CM: decent living just doing wraparound & how many is too many?

[lechatnoir]

Most of my enquiries are for before & after school care and I really enjoy having lots of older ones around & it would be great having DS2 to myself this ladt year before school so wondered if I could make a decent living just doing wraparound?

I'm very new to this so it would be good to gauge an opinion from both mums & CM as to how many would be reasonable for 1 CM to look after (with assistant DH often around but in the background) bearing in mind school is walking distance & I have a 3 & 6 yr old of my own.
LCN

Well you are allowed:
3 under 5 (so nursery run) & 3 between 5&8 plus as many over 8's as long as the care for the under 8's isn't compromised

So I guess for after school only you could have 4 after school plus your 2

Whether it would be profitable or not.......depends

Having never looked after larger groups before would you say 5 or even 6 over 5's (inc my own) plus a 3yr old is doable & sustainable though? If I had 5 wraparound it would certainly be financially viable & being 'off duty' between 9&3 is very tempting!!

Well I think it would be very hard work

Lots of RA for the journeys plus lots of food (they are like locusts)

A bit of lion taming (with a chair & a whip) & watch sibling fights too

Cooking tea for that lot could be tricky if it means leaving them unsupervised

Lol can see it now!! Sounds like I might be best building up and if I can cope I could always look to increasing as I go and then dropping a little one. Needs some careful thought as I don't want to take someone on I can't commit to for a decent period but rushing in to 5+ schoolies might send me to !

Also watch your social groupings and your genders

5 who want to play outside & one that doesn't isn't fun & neither is the reverse

How about a child going to school at the same time as your little one or a part-timer (or 2) and build the OOS slowly - you might love it or it might not be for you

I normally only do wraparound (although have a 2 year old at the mo) and its lovely. Its a bit manic for 3 hours but I get 9-3 free which more than compensates.

I have had up to 8 here and they are fab - like a little (big?)family. They all get on well (most of the time) and the structure of our afternoon means that there is only an hour where they can be running around doing their own thing.

We have fantastic dinner table converstaions too :)

There is a childminder near us who does this. She's older so I don't think she has any little ones of her own, but she drops off/collects 5/6 older ones. They're at the older end though i.e. more like 9/10 than 6/7. I think at that age it would be fine, because they really should be able to walk 10 mins home from school without you needing to hold their hand (just walk behind in a supervisory role!) and you wouldn't need to worry about supervising them too closely while you cook supper etc.

I've never done massive numbers, but I do have 5 after school one day a week, and actually it's my favourite day. The ages are 6, 5, 4, 3 and 1.5 (the 3 and 5 year olds are mine) and the dynamic seems to work miles better when the 6 year old (the only boy) is here than when he isn't - somehow the more children there are, the better they seem to get on! But I realise I might just be lucky, and it may well be that they get on particularly well that day because it's the only day that I have all 5 together. If you have any enquiries from parents of children who are already friends with your two, that might be a good place to start...

I am relatively new to CM and was just going to do wraparound care.

However, I was approached by a family who have a 2 year old and a 4 year old so I am looking after the 2 year old in the day and providing wraparound care for the 4 year old. Sometimes you just can't say no.

I have just signed the paper work today and on a Monday and Tuesdays I will have mindees of the following ages: 2, 4, 5, 5 (both y1), 8 and 9 plus my two 6 & 3.

On Wednesdays I have a mindees aged: 2, 5, 5, 8, 9 & 10 plus my own.

But on Thursdays & Fridays I am free in the day for Gym in am and time in pm for my own DS after nursery.

And some Thursdays due to the shift pattern of 1 of my parents I will be off and may just have 1 on a Friday - yay.

I know I'll be very busy but I find the after school sessions just fly by and the kids enjoy playing together. Also all my parents don't mind a bit of CBBC being watched because they've all had busy days at school.
I find that by the time tea is eaten the parents are arriving to collect. I provide a light tea, as the children tend to be hungry straight away and rather than provide a snack and later a dinner I just do sandwiches, wraps toast etc. also it is easier to vary sandwich fillings than whole meals to account for tastes.

I know someone who does only b&a school, and has anything up to ten at a time. But I think half her day is spent on preparing food and craft activities to keep them busy - and she is quite strict and firm with the children - I imagine you would have to be.

I only have after schoolers, 5, 6, 7, 10 yrs plus my two boys 10 & 13.

Can be a bit manic, but all gone by 6.15, and I dont feed any of them only a snack when we get in, as all my parents prefer to sit and eat with their children.
I get my 'baby/toddler' fix by working in Pre School

I'm going to be setting up soon and am hoping to take on a pre schooler for the main income as my oldest is only 4 so we haven't got anything for older kids at home. Then I'll try and build up to a few after school kids - I'm also worried about taking on too much and not being able to commit long term.
I can imagine our food bill would go through the roof to have enough for quick and easy after school food!