To start a babysitting business?

[Childcarelondon]

I was thinking of starting a babysitting business at home, I have no childcare qualifications but thought of taking a short childcare course online. Would that be ok? I've thought of training to be become a childminder, but I don't know if I can handle turning my house into a nursery and taking on 10 kids. Any advice would be appreciated.

Not sure what any licensing regulations might be, but you would definitely need liability insurance and first aid certification.

Babysitting tends to be in other people homes. You mean rocking up for an evening and charging 7 quid an hour type thing?

Can you get a job in a related role (in an established childcare facility) to gain experience and see if it's for you?

Babaysitting is in the child's home. Childminding is in your own home. For childminding you need to be registered and it's quite strict. The ratios are also controlled by regulation, no childminder I know has 10 kids at the one time.

If I wanted an evening babysitter, I would want them to be in my home rather than take my child to theirs.

Babysitting isn't done in your home its done at the child's home and honestly I don't know many parents who would leave their child with someone who didn't have any childcare qualifications or childcare experience. They mostly use registered professionals e.g. those who have paediatric first aid training and used to be ex childminders or workers from their child's nursery/childcare setting.

Most babysitters (that aren’t teenagers) are qualified around us. They work in nursery’s or similar and just do it for extra cash. And it’s mostly word of mouth.

I don’t see why anyone would need this, when there’s other baby sitters who will happily go to the parents’ home. Besides, baby sitting is mostly evenings, often because parents are going out to a fun event - you don’t want to be stopping and picking your kids up from someone else’s house on the way home. Also not great for the kids - you would need to wake them or at least disturb them to take them home (probably in their pjs in a taxi) no thanks.