Excited & nervous & all sorts at once

[iwilldothis]

Got my first real enquiry about potential mindees, family coming to visit me at the end of the week. I had full-time, part-time & after-schoolers' charges kinda sorted out in my head but this family has one child starting playgroup in Sept and I'd have to pick him up from there... Do I only charge for hours he is with me, then if he's with me extra hours because of playgroup holidays, then charge the additional for extra hours he'd be with me? Has a younger sister too who'd be with me all day, think they need me about 3 days out of 5. Help! What else do I need to think about before they come?

It's up to you. You can charge different hours for term time and holidays, or you can charge for the whole day during term time, because he will be taking up the whole space. Would you be on call to take him if the playgroup was closed for some reason?

I think you may be making it more complicated than it is..

I charge the same rate for full timers, part timers and for children in playgroup who I am responsible for, i.e if child sick or any problem the playgroup will call me and not parent so in effect in loco parentis..

I like to have hours set in stone if possible so everyone knows exactly what they owe.. if you are doing flexible hours then invoice every week hours worked, and payment, and insist on payment on the Monday morning or better still on the last day of minding for that week iycwim..

DONT be soft.. you will get stung if you are..

remember a space is a space and you should charge for it, even if child at playgroup as you cant always fill a morning here or there..

take time to go over the contract with parents and make sure you all singing from the same hymn sheet..

oh and read Mumtobless thread on what every cm should know and of course best of luck

I would second the 'don't be soft' part, you WILL get stung and you WILL lose money if you don't charge for full space, I wish I had been so logical with my first contract as 4 months later I'm still losing money (as I don't have the balls to change the contract).

Make sure your contracts are air-tight when it comes to the hours/fees as you may feel (like I do) that it's very hard to point out anything you inititally didn't make clear to parents.

Think about late pick-up fees, it's best to slap the parents with 'late fees' right from the very start otherwise you may feel it's very hard to suddenly impliment them.

Also, if the first couple of people that contact you don't really fit into what you were hoping for hours wise then don't take them on, just say you'll get back to them in a couple of weeks (so that you have time to fill the space with someone that does fit) - don't make your job harder than it has to be by taking mindees that don't fit into your plans well.

Good luck!!

THank you thank you thank you all for your sound advice. Good point about keeping it simple and playgroup being cancelled and taking up a place I otherwise could fill....

Just thinking (actually lay awake all night imagining possible scenarios and potential problems)... My DD is 18 mo, potential mindee 1 is 17 mo & 2nd potential mindee whom I will need to collect from playgroup will require me to go in to the building to collect him, meaning I would have to take two tinies in with me...wouldn't want them running off on me so would maybe need to put them in a buggy (I'd have to buy a double buggy)...also lots of strapping in and out of car seats (another thing I'd have to buy).... is it as hard as I think it's going to be doing that pickup 3 days a week? Playgroup is about a 10 min car journey away on bumpy winding country roads. Sorry, that was really long-winded and rambling.... my mind is working over-time and just a-buzz with all the planning.... any thoughts and advice about this?? Tia

Won't be hard, just time consuming. A double buggy probably will be advisable. Even if one, or both, toddlers are able to walk from wherever you park the car, Nursery pickup times can be chaotic and knowing that 2 toddlers are safe and secure throughout will afford you some piece of mind.

The nursery I collect from has issues with parents on street parking and I know of at least 1 child who ended up in hospital because they ran away from their grandparent out into the road.

It might be worth while doing a dummy run to nursery to see what it's like at pickup re parking etc for your risk assessment.

I havew been posting this all week

I use this policy for pre schoolers.

UNDER 5?S IN OTHER SETTINGS

A child is counted as an under 5 by Ofsted until they are in full time education i.e. at school for 10 sessions a week.

A child who is at pre school is a under 5 and if they are with a childminder before and after pre school, and require a fulltime space during the holidays they therefore are taking a childminders full time space. As such you are required to pay retainer fee for the time that they are at preschool, as the childminder cannot then fill the part time that they are at pre school.

Family came today. I was happy with how it went, but they are seeing another CM and haven't given me a definite answer yet (not that I expected them to say anything straight away anyway!) All seemed down-to-earth and friendly and kids well-behaved.
Odd hours wanted though...eg. drop-off at 9 in term-time, then 8:45 non-term-time and pick-up at 5:20. So I've kinda priced a half hour charge instead of full hour...allowing them 10mins leeway....is that the right thing to do? And in non-term-time I'm charging from 8:30 til 5:30.
This waiting to hear back from them now is gonna be hard....I sooo need this work

you charge for the day because you can't offer the place to anyone else and have to be available if playgroup is closed anyway

so don't disount