Rosie Scribble

Grannies are great

Possibly noticing my general grumpiness at the end of the summer holidays, or my slight stress that I have a huge amount to get done, or the slightly unkempt look of our house, or possibly just by pure coincidence, Granny has decided that IJ can have a sleepover at theirs tonight.

And I am incredibly grateful.

So my slight annoyance at her constant requests for me to wear a thermal vest, her insistence that we write thank you cards to people we have never met, that the children prepare Christmas lists three months in advance, that we remember our manners at all times, that we take the entire contents of our house on holiday just in case ...

Even my attempts to sell her on ebay.

Even the fact that she still tries to help me cross the road.

I take it all back.

Photo credit

Cybermummy will change lives

A monumentous event is taking place this weekend. It’s been a long time coming and it is almost here. It is an event that has taken months to plan, required rather a lot of negotiation and discussion, numerous phone calls, a number of lists, a little encouragement, some gentle persuasion and possibly a few sleepless nights.

But it will all be worth it in the end. The event, in case there was any confusion, is one six-year-old girl spending a full weekend with her grandparents for the very first time. The significance of this potentially life-changing event? The fact that I finally get a little freedom back. It marks the first of two nights I will be spending away from home in July, and the start of a new exciting chapter. And IJ is happy about it too.

We have come a long way in seven rewarding, and, at times, challenging years, and at last we can both have a little independence. We can enjoy spending time in the company of others and pursue some outside interests. It’s been a long time coming but we got there in the end, and it’s exciting.

I’m going to a conference by the way, in case you were wondering.

Am I expecting too much from a professional babysitter?

Due to  severe lack of available babysitters, I am rarely able to to out in the evenings and at times this gets me down. So today I have been investigating babysitting services after several were brought to my attention.

However, I have come up against a problem. My concern is that, in the services I have looked at, half of the professional babysitters are not CRB checked. The reason for this, apparently, is that the remaining half have worked in families' homes as nannies and so do not require to be CRB checked. Yet this comes on the day when The Times reported that: 

"flaws in Ofsted's new childcare register mean that nannies with no qualifications, no experience and no knowledge of first aid are being issues with certificates approving them for work."

Registration is not compulsory but those registered will be CRB checked when they first apply, which has to offer some assurance to families looking for childcare, but there will be nannies not on the register and so not checked, and others who possibly should not be on it given their lack of experience.

So it's like negotiating a minefield trying to arrange any sort of childcare that does not involve family members and close friends.

I know I have left IJ in the care of family members who have had no first-aid training, and friends who are in exactly the same position, but I trust them to use their common sense, and I've known them long enough to know they do not have a criminal record nor would they have any intentions of ever harming a child.

However, if I were to invite a professional babysitter into my home, a stranger that I have never met before, in fact, I would want more reassurance than to know they have references from the babysitting service that matches them to suitable homes. I would want to know they have been CRB checked, have basic first aid training and the necessary experience to be caring for a child alone. And I think I'd want to see the evidence, which is probably simply not practical.

Maybe I am just not trusting enough, or maybe I am expecting too much,  but when it comes to the safety and protection of your child, we can't afford to get it wrong.