And the Lucky Winner Is .............. and the Others

Wednesday today and the week has flown by. Managed to get some shopping in and visit Mel (my sister.) She has had a kidney removed due to cancer and has been told she can have a transplant next August, which is a long time away but at least they have a provisional date now. It has been 3 years since they removed the cancerous kidney and she is on dialysis. Daughter's boyfriend came for dinner and is staying over. They are going to the races tomorrow so I am having the toddler for the day, as OH will be at work. They sat down tonight and decided on a child minder so that's all settled now.

I really would like to tell the other 9 child minders exactly why they didn't get my granddaughter but obviously I couldn't do that as they would probably be very offended. But I could put it here and perhaps if you are a childminder reading this in your spare time it may help you. For a start the biggest concern was safety and a lot of the ladies we saw did not have any stair gates in place, or door jams to stop little fingers getting squashed. In fact, one lady had a short piece of cardboard placed at the bottom of the stairs and not secured - just placed!! A large glass vase of flowers looked lovely in the stone unguarded grate but imagine if a child fell on the grate and smashed it! The lady who was 'happy to have kids in the kitchen' when she cooks hot meals is asking for trouble. IMO no child under 4 years should be anywhere near a hot stove, or kettle. Some animals are not acceptable to my daughter as she is allergic to cats (seriously affects her breathing) and has major concerns about rabbits after what happened to the toddler. Small dogs are acceptable but one childminder had 2 shihtzus who snapped at the toddler when she grabbed them. No, she shouldn't have grabbed them but they should not be in the same room as the toddler. You really can not trust a 1yr old to do as they are told. Our dog goes in the kitchen unless closely supervised with Ava. Also, trying to 'bend the rules' and take 4 children under 5 instead of 3 (as is the law here in the UK) and walk 7 children on a school run (4 of them under 2 yrs ) is just plain silly and parents can see through this. One lady left a crawling baby alone in a room while she showed my daughter around the garden. No stair gate or anything in place for safety. Another left the front door wide open and the lounge door where my daughter was sitting. Ava ran straight past the childminder, out of the front door and onto the pavement by a main road. Thankfully daughter caught her just before she ran into the road. Daughter could not see the door from the lounge and did not know it was opened, so not a very safe place there.

So who was the lucky winner? The lady who has been looking after children most of her life and took 3 small toys out of Ava's mouth while still talking to us when we were visiting. She had lots of toys, a level garden, an assistant to help her and a very nice designated playroom. She also has stair gates at the bottom of the stairs and on the room doors. There were no ornaments in the playroom but lots of toys. I actually know her from when I was a child minder. I met her at a childminders' group, and she used to walk around observing the children sat at the table with their snacks. Very safety conscious and nice to the kids. She has a small dog but it is kept in another room. She would have been my choice but daughter chose her too after seeing 9 others. She is not a friend, but an ex colleague from quite a few years ago.

Bye for now All the best x