Marion has been our childminder for nearly 2 years now, and we cannot praise her highly enough. Our little girl (Isla, 2 and a half) loves both Marion and her husband John. They do a great range of activities – she’s always coming home with painting, crafts or baking, as well as getting out to soft play, feeding the ducks, the park etc. Marion takes them to playgroups a couple of times each week which Isla loves. I feel Isla gets a good balance of activities and socialisation but also ‘down’ time in a home environment. Marion’s home is perfectly set up for childminding, with a lovely safe garden and a great living room space with lots of toys. Marion was really patient when Isla took a while to settle (I went back to work when she was just 9 months) and it didn’t take too long before Isla was really happy there.
I feel very little ‘Mum guilt’ going off to work these days, as I know that Isla is somewhere she is well looked after, and with someone who really cares about her. Marion genuinely seems to love looking after kids, and John too has built a great relationship with Isla. It’s amazing to have this sort of peace of mind, and we intend to keep Isla with Marion for the foreseeable future.
Marion is incredibly reliable (don’t want to jinx it but in 2 years, she’s not taken a day off sick!) and she has been willing to be quite flexible around our working patterns – we have altered our hours with her a couple of times to accommodate changing job situations etc. Communication is good – when Isla was younger Marion kept a diary so we knew what she had done each day/when she’d had a nap etc (these days Isla tells us!). She was really helpful in picking up cues that Isla was ready for potty training and communicating this to us.

Essentially I can’t recommend Marion highly enough for her brilliant home environment, range of developmentally appropriate activities, reliability and the relationship she builds with the kids.

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Food
• Communication