am interested in becoming a childminder but....

[ShaysMummy]

....i have a few questions first.
i have 2 dogs (labradors) would that be okay?

would i be able to earn about £700+ pcm without looking after an army of kids? how many? roughly.

i've always wanted to do this and have enquired in the courses and stuff.
dh is a bit sceptical that it will pay enough.

i know of cms who have dogs. r they well trained? depends where you are as to earnings

i am in wiltshire. they are good dogs. they dont mind being played with, so to speak.
they dont hump or sniff crotches or anything like that.

bump

There's no problem with having dogs - I don't know the exact rules and regulations any more, but I think you need to demonstrate to OFSTED that you have a room that is inaccesible to children if you need to keep them separate, that you would never leave the dogs with minded children if you weren't with them, that the children wouldn't have access to their food bowls, and that your garden isn't covered in poop!!

You would be able to earn £700/month, but you obviously would probably take time to build your business up. You only need to read some of the other threads in this section to know that some childminders are desperate for work. There is no guaranteed income, parents might get made redundant, move away, send child to nursery etc., so your earnings would fluctuate.

The maximum number of children you could have under five years would be 3 (and if you have one of your own, so you could only have another 2, if this is what OFSTED register you for). You can also take older children - doing school runs and school holidays.

How much you earn would depend on how much you charge (obviously!!)

I used to have a dog when I started childminder but she died .

I've had parents phone who wouldn't even visit me when they discovered I had a dog. On the plus side, I did look after a child who was initially petrified of dogs - that family now own their own dog.

When I was inspected, we discussed:-
storage of pet food
location of food & water bowls (must be inaccessible to mindies)
removal of faeces
regular worming
baby-safe area where dog couldn't access
hygiene routine, lots of hand washing
and under no circumstances are mindies to be left unattended with a dog.

As the prisoner has said, the income does fluctuate considerably so its hard to budget.