not a smoker and would personally choose to send my child to a non smoking childminder. Having said that I have never ever been asked by a parent if we are smokers and at least one of my current parents is a smoker and I can smell they dont mind smoking around the LO. My DD smokes when she comes to visit but knows its outside as we dont want our son exposed to it.

Mind you, I can understand your hubby probably feels its his home and he should be able to do what he wishes in his own home if you dont have any mindies present. Glad he has compromised though

[Heaven Scent]

Can all of you who do not agree with children being put outside to sleep in very cold weather please tell me what they do with these mindees when they have to do the school run - Leave them at home unattended in a centrally heated house by any chance??????

No you don't - you wrap them up warm and walk to school - what is the difference???

I provide a huge variety of sleeping provision for children - fold up mattresses, Travel cots, push chairs and one particular child sleeps outside in a large old fashioned waterproof Silver Cross Pram almost all year round and that is the ONLY place she will sleep and she just loves it - I've tried everything else - she doesn't sleep during the day for her mum or the huge veriety of Nana's who care for her on the days she doesn't come to me.

Mum knows where she sleeps and is more than happy with it and this child has never been off ill once and never gets colds. I only have one of these prams so she is the only one who sleeps outside - she is actually starting to get a bit big for it so in the spring we may need to re think her sleeping arrangements - I always place the pram right next to the window of the room where I will be while the LO's are sleeping.

All of our warm cozy centrally carpeted homes are responsible for a huge variety of illnesses and allergies which were not so prevalent 20 - 30 years ago.

I also have a smoking husband who since we met has NEVER been allowed to smoke indoors when with me or in our cars. I think nowadays we all are more than adequately aware of the dangers of smoking and those that do smoke need to consider those who don't smoke when partaking themselves.

[caz3007]

Heaven Scent - I am jealous of your silver cross pram, loved mine when my older DS was little and my DD who was three at the time, used to climb in the shopping basket and sleep under there too

[samb]

Hi in answer to your question about ages I am 29 and a "I wouldn't put a child outside for a sleep on their own". I think being outside is not necessarily my biggest issue but being alone. I just don't feel like outside is as safe as inside. Maybe I would see it differently if I lived in a house that had a covered area right next to a room I would be using inside in a quiet rural location. I certainly think it is fine for children to fall asleep in the buggy on a school run etc - you would be with them then. Sorry if I have caused offence I really did not mean to. I found it very interesting and had never really thought about it before. I listen to stories of my Mum being put at the bottom of the garden in a pram to sleep (she is 47) and never even thought people still do it in England today to be honest - just never heard anyone saying it other than in a past context.

I also agree with others that as long as you risk assess and speak to the parents to gain their permission I am sure you will make a fab childminder as you are very thorough about your thought processes before making decisions - we can see that from this thread! Good luck and I hope you get set up soon.

[singingcactus]

I would be interested to know the ages of people who agree and disagree with this point of view of sleeping outdoors as I imagine it is younger childminders who possibly don't agree with it and older childminders like myself who think it is a good idea - but I am probably wrong on that.

Are you saying I am old!!!! I'm 38 and I still think it is a good idea even after reading the posts about wild animals, and baby snatchers . I think as long as your premises are secure, and the children are monitored then the benefits of getting this additional fresh air are too good to miss.
Now obviously, if your garden is filled with rampaging foxes, cats and tigers or you are next to a halfway house for baby snatchers then you would probably not want to go down this route unless you could securely cage in an area. But for those of us who live in areas other than this, and those of us who can provide supervision whilst the children nap then this is a good idea in many ways.

[Daftbat]

Can all of you who do not agree with children being put outside to sleep in very cold weather please tell me what they do with these mindees when they have to do the school run - Leave them at home unattended in a centrally heated house by any chance??????

No you don't - you wrap them up warm and walk to school - what is the difference???

I provide a huge variety of sleeping provision for children - fold up mattresses, Travel cots, push chairs and one particular child sleeps outside in a large old fashioned waterproof Silver Cross Pram almost all year round and that is the ONLY place she will sleep and she just loves it - I've tried everything else - she doesn't sleep during the day for her mum or the huge veriety of Nana's who care for her on the days she doesn't come to me.

Mum knows where she sleeps and is more than happy with it and this child has never been off ill once and never gets colds. I only have one of these prams so she is the only one who sleeps outside - she is actually starting to get a bit big for it so in the spring we may need to re think her sleeping arrangements - I always place the pram right next to the window of the room where I will be while the LO's are sleeping.

All of our warm cozy centrally carpeted homes are responsible for a huge variety of illnesses and allergies which were not so prevalent 20 - 30 years ago.

I also have a smoking husband who since we met has NEVER been allowed to smoke indoors when with me or in our cars. I think nowadays we all are more than adequately aware of the dangers of smoking and those that do smoke need to consider those who don't smoke when partaking themselves.

When school runs are done we of course have to take children out in the cold weather - this morning it was -2.5 and I was keen to get the children back indoors as soon aspossible. Thats the difference as far as I am concerned - I think that its a whole different ball game to make a necessary trip out in the cold and do that trip as quickly as possible rather than try to ensure that a child is wrapped up warm enough to spend perhaps an hour and a half or more outside in the cold whilst sleeping. Is the childminder going to sit outside with the child - all wrapped up warm in a garden chair - I think not! In warmer weather yes, no problem so long as the environment is safe but not in cold conditions - and certainly not to provide nice warm facilities for a grown adult to have a comfortable smoke. I am sorry if I cause any offence but I feel very very strongly about whose needs are being met here - the child's should come first in this particular instance.