Can you tell me what it's really like to be a CM please?

[naturalbaby]

I've always wondered about becoming a childminder but with a 1yr old, 2yr old and 3yr old of my own I'm not sure if/when is a good time to start.

ds1 is off to school in September (turns 4 in a few weeks) so I am looking into setting up over the summer and starting then. Ds2 will be in nursery every day from 8-11:15 and I live in a town house with several flights of stairs so regularly leave my dc's on their own in the lounge or their bedrooms while I'm up and down with washing/potty/one child or another. I have just about managed with my 3 and September is going to be a big turning point for me with ds1 at school full time but I really can't work out if it will be possible to CM in this house, doing a school and nusery run. I do have another pair of hands to help me out with the school run. The house is well childproofed and open plan so easy to keep an eye on the kids but I'm worried about the fact that the main play areas are my boys' bedrooms but they also like to spend a lot of time in the lounge and garden.

Well even in September you would only be able to have one child (if indeed you could register in that short time)

The toilet situation could be tricky; I don't know as I always had a downstairs loo

I don't see the business case here. To make money out of the business you really need to work full time and have 3 children a day. U couldn't do this with your own being so young.

I didn't start till youngest was over 5 and personally I think u need to keep your own kids bedrooms of limits, jealousy, breakages and chocking on toys haZard.

It takes money and time to set up and LOADS of paperwork and u got hands full alleeady.

Sorry to b a negative bunny but just my thoughts

Also the lots of stairs and regularly leaving children on own when changing nappy or toilet us a huge red flag. What you do with own kids and what u do with mindees is chalk and cheese!!

I started with only one space two years ago and I am still childminding. I found two children pretty much straight away. One came just in the mornings and I had one after school. I wasn't rolling in money but I know I couldn't do without it.
I say go for it girl. The business will expand with time as your own children get older and free the space for more mindees.
Stairs not a problem ... there are safety gates etc ... I don't know the layout so can't find a perfect solution for you. All I can say I have a 3 storey house and no stair gates. The doors are shut when we play downstairs or upstairs in bedrooms and by the time the children are old enough to reach and open the door they are confident on the stairs. Now you will only be allowed one little one so just make sure everything is safe for him/her. If you are comfortable leaving your own children downstairs then fine but I do not leave other little ones alone myself. If you want to be ready by September I suggest you start the process now. Good luck.

I?m not sure you?d get registered in time to start in September, but it would be worth trying. And only having one under 5 place to offer will restrict your earning ability, and depending on how much work there is locally you could find that you have to accept a part-time child to get your business off the ground, which will make it even harder to make a go of it.
Living in a town house is fine if you can ensure that as a rule you can always see & hear the children.
?Children must usually be within sight and hearing of staff and always within sight or hearing. ? not a new requirement but something to consider (times when it is acceptable not to see them is when you are in the loo (they usually mass outside the door here-its a small room or i'm sure they'd want to come with me ) and maybe when you pop into the kitchen to fetch food. It wouldn?t be acceptable to have an under 5 playing on another level or leaving a child out of sight while you put another in the car.

Childcare is going through another re- invention, the revised EYFS comes in on 1st September and the issue which may impact on you (if you haven?t managed to register before then) is the new requirement that
?Childminders must have completed a local authority approved training course which helps them understand and implement the EYFS before they can register with Ofsted.?

Good luck

Thanks, pretty much as I thought. There is a course in my area in May and I've been told it could take 12 weeks to get registered, I'm in no big rush but wondering whether to get on with it and do the course in May or wait 6/12months.

I'm also not doing it to provide a major income - a little bit of an income to get me started back in the world of work would be great but not if I'm going to be spending hours every day on research and paperwork to have one child for 30hrs a week. If it's not worth doing for one child then I'll wait a bit but I'm happy to just have the income from just one child for now.

So with the revised EYFS would it be better to register before then or wait and have the more up to date training?

We do have a toilet downstairs and upstairs but neither are on the same level as the main living area so I either have to take one or more of my kids with or leave them to go to the toilet/empty potty. I'm aware you can keep parts of the home 'out of bounds' but that Ofstead look at the whole home as if the mindees will be using all areas. It's well childproofed/child centred but the toilets and stairs are a problem. I would gladly stick to the main living area but am not sure how much toy/paperwork storage I will need as it's minimal at the moment.

My other option is to buy a baby activity franchise so I'm weighing up the work vs income + childcare for my own kids to work out what will be worth doing.

One thing you could do, is concentrate on older children after school. If your local school is nearby and easily walkable you could have more 5-8 yr olds than little ones because of the age of your own children. Round here there is a huge demand for before and after school care.

I have just been through the registration process and am now just waiting for my certificate to arrive. Had my pre-reg visit yesterday. I started the process in February so it has taken me about 2 months - I filled in all the forms direct with Ofsted and am doing the CYPOP5 course online with the NCMA as it was quicker than going down the route my LA suggested.

I wasn't keen on older kids because my oldest is not quite 4 so we don't have much in the house for older kids, and I'm worried about cooking tea for loads of kids every day! Maybe it'll be an easier option to start with though.

I'm similar to Runoutofideas, did the online CYPOP course and went to Ofsted directly, it's much quicker. I'd have thought you could definitely get registered by September if you started now. Like you, I'm just doing it to get a bit of extra cash, rather than to earn a proper living (I do 2, sometimes 3 days a week with 2 children in addition to my own, and also take another child to school every day). It is a bit of a faff with the paperwork, and I did find it shockingly expensive to get registered, what with the cost of all the courses, doctor's fee, ofsted fee, insurance etc. But you do make it all back reasonably quickly and obviously I won't have to pay tax on my expenses. From a personal point of view it's lovely - my dds adore having their friends round on a regular basis, and having another (slightly older) child for breakfast makes our mornings much more civilised than they would otherwise be.

Hi Naturalbaby

In Sept will be 4 years since I started. Got 4 of my own and cm seven.

Things are very busy for me looking after everyone. I noticed the ages of your children, still very young. You will need lots of energy as a cm as you can be doing a lot of going and coming.

I decided to work from home so that I can be there for mine and also bring in an income. I waited until my youngest was in full time. Ages are 16 13 10 and 7. As a cm my circumstances may be a lot ddiferent to another cms. i personally would not really have choosen to cm with underschool age children of my own. Some cms have. That very personal. You have to take into consideration the amount of children you have of your own and also their ages.

You can have older kids to cm if you wish. Some cm may not want to cm kids older than theres. Also it depends on what Ofsted says about the amount of kids you can have.

two of the seven I care for are now 8 but I have not applied for a variation in numbers. This system has either changed or is changing. I am comfortable with the children I have at present. If I take on any I would more than likely go for school age children.

You also got to think about the routine your little ones have and how this will change when other children come along. From my experience the routine will change. All the best in your decison!!!!

and... its the most interesting yet at time challenging job I have ever done. You get to do so many fun things. You also have to ensure you are firm yet fair with the childminding kids.

Sorry dont want to hi jack the thread, at the present moment in time there is nowhere in The Statatory Frame work that says children have to be with eye sight at all times.

I know this because I had occasion to pull Ofsted up on this, due to an action they gave me, and I had this over turned.
However it is good practice to try and keep them within youir radar.

I only mind After Schoolers, They are 5, 6, 7, 10, I also have 2 of my own of 10 and 13, having 6 in the house is more than enough for me, and I actually prefer this, especially now as I also work in our local Pre School 4 days a week.