Babysitting between friends

Two women are undertaking part time work. They both have a child of about the same age. They organise their work time so that neither is at work at the same time. They are friends. They know each other well. They know how the other child has been brought up, and each would be happy for their own child to be looked after by the other mother should the need arise. The children have played together in the past and get on well.

The parents would not, after all, be in favour of the two children being forced to play together if they didn’t get on. The parents would not be interested in the children getting together if it was bad for their child. It would just cause each parent grief if the result of such a get-together was for their child to emerge with hassle and upset.

These parents have organised their working life so that they can each look after the other child, in rota, to allow the mothers to go to work. This is the logical way of dealing with the problem. The ‘powers that be’ have determined that this is not acceptable and that mothers should be thoroughly checked before being allowed to look after another child on a regular basis such as this.

Ofsted have apparently decreed that caring for another person’s child ‘for reward’ should be classed as childminding, and therefore both mothers must be registered with Ofsted and follow the same regulations as normal childminders, their financial ‘reward’ being that they receive free care for their children. There is, of course, a financial cost to registering with Ofsted, together with various checks being made to ensure that they are ‘proper’ persons to be undertaking the task.

Why don’t the ‘powers that be’ think sensibly? Most of child abuse occurs within the child’s own family unit – not with persons from outside. The risk of abuse from friends is minimal, and therefore to target that freely offered help such that there will be a deterrent to such a gesture with cost implications is absurd, especially when the more likely threat from the families themselves is ignored. We will discuss the threat from the child’s own family another time.

Children have a right to expect the general public to be properly interested in their wellbeing, and in this respect they have a right to know that their mothers are able to organise their lives such they can earn money effectively for their own benefit, without costly enforced legislation being applied that can only deter them from doing so, especially when the friends’ involvement is the best approach for their safety. The children have that right!