Childminders

Childminders needed to registered with the local authorities. They are allowed to look after up to 3 children (on top of their own) but only one may be under the age of one.

Assistantes maternelles liberales can set their own rates which tend to be hourly. You will need to discuss such things as whether or not meals are included (one friend makes up her children’s meals the night before and takes them to the childminder’s)

 

ÜAdvantages; one to one attention, flexiblity

Üdisadvantages; expensive, difficult to find, if the childminder is ill you will have to find someone else, you are the employer

 

“when DS was about 18 mths we couldnt get a place in the creche so had to go to a private childminder, the PMI gave us addresses but by the time you'd rung round found someone who had a spare place, the choice was pretty limited. Ours again seemed ok to begin with but wasnt very good on hygiene, her hub was retired so the TV was on all day long, she had no idea of eveil as long as the kids were quiet that was fine. I rang the PMI but as she was soon to retire they didnt feel they could say anything”

 

Crèches.

Some crèches are private but most are run by the municipalities. Private crèches can charge what they want, crèches municiplales are income related.  Even quite small towns have them.

To register for a crèche, you will probably need the carnet de santé showing that your child’s vaccinations are up to date (at least the BCG which is obligatory for vie collective), proof of residence if it a municipal crèche (electricity bill) and the livret de famille if you have one.

 

Crèche collective

Most are run by the municipalité, the rates are income related and there are strict controls on the number of children looked after. (1 adult to every 5 non-walking children, 1 adult to every 8 walking children.) The staff have taken one of the French childcare exams. The “babies” and the ”biggies” are usually separated or play together at set moments of the day. The children usually have a medical visit once a month. Most creches have a system where each child had a nominated carer.

 

ÜAdvantages; income related, trained staff, the child learns to socialise early

ÜDisadvantages; rigid routines (although most are quite flexible with babies) fixed opening and closing hours, many only take children until they are 3.

 

“We have just had a place at the Creche collective (CC) confirmed. It has 20 children per age section of 0-1, 1-2 and 2-3, split into groups of 10, about 4 staff per group, full time cook and 2 full time cleaning ladies (!!), great equipment. We feel it's more secure than the CF idea, the staff do less hours, and generally have chosen to work in the creche “

 

Crèche familaile

This is also run by the municipalité but the children are looked after by childminders paid by the crèche. There are usually moments when all the children meet together at the crèche and there are also monthly medical visits. The childminders are checked regularly by the directeur/rice.

 

ÜAdvantages; one to one attention, flexibility, the childminder is replaced if she is ill, income related rates, you aren’t the childminder’s employer

ÜDisadvantages; You may not be able to choose your childminder, many only take children until they are 3,  

 

 

“DS1 was in a creche familiale, council-employed childminder. The rates were very reasonable, related to income. The childminders are visited once a week by the directrice, and once a week they have to take the children to play together at the CF base. They have a free Dr and psychologist at their disposition in case they have any health or emotional problems! The downside we found was that you have no choice of childminder, they just introduce you to the person they've chosen. Ours was ok but motivated rather by working at home than from a desire to work with children, she was paying for her 12 yr old daughter to attend a private school.... we didnt see eye to eye with her on a few things and had the feeling that DS was left in front of the TV quite a lot. One thing that really upset me was she gave him new things like fruit juice or purees without asking me!!”

 

“In addition to all this the CF in my town has a jardin d'eveil for children over 15mo (10 kids, 2 adults an hour and a half a week) and an educatrice who comes to the childminder's house to prepare the children for JE. Before they are old enough the childminders can take the children to various free activity groups (singing, painting...)The fees are linked to the amount we earn and the number of children in the family. Children can be looked after for 5, 4 or even 3 days a week. But as whole days, not half days.  Children can start at 10 weeks and stay until they go into CP. Once they start maternelle, they are considered periscolaire and they fees are lower. The childminder takes them to school, picks them up and feeds them at lunch time. Our childminder follows our lead on when we want to do things (potty training etc) and we have a little book where where writes what has happened during the day, what the children have eaten etc”

 

Crèche parentale

These are creches set up by parents. There must be at leatst one trained memebr of staff but otherwise the parents take it in turns to look after the children (the number of children is limited at 16)

 

ÜAdvantages; flexibility, the child learns to socialise early

ÜDisadvantages; you will have to give up a day or half day a month to work in the crèche, the parents have to organise everything themselves

 

Halte garderie

Halte garederies are useful for parents who work part time or who don’t work but need to leave their children somewhere for short amounts of time. Children can only be looked after for 5 half days per week. Some halte garderies work on a first come first served basis, others allow you to book in advance.

 

ÜAdvantages; useful if you don’t need much childcare, the child learns to socialise

ÜDisadvanages; You can’t always be sure of a place, not full time

 

 

“....halte- garderie formula (covering children who attended once in a while, and also those like my dd who did three mornings a week on a regular basis). It had a directrice, an unfeasibly large number of paid staff, and a full-time chef (!). Sometimes there were more staff than children. Fees were low and linked to your income (we paid about 2 euros an hour) - I assume that they received subsidies from the municipal council and/ or the CAF. We had no trouble obtaining a place, and we booked my dd's days a week in advance - though in practice once we had established regular days, the creche pre-booked our days without asking u”s

 

“....The premises are very impressive - large, purpose-built building with a big garden. Unfortunately there is no cantine - parents supply the food for the younger children and the older ones eat at the school cantine with the children from the maternelle.”