We're looking for a childminder for our two children and seem sort of surprised at the attitude of those who have responded. They have been almost without exception completely inflexible in terms of fees and it has really made me wonder...
Fulltime/Sibling Discount:
I know that some CMs regard two children to look after as two children to look after, regardless of whether they're related, and that's fine. What I don't understand, from a business point of view, is why CMs wouldn't offer a discount to get the chance to look after two fulltimers (presuming they have space/inclination to look after this many children). Surely this would make their job easy - knowing that they have the stability of two full time places, instead of filling gaps with part timers? It just seems very short sighted that CMs seem to obsess over the hourly wage, when they may actually work out with same/more money if they were a bit more flexible.
Expenses:
Now, I know nothing about being self employed, but aren't a lot of things tax deductible for a CM? Petrol, food, electricity, gas, toys, sleeping equipment etc? Just curious....
I'm not trying to stir anything up, I'm just curious!! By my calculations, CMs seem to earn a really decent wage and yet I've seen lots of posts, not necessarily here, where they begrudge parents trying to negotiate fees etc. It doesn't mean they're not valued (because if you weren't, you wouldn't have a job:))), just that we don't have limitless funds! :)