The dogs have their own special area of the garden so that the grass is kept clean for the children to play on all year round. All of our pets are very good natured and the children in my care quite happily stroke the dogs and chat to them through the gate. They dogs think the world of the children and they them and the same goes for our cat Ollie. He’ll withstand quite a lot of stroking and tail pulling before he escapes to the calmness of his own room upstairs! He never gets angry and seems to understand that the children are just curious and mean him no harm. Although I trust our pets completely, it goes without saying that any interaction with your child would always be supervised. Let me tell you a little about myself. I’m a true Stamfordian and was educated at Bluecoat and Queen Eleanor schools. I’ve always wanted to work with children and whilst at secondary school carried out my work experience at a local nursery. I have to admit whilst I loved playing with the children and making sure they were happy and healthy, my experience of that particular nursery environment really disappointed me, it wasn’t what I expected at all. Of course I realise that not every nursery is the same, but I always thought that when I had a child I would much prefer them to go to a childminder. To be totally honest my experience at that nursery is the reason I never went into working in childcare. Instead I went into administration work and had a successful career for 15 years until the birth of my son in July 2007.
