Why did nobody tell me childminding would be such good exercise?!

[januarysnowdrop]

I found an old pedometer the other day and put it on just out of interest, to see how active I am on an average day. I believe you're supposed to aim for 10,000 steps a day to be healthy. Quite startling results - on the days when I'm childminding, I average around 24,000 steps, which is the equivalent of walking about 10 miles. It's not like I'm taking them on long walks or anything, just the school/nursery run & trips to the park which isn't far away. It must be just that I never seem to get the chance to sit down!

Definitely a career worth considering if you want to get fit...

Surprising how many miles you can walk when doing school and back, nursery and back, school and back again.

Wish I could say I lose weight being a nanny... alas I have put on 2 pounds since Xmas - too much chocolate. Mind you it's got to be better than sitting on a chair all day in an office, hasn't it?

All that weight training too. Bending and lifting

I have a quad pushchair with mindees in it aged 2years, 17 months, 19months and 13 months.

I used to have flabby arms. Not any more!!

brazen, how do you manage with your Ofsted numbers if you're only allowed three in the early years age group?

Im registered for 4 under 5 via a requested variation Octavia

Ooh, I didn't know you could do that! Do you need particular qualifications or anything? I'm interested because DD is starting her three hours per day of nursery in the autumn and I'd really like to take another mindee in the mornings (DS will still be at home). It would mean an overlap of about two hours a day where I had four under-5s. What did you have to demonstrate to Ofsted, can I ask please?

Octavia, OFSTED (at the moment) only allows a variation if for siblings or for reasons of continuity of care. So if a child already in your care has a new baby brother or sister starting with you, then a variation may be allowed or if a parent's working days change and they need to change days with you and their child is already in your care, then a variation may be allowed.

OFSTED does not give variations so that extra work can be taken on if the above criteria are not met.

This is going to change under the revised EYFS, though. No mention of continuity of care is made - it seems that variations may only be allowed for siblings. But I must confess I am not 100% sure!

Ah, I see - yes that makes sense. Thanks for the extra detail!