EX Childminders - What do you do now?

[Xroads]

I'm curious.

My dc's are getting older and I'm thinking of quitting in a year or so and wondered what options there are out there.....

I'm thinking of only doing another year or two, no idea what I will do after that.

Most childminders that I know who have stopped minding have become cleaners as they can earn far more money with a lot less stress!

I'm planning on teaching!

One ex-childminder I know cares for the elderly, another is a teaching assistant. Another plans to become a cleaner, working for an agency who are happy for her only to work term time.

Im a nanny, all the fun, none of the paperwork, mess and house looking like a nursery and better money.

I am thinking of quitting soon, I want my house back from looking like a nursery and more like a home.

The early mornings and late evenings when parents decided to pick up their darling dcs even when some finished work an hour before they came and did their shopping while I minded theior children and then came up with excuses that traffic was very bad but didn't bother to contact me.

I think I must just be just getting old and I would love a glass of wine right now

Ohh thanks everyone.

Do you miss minding?

For those who want to move on, what is it that makes you think you will enjoy your next job more than childminding?

Part of me thinks I'm just ready for the xmas break, I haven't had time off since Beginning of march and I am beyond tired! Another part thinks maybe the time has come to move on, I've been doing it 7yrs and in the past couple of yrs I've rediscovered parts of myself I'd forgotten about (Like I'm actually quite a good artist and florist and maybe I should combine them and run my own shop one day) but then I think what if I strive for that and actually I thought I could run a business but a shop with an actual till, staff, premises etc......eeeekkkk plus the thousands it would cost to start up - what if I got bored or it didn't work out.

I think part of what has kept my interest in childminding is that the children are always developing and changing. But then I would like my house back - it's currently taken on by cm stuff/ flower stuff/ art stuff - I don't want to give up my hobbies but I can't afford to quit and make them a business yet because I need more practice and practice is hard to get when I'm working 7.30-6pm most days.

What to do?

I've just completed my cypw level 3 and have stopped working 2 days a week with huge pay drop but i'm helping out in school on a voluntary basis to get some experience and fingers crossed a place may become available sooner rather than later would be great for me I would also like to reclaim my house. Good luck whatever you decide.

I can't wait to give up!! bored now
it's the day in day out drudgery and the way parents are that's getting to me. I like the social side but the rest of it is very tedious indeed - as is the pressure ofsted etc are putting on us!!

meant to say - have no idea what i will do! would like to train to do something involving children but not directly - sick of feeling like the hired help and so wa nt my home back now!!

I was a teacher, then a childminder, now mostly a sahm though I teach adult evening classes (but we moved abroad, if we'd stayed in the UK I think I'd still be minding as my youngest is only a toddler). All I know is I wouldn't have ever gone back to secondary school teaching... sympathise with wanting your house back OP!

God listen to you lot moaning ! It's nice to know childminders enjoy their jobs and our children are being looked after in a lovely happy environment !! This is why I stopped using childminders !!

I must say when I was minding (all toddlers and my own was a toddler too) the cm who came to toddlers with just minded 1 toddler in the day and whose husband was a registered cm too mainly so he could do school runs, and her 9 seater car/ bus and house all set up for quite a large number of mostly over 8 year old before and after school mindees (her own children were also junior school age) to eat dinner 'round her huge kitchen table and then do homework in the specially set up conservatory or chill out in the living room seemed to have it sussed in terms of an easy life and good financial return!

Newtothisstuff name a profession in which even people who love their jobs never have a moan in a safe environment? Name a parent who never has a moan? Do you think nursery workers are unrelentingly joyful on their minimum wage salaries and often in nurseries with high staff turn over? Just because people complain about being treated badly by parents, or about being tired, or about the unrelenting tidying/ cleaning/ paperwork side of the job doesn't mean they don't adore the children they mind and love the childcare aspect of their job and provide a lovely, stimulating, homely environment - possibly you need a reality check!

Everyone moans about their jobs sometimes Newto, you best stop using teachers, nurseries,babysitters, nannies, doctors, dentists, vets, the police, refuse collectors, cleaners, plumbers, electricians, bus drivers, taxi drivers....and pretty much everyone else!

you don't have to be on here Newtothisstuff - its for childminders to discuss our jobs!!
Do you thjink your cleaner enjoys cleaning your toilet bowl? Don't think you'd stop using her though

How many children do you look after newto?

When you have looked after children for over 13yrs and feed 7 kids for tea most days and start at 7.30am, do paperwork in your "time off" start and end your christmas holidays by having to clear away your cm stuff then get it all back out again, there are permantly 2 cots up in your childrens bedrooms, a pushchair in your hallway and one in the boot of your car, 2 highchairs in your kitchen, a cupboard full to bursting with craft stuff so you have to store your cereal on the top of your fridge..............then we'll talk yeh? Until then just mind your own goddamn business.

I'm bloody good at what I do hence me being so busy doesn't mean I want to do it until I die, I'm allowed to ask what others in the same boat have done or are planning to do. Tis a public forum and freedom of speech and all that

I'm paid to do it from 7.30-6pm mon-fri but I still live here the rest of the time

There are many times I'm working outside of those hours too.

I don't need to justify my feeling to you tbh.

agreed xroads - it is very intrustive. it's not like other jobs - we have to have parents coming in our homes, both those we work with and prospective parents, some of whom have a good old nose round and judge - and then don't even have the deceny to get back to us with a yes/no

i've had parents walk straight into my home at pick up time without knocking - very rude!

other jobs you can walk away from at the end of the day - this one you can't.

and then you have judgey people on public forums who don't seem to understand that this is a job - most of us do it for money as I'm sure anyone else in any job does!!

I didn't say I hated it.

I don't think I'm ready to not do it anymore I think I need to put steps in place to change at some point.

Better steer well clear of the TES forums, Newtothis and Ilovecouscous! You'd never let your kids near a school again!

I love childminding and have no plans to give up in the foreseeable future (even though I have been doing it for 13 yrs), but I would like to have the house to myself and not have to store years of paperwork/childrens records and not have a room full of toys and another room full of cots.

DH keeps telling me I can't keep doing it forever and I have thought about being a TA, retraining as a primary teacher, working in a nursery, or something else outside the home. I did 20 yrs in office work and loved it (still moaned about it), but I don't think I could go back there.