Absolutely amazing, caring and fun childminder
Our son started with Yasmin (and her lovely daughter who is definitely a major bonus to her setting!) in March 2024 at just over 3. He is so happy with her and has grown so much in confidence in just a few months and is always super happy and full of smiles and stories when I pick him up. He struggles with change and new settings and Yasmin went out of her way to help him settle with her at his own pace and to reassure and update us too as to what was happening. I was always confident that she was comforting, cuddling and helping him through being upset and that if he couldn't settle she'd let us know so we could pick him up (which we never needed to). She sends really thorough updates every day and takes far more gorgeous pictures than I ever manage and our son is always telling us about things he's done with her. We were regularly told 'Yasmin says we do X / Yasmin has pink towels in her house / Yasmin has gold handles in her car' - think he was a bit obsessed for a while! We chose a childminder because we wanted our son to be out and about in the world and they absolutely are - a different playgroup every morning (but the same ones each week so now they have friends there too who they see weekly), home for lunch and then all sorts of messy play, activities, crafts and library or park visits every afternoon. Half terms and holidays are particularly fun with a packed itinerary I'm very jealous of! Cliveden, Bucks Goat Centre, the Discover Bucks Museum - somewhere different and exciting every day. Very quickly Yasmin understood our son really well and adapted to what he needs. She is really in tune with emerging interests and quickly notices things he's starting to enjoy more and then plans more activities to meet his preferences. She proactively weaves in skills like letter recognition, counting, mark-making into play and our son has also learned huge amounts academically through playing and exploring. Our son eats way better at her house than at home and she cooks all sorts of lovely meals (spag bol/salmon, noodles and veg/cottage pie/chicken curry). Quite early on when my partner was picking our son up one day (and before Yasmin or our son had seem him) he saw him mid-play just run up to Yasmin and give her a cuddle before carrying on playing; it's clear to the children too how much she cares for them. She's always super engaged, encouraging and playful with the children and our son is really thriving with her. I can't speak highly enough of Yasmin and I'm so grateful we found her!