Cm's who do you childmind?

[MUM2BLESS]

I was wondering if a lot of cm's childmind for friends and family or if most of your children are from families you did not know before.

I have never childminded for people I know very well or for family. I would think its easier to cm for people you do not know, am I right or wrong. Some of the mums, I kinna knew to chat to before, but I would not say they are very close friends

What are the pros and cons in childminding for famliy and friends?

I am trying to find the balance between providing a friendly yet professional service. I have had to deal with sensitives issues, such as late collection, late payment and children being dropped off who are sick, over the years.

I am wonderting the same thing.

I am still in process of registering but two friends have already said they would like me to mind their kids. They want to know what I would charge them etc. which I am finding awkward, whereas if they weren't friends I would just say what I intend to charge. Also, one friend has a son in my sons class and they have their moments together.

I feel all of these issues could make it awkward and I don't want to lose either of these friendships.

The pro's are I know the kids very well: and they are lovely children. Not that other children wouldn't be lovely. My friends would be helping me establish my business, helping spread word of mouth and I would be able to use them as a future reference of sorts for any future families.

I am not a childminder yet so excuse me if I am talking rubbish, I am sure someone with experience of this will be along soon.

I cm a boy who is in the same class as my son. To be very honest its been very challenges with their behaviour. My son is to blame some of the times. I try to be fair and no just homing in on the cm kids alone. They are at school together then they come back to my house together.

Be very careful when taking on friends kids. You must charge the price you are charging the others. If you are not careful you will expected to charge less. Once you ok that you will be exopected to do so. PLease do contracts even for friends. If you have any problems your are covered by your invoice.

Also drop off and pick ups, are you going to be firm about the times?

whatever you allow to start with you may regret later.

You want to be friendly but this will be your business too.

I am watching this space.

sorry covered by your contract not invoice

Thanks for the advice. I know I have to start as I mean to go on. i know it is tricky, but I don't want to tell them no. One friend is trying for another baby so things will change once baby comes (this is the one with son in my sons class).

I am not stressing too much as registration is still to come through and alot can change over a few months.

Hope you get some more answers. Has a friend asked you to mind for her/their children?

I have only ever minded the children of family and friends. Never found it to be an issue - work was work and everyone understood that.

I cm my niece and it's a total nightmare but that's my sil's fault, she expects it free for me to run round doing what she wants and picking and changing days all of which I say no to so has caused a few fall outs, they're having another so it's only going to get worse!

I mind for friend, its a bit of a nightmare, she arrives early or late sometimes as much as an hour either way, she pays me when she can. . .we really need to sit down and have a proper talk, my hints are being ignored but I am dreading it. I have taken on another friends child since and we went through contracts discussed everything, I invoice, charge late fees -rarely needed! everything is in writing and agreed and it works fine. . my lesson learned. I have turned down a relatives child using the excuse I was over numbers in her age group.

My family do not live in the same town as me therefore I have never had to cm any of my family members.

You have to remain professional when dealing with sensitive issues such as early or late collection, payment, kids challenging behaviour etc.

I am learning to nip things in the bud as soon as possible.

I take my job very seriously and I am a professional in what I do.

I mostly childmind for friends, the advantage is that the children know me well before I care for them (one little girl is 6 weeks older than my DD, they have known each other since birth and have an almost sibling relationship). We have a wonderful relationship and I'm Aunty Glen to them and their mum is Aunty xxx to my DD. I also find less issues as we have very similar parenting styles and discipline / reward in the same way.

The downside is sometimes when I've not seen some of my friends because i've been busy wiht work they like to have a chat when they pick the children up. It's lovely but after 10 - 12 hours with your children I just want to tidy up and sit down (with a big glass of wine)

All my families respect (for the most part) that our friendship and working relationship are two seperate things and if anything they are more careful not to be seen to take advantage but at the same time I tend to be a bit more flexible because i know that they will look after my DD if I need them to.

Thanks everyone.

Does anyone work with a relative as cm and cm asst? I have know of mother and daughter doing this.

Its also popular for husband and wife team. I would have to know someone really really well to have them as an asst.

I think it depends very much on what your friends are like! I only cm for friends, in fact both the families I cm for live on the same street as me & it works really well, but they're both aware of the potential problems that could arise and therefore are brilliant about paying on time and letting me know if they're going to be late for pick-up. Like glenthebattleostrich, I find that they're very careful not to take advantage, and again like her, I know that they'd look after my 2dds if I ever need emergency childcare. We did agree in both cases, that we'd talk after the first few weeks about how it was going, and be up-front about sorting out anything that was annoying either party, but in fact it's all been fine and all of our children get on really well (most of the time) which is lovely.

With the charging, I do mates' rates, so it is a bit cheaper than they would probably pay elsewhere, but I don't rip myself off as I don't want to end up feeling grumpy and resentful. I wouldn't worry, trickydicky, about talking about payment, as they'll have to pay someone for childcare whatever happens, and it's not as though you're going to be asking for anything over the market rate (I presume!)

Thanks january.. I like what you've done. Never heard of mates rates. You seemed to have thought it through very well. Very impressive.

I am also willing to learn. MN provides so much help and advice from people like yourself !!. Some of us learn by making mistakes, others learn from the mistake other make.

Thank you