Children have their say on childminders

Childrens straight talking, refreshing approach to life is always endearing and this certainly comes across in a series of short videos put together by Childminding Ireland.

Childminding Ireland wanted to hear from children about how they feel about their childminders. ‘We know that childminders do hugely valuable work and are a cornerstone of the economy but we wanted to understand what childrens take on their childminders is’ explains Bernadette Orbinski Burke, Chief Executive of Childminding Ireland.

Childminding is different from other types of childcare as it replicates the child’s own home very closely. Children have freedom in a childminding setting as they are minded in a home setting. This means activities and routines can be child led and children can be out and about in their local communities.

A number of common themes emerged through the childrens explanations about their childminders. These included home cooked food, a wide variety of activities and freedom to play what and when children want to. The opportunity for children to make friends was also cited by children as a reason why they love their childminders.

All this comes at a time when Childminding Ireland are calling for a national policy for childminding to be developed following the Draft Childminding Action Plan which was launched by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr Katherine Zappone in the second half of 2019. Childminding Ireland point out that it is critical that childminders, and parents using their services and those working in the sector need to be the primary contributors in order to create an appropriate supportive national policy for childminding. This policy should include incentives for those currently childminding to continue doing so, and should also encourage more childminders into the sector.

Childrens love of their childminders is being shared in a series of videos which will be on social media over the coming weeks. Use #LoveMyChildminder and #ChildmindingIsDifferent to follow the campaign.

To view the first video, visit https://youtu.be/EEewjs6_PX0