Any childminders want to chat?

Jannier. Yes there is a staff member who deals with the press etc & she works hard. It is just hard for them to get the message across sometimes when the ‘popular papers’ like their sensational headlines without finding out the correct information.
Welcome 3 Little badgers, perhaps we ought to start our own ‘holt’!

Thanks Snap. Nothing to ask as the moment I'm just excited to nosey in to the real life experiences of people who are childminding now.

Brilliant thread, can I be the second badger here please?

I was a science teacher, took time off to raise my own children, decided I loved early years so have spent the last year being a TA in preschool, and I have just completed my course online.

I've not registered yet or done my paediatric course, because I want to get the garage converted into a play room, but I am very interested to hear what you all have to say.

Haha Snap... I know exactly what you mean! I have one space a couple of days a week as one of my children has just started school, but the other 3 days I have 4 under 3 all day so at the moment it is lovely to have that one day with only 2 mindees who happen to be the same age. Therefore yes I do have a space... but only if you're child isn't going to give me lots of hard work
Also the two mindees are starting school in September so I had best fill the space before I end up with no mindees!

Badgerhead....

Glad to hear finally things have changed I used to attend their regional meetings they would ask are opinions on stuff and what were our problems like publicity to tell parents our real role and nothing would ever happen. Do they now have a press office that responds to stuff in the media like news articles and incorrect story lines? It still seems common to get articles like Child-minder leaves child in car...then you read it and it was a baby sitter or in a few cases a Nursery where things happened, yet on the online follow ups and comments you never see a Pacey statement. Wouldn't it be fantastic if they had an advertising campaign if they would use our money promoting us a bit I would re-join. Te last time I had one of the member magazines most of it as directed at come to our conference in Blackpool (or similar) at a cost of a months income for me in those days which really made me feel like they understood how for most of us money is tight. So I switched to MM and cut my cost of insurance by more than half.

Jannier it is no longer the case that t* have PACEY insurance that you must use their contracts. You can use any contracts you want. Also PACEY are nowadays very good with their support and training for childminders.*

Please look at their website to see what they offer for members now.**

I’m a long term PACEY member and a key volunteer with them and think they do a fantastic job on a limited budget.**

Jannier no. What did it say?

Has everyone seen yesterday's news on the DBS update service?

Good luck too many kids to count

jannier thanks that's so helpful!

Excellent thread! I've been minding for about a million years - seen so many changes, but still mostly love it! Settling in a new little one today so wish me luck!

No assistant, the twins are under COC as they wanted extra days, hence there being 4!
My DP is an Ofsted reg childminder too but he works full time in a different role so is only around on days off/ for an hour after work.

Tilly35

When I started 25 years ago everyone returned full time and part time work as rare, but in the last 10 years I've never had one full time child everyone is part time in some way. You used to have children from 3 to 6 months to 5 plus years and then as school places now its from about 1year to 3 or 4 then school. So holding out for full time is not always practical. Then again if you have 3 full time and 1 leaves you loose a third of your income whereas a part time leaving is less risk. Most tend to charge a slightly higher rate for part time too.

I like MM and left Pacey when it was NCMA as it was too expensive vs the benefits. Both have membership benefits and training mm allows you to use any contract and will give legal advice PACEY only do this if you use their contracts. PACEY are a representative body and more into policy making, having said that I don't think they have done much to promote us to the public and the media in an open way ( they may well do more behind the scenes) I would like them to be a public voice for things like the portrayal of cm's in soaps etc as I think that is responsible for us being viewed by many as a poor alternative to nurseries. If you are interested in policy making it may sway your choice.

Hi! Lovely group I'm just starting to make plans to begin childminding in the new year. Can I ask if any of you are members of Pacey, Morton-Michael or PSLA and what your opinions of them are? Why, as a few of you have said, is having lots of part timers better for business than a few full timers? Also, do any of you have a dog and how has that worked out for you? Thanks!

Hi doglikeafox, that does sound busy! I've got some chatter boxes too and it certainly keeps me on my toes!

Yes this is a great group, I think our role is so often misunderstood. I love my job too, and pride myself on being extremely flexible for parents. This is my USP over nurseries.

Fab to have this group to chat!

I'd love to join! I've been a childminder for just over a year. No children of my own and absolutely love my job.
Today has been tough though as I've had 11 month old twins, a 2 year old and a 3 year old. The children are fantastic, but the twins have been teething and the 2 year old is potty training and the 3 year old is the worlds biggest chatterbox so it's been very eventful
A thread like this is a great idea

Yes lol! For example we have 3 siblings who only come for 1.5 hours every other Monday, one 1 yr old who comes for 4 hours once a week and 2 lots of 2 siblings who come after school one night a week, term time only- you get the idea!!!

Wow fudges, that's a lot of children, I get confused with 12!!

Another thing to remember tea, if your husband is away a lot, it can be very isolating. You are on your own, especially if the littles are a bit under the weather but not ill enough to exclude. One week when everyone was a bit coldy and grumpy and we hadn't made it out for a couple of days I made the Jehovah's Witnesses back away slowly down the drive as I was keeping them too long and they'd made the mistake of calling at nap time!

I love it, but it is exhausting and with ofsted looming, quite stressful.