Childminders Club: full & part-time childcare

[Alethea25]

Hi all

I may have a problem; so far, I have always been able to offer an extremely flexible service mainly due to the fact that I only had two mindees to consider, one for two afternoons from 1 - 6pm (nursery pick up) & the other for 4 days 7.30am - 6pm. I have been able to pick up from their home when necessary, drop off or collect from nursery & have been able to have mindees for odd hours here and there when required. To enable my business to survive and prevent me giving up the job I love , I need to fill all my vacancies quickly (you may remember I had given myself until Jan) I am registered for 3 under 5's and 3 over 5's but am not keen to do before and after school care for various reasons; I need to fill daytime vacancies five full days per week whether with full or part-time mindees. I still have the two mindees as above but part-time mindees hours may change to 12 noon - 6pm (rather than from 1pm) and I have another mindee who may start Feb with the same hours; the problem is this; My full-time vacancies are broadly from 8am - 6pm and hours outside this can be negotiated and part-time vacancies ie morning or afternoon placements from 8am - 1pm and 1pm - 6pm. If I agree to the new change in hours of current mindee, I am concerned that I may not fill the morning vacancy from 8am - 12 noon iyswim. I also have another mindee starting on 13 Jan who also want 2 afternoons pw but need child to be here between 12 noon and 12.30 - I am having a problem with this one as well because it is more difficult to fill a morning vacancy from 8am until only 12 noon. What do the rest of you do with situations like this? Do any of you charge for the whole day with the option of the mindee attending for full day rather than going to nursery or playgroup? I have changed my name for this as I have not discussed this concern with parents yet as so far only mentioned to me in passing so nothing finalised but as I am in the process of updating my policies, renewing Contracts etc it is something that I need to decide about by Tuesday ready for discussions with parent's. Thanks for any advice.

Do these children go to playgroup or nursery? Do you have any of them for longer in the holidays because of playgroup being shut? The only way I see it is if the children attend a playgroup you could charge for the time they are there to keep the full day place open in the holidays. Ohterwise you have two options, 1. Advise the parents that you are reorganising your fee structure and either charge an increased hourly rate for the half day ones to help boost your income (don't tell them that though!) or advise parents that in future you are going to do a fixed fee for a mininmum number of hours per day e.g. 8 hours, & give them the option of using all or part of those hours. 2. Tell the parents that you are activiely looking to fill the space(s) you have & if someone asks for full time (all day) for either some or part of the week then you might need to give notice to the existing parent.

I know that you want to have full-time mindees, but the ones who may do 12.00 - 6.00 are actually doing 6 hours/day, which is pretty good. In the ideal world, we probably all want the "9-5" type placements, but they're not that common any more.

I certainly wouldn't charge for the whole day if parents only wanted the afternoon. I wouldn't want to cause hassle to existing mindees/parents (the one already doing afternoons) but, if you are worried about not filling a full day, perhaps you should reconsider not taking on this new afternoon-only child.

Do you think the parents would prefer their children to do a full day with you instead of doing morning nursery (which you then pick-up from)? If they are getting the funding for it, then they are not going to want to lose that by stopping nursery (unless you are accredited).

As badger says, do you have them more in the school holidays? I also echo what badger says about increasing your fees etc., but I wouldn't want to upset any existing parents by suggesting that they might be given notice as you need full-time mindees.

I would take on the afternoon mindees and then target my advertising specifically (via leaflet and card drops and chatting to other local businesses) to local mums who may love the idea, once they are tempted!, of morning hours of care for hairdressers/gym visits etc. I have two mums who use me for this type of care at present and it fits in very well with a regular mindee who comes to me some days after his moring nursery session.

I worried about this initially. Like you, I wanted two fulltime under 5s, and the rest I wasn't too bothered about.

My first mindee was 9am - 1pm, 2 days a week (and they could change those days to suit me, as the mum was pg and wanted a break.)

Then I got twins, who are three days a week, 8 - 6 (and the other parents changed their days to the other two so I could have them and the first mindee!)

So that worked out well!

Now I don't have the first mindee any more (parents moved away) and have 3 school age instead. I'm now technically doing a 36 hour week (8 - 6 three days, and 8.15 - 9 then 3.15 - 5.30 the other two) so I get the best part of two days off a week... and earn more than dh who has a 'proper' job.

It works in strange ways!

Thanks for all posts.

I know what you mean TP, great that they will be doing 6 hours rather than the five but I suppose it is the same for all of us, we all know what we need to earn to cover rent, CT, bills etc for business to survive. Parent of current mindee's nursery is not funded so wouldn't lose out. Giving notice to existing mindee is not an option I would consider anyway apart from if I were to give up childminding altogether but really just trying to find out what others do and what is a reasonable and fair stance to take with parent. BH: Nursery does not close during hols apart from few days at christmas; sometimes, say for six weeks, mindee will come to me for one extra full day in addition to the two afternoons; this has stopped for a few weeks and from next week mindee will come for one extra afternoon (a diff day to before) and go the playgroup in morning. The mum wants mindee to go to playgroup instead of nursery which will cause the change in the hours I normally care for mindee. I think I will discuss my concerns with both parents existing and new to see if there is another option that they could consider such as being with me for two full days. The new mindee has been with me for odd day here and there for several months now for the purpose of her to get to know me for when the mum is ready to go back to work so definitely not an option not to take on this mindee. I just wish things were a little more straight forward sometimes ! I think I am also concerned by the fact that whether it be nursery or playgroup pickup, it is a half an hours walk away (don't have car to use) and with toddler/s in tow, it takes about 45 mins to an hour. Get bus sometimes if its pouring with rain but with new mindee that will be 3 toddlers under 3 on the bus and lets face it buses don't wait until children are sat down so more of a danger than anything else. For playgroup pickup I would need to leave (with exisitng full time mindee in tow) at 12 noon - at lunchtime - pickup at 12:30 then wouldn't get back until 1-1:30 depending on how fast or slow 3 toddlers want to walk on that particular day so don't really know how I am going to fit in the lunches!! I do feel it is a bit of a dilemma.

Think how fit you'll be!

But seriously though - I guess I would agree that perhaps you could just sound out the parents and say that you are looking for ways to fill your spaces, and wondered if any of them would be interested in doing more hours/full days? Or ask them if they know of anyone who might be interested in using your morning hours?

I do not envy your journey to pick them up, sounds like a nightmare. Are they too big for buggies/buggy boards? I have a triple buggy, which is great, but obviously only for young children. Also have an "All-Singing-All-Dancing-All-American-Wagon" which seats older toddlers (but isn't that cheap).