how do you find being a child minder is different from being a sahm?

[carriedababi]

i have really enjoyed being a sahm for my dd who is 3, just thinking towards the future and thinking about child minding.

just wondering how you find it different?

i think the reason i have enjoyed being a sahm, is because i happen to have a few friends that was friends with before having dd, that have had children at around a similar time.

so i've had good friends around
plenty of family about and to visit etc.

we are able to go on days out etc any time we like

just just wondering how child minding differs, would it be normal to take the children say round to my family members such as my mum and dads for visits?
[i'm guessing not]

and how about days out?

and what about meeting up with friends?

anything else you can think of to help me understand the realities of the difference

okay

I take the children to my mum's for short visits, (say an hour tops) we also visit an elderly couple in the village once a month - Ofsted loved this, that the children were interacting with older people

Days out with friends and their children, partic during holiday times, but not so much during term-time

I am lucky that local CMs are of a similar bent and so we often go to each others houses/park/woods/playgrounds as a gang - CMing can be a very isolated job and you will need adult company

However you have to balance the needs of the minded children against those of your own and be very careful not to 'favour' yours over the minded children. hard to explain, sorry

The paperwork, partic when starting, can be a nightmare until you figure out how best to do it, but it is the most rewarding job I have ever had; I am passionate about offering affordable quality childcare

You can still do all the same trips and outings, but you need to work out what the benefits are for your mindees, rather than for you. I rarely meet up with friends, because I don't get a chance to talk to them, due to spending all my time making sure the mindees are happy and safe.

There is a lot of paperwork involved in being a CM and I am really sad that I have more pictures and records of the mindees than I do of my own DD . Minding does not leave a lot of time for your friends and family, or for your own children I'm afraid, although it has been great for me to be home at the end of the school day and have my DD at home during the holidays. She is 10 now and lets herself in with a key after school and rarely comes into the play room .

You need to check with the mindees parents what they are happy about and decide what is important for you and non-negotiable.

Having said all that, I love childminding and I think I will be doing it for some years to come.

my own children are very happy with the arrangements - there was however one child with whom they did not 'click' and after 2 years I decided to bite the bullet and give notice; my children were ecstatic and reverted to playing with the minded children

What a terrible Mum, I had not really clocked that they were disappearing upstairs on the days that the particular child was with me but the proof I did the right thing was staring me in the eyes when they started to argue and cry over whose turn it was to play peepo with the baby [awwww]

So be prepared to take your own children's experience of you minding into account

here endeth the lesson

wow thanks for the advice, i didn't think i'd be able to do either trips out or visit friends and family.

interesting to hear how you feel there good and bad ways its affected your family.

its not easy trying to think about what work to do and your family too.

thanks for taking your time to advise me, very nice of you

as long as you get permissions, and assess the risks to the children beforehand you can pretty much do anything

being your own boss, really really rocks

I'm not going to repeat what everyone else has said (paperwork, paperwork, paperwork )maybe this will help you decide - every type of visit will need a written risk assessment, before undertaking any visit you will need to consider each child ?how will they benefit?, you?ll need to consider the care routines (nappy changing, meals, sleeps) while you are out and about. When you visit friends & family (or they come to you) the children in your care can not be out of your sight or left alone with them- not even while you pop to the loo. You will need permission for outings. You will need to be back in time for other children to arrive (throughout the day) and for children to be collected, & maybe fit in school runs.

how do you deal with temper trantums on a professional basis though, say for example, today dd did not want to leave the park even though we had been there an hour.

we gave her a 10 then 5 then 2 min warning.

we said if she left nicely she'd get a star sticker

we said we were going home for tea, which we were and she was hungry, but she still didn't want to come.
so dh had to pick her up and carry her in the end

how would or should i deal with this as a childminder?
dd is 3 btw

one thing worries me is after spending all day with mindees how much energy would i have for my dd when she returned from school

i only have her to care for atm and i do find it quite tiring although wonderful 99%of the time

I have been seen (many years ago) tucking my DD kicking and screaming under my arm, while the mindees walked along chatting away happily. She was definitely not a good advert sometimes. My biggest challenge has been my own DD, because she knows she has choices about what to wear, eat, etc, whereas the mindees know that what they see is what they get and they are happy to settle into the routine.

If you want energy and time for your DD when she comes home from school, you might want to research whether there is a market for you finishing minding at 3pm, so you can play with her, take her swimming, feed her, etc?

and by the way .... it takes months and months to register!

Sorry its a bit long!! I was a sahm for about ten years.

I decided to then become a childminder in 2008. I decided to do this eventually because all my kids would then me in full time education. I know some childminders who chlldmind as well as having their own kids at home fulltime. Some find it ok.

Childminding has been an experience both good and also with challenges.

If you decide to childmind please ensure that you have the support of the parents in how you are dealing with their children. I have dealt with behaviour that was awful in the past and had to really put my foot down to ensure that the parents were equally firm with the unacceptable behaviour of their children.

Being a sahm is very different to childminding as you are free to do what you want to do. Childminding has rules and reg. which you have to ensure you abide by ie rules to ensure safety of the children etc.

I do not regret childminding. I have learnt so much within the almost 2 years.

I have to really ensure that I stay balance with childminding and family life! Paper work is one of the things you will have to get use to.

Our CM takes her mindees, including our son, to her mother's, has her brothers round, her friends, her grown-up children and her grandchild, often. It's one of the things I love about the setting: I like to know she's getting lots of adult interaction to keep her happy and that my son's getting to mix with people of all ages and to be kind of part of a big extended family (ours are miles away).

I am not concerned that they're not all CRBed etc though: that might be a concern for some people. Also he only goes for short sessions & not every day, so I'm not worried about routines/having to go along with others' priorities etc.