by: Annette - 30-06-10 11:25
Just wondering what everyone's opinion is on childminders doing chores during working hours? Do you think it's OK to do your weekly grocery shop while caring for children?
I was speaking to a mother who was appalled to see a childminder doing this with two children in tow. But couldn't a trip to the supermarket be a fun learning experience, it doesn't have to be a drudge?
by: me
it isn't in my view acceptable to do the weekly shop. it is however great to do some shopping. the weekly shop is for the CMs benefit and should be done in her own time, going to the shops for a few items benefits the children and is a great learning experience. that is what she is being paid for. any childminder who cant see this difference needs some training!
by: Tunja
I do my monthly shop on line. However I take the mindees to the supermarket, farm shop, local market, butchers and bakers for freash meat, bread, fruit and vegetables.
While doing this we have covered all aspects of the EYFS. We have become members of the local community, learnt about the environment; healthy eating; numeracy through counting, weights and measures, shapes, sizes and positioning words; we have increased our knowledge and understanding too.
We have been in the cold room and seen how that is used, the fork lift is a favourite, we have put the jam in our own doughnuts at the bakery and the children can recognise which fish is freash and which fruit is ripe to eat and how to excersise choice.
Definately not a drudge, children ask when we can go shopping!
by: Sarah707
We have always felt there should be guidelines for childminders about what they can do during the day with children to help stop things like this happening!
Weekly shopping is unacceptable but as Tunja describes outings to the shops with children can be great learning experiences.
Similarly I saw a childminder at the hairdressers the other day with 2 childminded children in a buggy while she had her hair done. I don't think the children's parents would approve of that one either!
Perhaps you will think that guidelines should not be necessary... but if childminders still think weekly shopping and hair appointments are ok, then there's a long way to go!
Sarah :)
by: sweetiepie
this is an interesting one !
i personally wouldnt mind the childminder doing the weekly shop or hairdressers as long as it was made into an educational experience for the children and i was aware of this taking place .
as a nanny i have done my shopping and gone to the hairdressers with my charges but the parents were informed about this .... its the only time i can get it done ! also i did turn it into an experience for the children . one of my charges isnt keen on the hairdresser especially when it comes to his own hair cut so coming with me and seeing what happens, talking about it with me and then role playing the situations later ( thanks to some empty shampoo bottles and brushes etc from the hairdresser ) helped him with his worries and we had fun too . next time he went to the barbas he was as good as gold :)
when shopping (food & clothes ) i let them have some money which is theirs to spend in the pound shop , they learn about money and interacting with people from different walks of life etc . they also learn social skills and expected behaviour as well as practicing stranger danger and talking about what to do in different situations / emergencies.
i never do my whole shop with them tho just few bits and bobs if we are passing on the way to activities or on way to feed ducks / park etc
we have lunch out in cafes and resterants so they can practice their manners andlearn how to order the food they would like politely .
my boss dosnt mind me doing this as long as both boys are happy and they are learning from the experience.
i would never do this if my boss was not happy about it tho and if the children were not happy either .
by: Karine
I agree with Tunja The whole idea that a parent uses a childminder is that it is home-based, a natural home from home environment. Children should be involved in loading unloading dishwasher, machines, preparing food (and knowing where they are grown and purchased) - socks can be paired and folded etc., Huge amounts of learning is undertaken here. I would take a trip to the hairdressers - but only if it was a quick trim and only if it were because parents were having trouble with a child attending the hair dressers. Its not something I would normally do with children (I like to go to my hairdresser to chill out and relax!). I think if parents would not normally do this and have requested it thats fine - but different if its for own gratification and because it suits the childminders needs. The world is a huge place, the beauty of childminding is that we can help children access quite a lot of it as we are not confined to a hall or a room all day. We ensure that on a daily basis children can access the community and resources around them. Huge learning potential and able to cover the 6 areas of learning.
by: Annette
We've published a feature on this issue in this week's magazine (22 July) - 'Let's talk about...doing chores'
by: curly
I suppose it depends on what you define a childminder as. We seem to have moved away from childminders being informal 'mother helps another mother go to work'. And towards childminders being another 'practitioner' in a different (home) setting.
When you look at the politics driving the definition of childminder it is EYFS and early intervention policy. Politically it is not acceptable for childminders to do their shopping, as they should be at home teaching them phonics, capital letters and full stops.
However if the purpose of childminders is to replicate what they would experience if their parent didn't work, then there are few parents that wouldn't take their child shopping.
RE: RE: Doing chores - 22-07-10 14:42by: Tunja
I think you have totally missed the point of the EYFS. For example, It is far more educationally to 'play with real fruit' than it is to play with plastic fruit as seen in many settings.
How can you explore size, taste, texture, weight, cost, monetry values, ripeness, moldy, freash, transportation, cold rooms, rotation, packing etc when you have a plastic apple.
Or do you expect them to sit still and watch on a video?
EYFS was supposed to be about REAL experiences.
by: curly
Hi Tunja,
I think you have totally missed the point of my post. But I can see why and sorry that you have misunderstood my intentions.
I am suggesting that politics has changed the definition of what it means to be a childminder (with a little wry reference to an article in a recent Nursery World about formal learning content) and so the expectations of what childminders should and shouldn't be doing has been changing and consequently being challenged within and beyond the early years community.
Instead of being mothers, politics (through the EYFS) has made childminders, practitioners. (I wasn't saying the EYFS doesn't allow for first-hand experience but instead has shaped what childminders are expected to be doing).
Childminders are self-employed and manage their own practice. If they are adhering to the requirements of the EYFS and the remit of childminders is to reflect a family environment, whose business is it to say they shouldn't go shopping? Surely that's between the parent and the childminder???
Why is Nursery World driving this debate anyway?
by: billabong
My son is 17 now, working and driving (where did that go)? However, this I'm sure will create a big debate. When I had to decide on childcare I chose a childminder because I wanted him to have the next best thing to home. I DIDN'T WANT eyfs, I wanted REAL LIFE!! I wanted shopping. cleaning, time for the park, watching tv!!!!!
If I was again in the fortunate position to be looking for childcare I have to say, my views haven't changed. So, get your acceridated ofsted and all the other certificates, at the end of the day I just want a 'surragate mum'
RE: RE: Doing chores - 30-07-10 10:51by: dawn macdonald
I am a childminder and I do everyday things with my mindies.There is nothing wrong with this as my mindies dont go and do these things with their parents as they tend to kick off and the parents dont like that so they go with me as they need to experience things like a bank a supermarket for later life.It is learning for them.I know nurseries that send children out with the staff in buggies but the learning they get is to stay outside the shop while staff sort out their fones and do their shopping!!!!!!!! this I dont agree with.