I think I might be coming to the end of my childcare career...what else could I do?

[HiccupHaddockHorrendous]

I have been looking after children for 17 years. Whilst I love looking after children, I am starting to feel like I want to do something else.

DS has just left primary school and my new mindee is just starting and it's feeling a bit groundhog-day-like.

There is absolutely no urgency to make any decisions and at the moment I have 2 babies waiting to start so I wouldn't be looking to change jobs for at least a couple of years but I have no idea of what I could do that I'd be any good at, would use my experience or could allow me to earn a half-decent salary.

Any suggestions or anyone left childcare to do something else?

i'm looking at school jobs. obviously it will be a drop in salary but I think it will benefit myself and my family enormously so I think it's worth the sacrifice.

I suppose it depends really what you have done previously as to what you can do. I would love to get completely out of hands on childcare but that would take extensive re training on my part which I just don't have time for with two young boys of my own.

Would you still want to work with children or do something completely different?

Would you still want family friendly hours?

Reet - I don't think I could do a school job and certainly don't think I could manage on the lower income.

Do you mean what did I do before childcare? If so, nothing, apart from summer jobs in cafes during school holidays when I was in secondary school. My first full time job was nannying when I was 17 then I switched to CMing a few years later.

Yourhand - I think I'd still like to work with children and I'm hoping that my experience would help me along the way

Re hours. DS has started secondary school so I'm not tied to needing to be home by 3.30. Also, despite being home all afternoon with him at the moment, he doesn't get my undivided attention until CM children have left around 5.30/6. Same in the school holidays.

Could you temp in offices? I have found in the past that it was a good way to get in somewhere. I got two great jobs through temping. I wish I'd never left the Sales Secretary position, I loved it. But left to take a graduate trainee role in a tin pot company, who made me redundant after 6 months.

I want to leave too, but so torn between the money and getting my life, house and sanity back
Thinking School roles like Reet.

I have said one more year...

Me again ...

Do you still fancy child care, could you get a job in a local children's centre either in pre-school or nursery Or a support / outreach type of role. Local Authorities tend to pay quite well.

I have zero office experience (or skill!!) so not sure if office work would be a good option for me.

I don't think pre-school/nursery work would provide enough hours/income. I will look to see what outreach or support type roles are available in my local area.

Also, I don't have any formal qualifications so might need to think about some sort of training.

Yes, the thought of getting my life, house and sanity back are definitely appealing .

I think I've possibly taken on too much and that's why I'm considering changing things. I've just read the other thread about afterschool mindees and it's made me think that maybe if I cut back on these commitments then things wouldn't feel so hard and relentless.

I think in an ideal world I would just do pre-schoolers who went home before 5pm and during term time only.
But it doesn't always work that way does it?

I find after school hard work especially when we walk as the children are just not used to walking/ doing as they are told.

I dream my next career will involve a high hourly wage and low number of hours eg: doula, children's party entertainer, new-born consultant, teacher of ante-natal classes/hypno-birthing etc...not sure how to make it happen and obviously it depends where you are based as ideally you'd have lots of local clients with plenty of spending money. Good luck whatever you decide.

I am currently about to start my level 3 so I can work in preschool / nursery. I really don't want to be a childminder any longer than I have to.

Arouns here most managers of pre schools and nurseries are previous childminders so the earning potential is quite good.

Childcare is tough to move out of in that you can get into it and have a good career with few readily identifiable transferable skills and qualifications, and people generally have quite a low view of it (although I'd just love to see them cope day after day).

That said you do have lots of transferable skills from running your own business and if you get qualified then you're essentially doing the same job as anyone in a preschool or nursery but solo, so you can shift across there.

You could go back to nannying if earnings are a crucial point, and use that time to retrain towards something like consultancy.

Thanks for the replies

A recent plan I had was to go back to nannying once DS leaves home (not for at least 7 years ). I'd pack up and move back to London or go overseas and be a live-in for a couple of years. I miss that life, a lot.

However, I'm not sure if it'll be the life I remember so not necessarily a wise plan and a very long time to wait for it.

Yes, earnings are very important as I am the sole earner in this house. Maybe I should just keep going with cming until the amount I earn no longer becomes such an issue. Even if that is for at least the next 7 years!

Perhaps I need to focus more on making my role as a CM more enjoyable. A bit of organisation would probably help a lot

The problem with being a cm is once that seed of doubtstarts to creep in you no longer enjoy it and getting motivated is a real slog.

Why don't you look into a qualification? It would open many doors.

Tiny - motivation is definitely lacking at the moment . I've got a few issues which seem to niggle every single day. It is possible to fix them but will take a lot of effort on my part and I need to find the motivation to do it.

Also, I want to buy a house but my profit is not high enough to get a mortgage on anything bigger than a studio flat

Why don't you take a week or so off? Gather some energy get things sorted and try see on a clear head what you want to do?

I have been on maternity leave and coming back into minding is driving me potty as I would rather go out to work but in the short term I have to do this.

What is niggling you?

I stopped doing after school work when DD started secondary school and it makes a MASSIVE difference. It did mean a drop in income, but being able to come and go at any time of the day and not worrying when children nap is great.

HSMMaCM

Do children just naturally leave when they start school/ nursery?
It's a long way off for me as DS2 has only just started FS2.

They don't necessarily leave when they start school, but many schools have after school clubs. My school children come back in the holidays. You can't always keep them anyway. DH and I had 5 children start school this term at 5 different schools, so we wouldn't have been able to do all their school runs anyway. A couple of parents asked if we would change and do their school runs, but we said no. The parents of the younger children love that they don't have to go on school runs in the rain.

I left a job as a Nursery Nurse to set up my own Storytelling business.
I am writing books for children, Young Adults and adults, both fiction and non-fiction.
I do children's parties and literary festivals, it's not regular money or huge income, but it makes enough that I can buy pretty things, and my life is immeasurably less stressful without all the red tape.
Think about what you love to do, then find a way to make money from it.
The sky's the limit.

I'm struggling to manage the behaviour of two of my longterm mindees. One is especially tricky.

I seem to spend most of my day either doing school runs or nursery runs and it's a pita.

The self employed side of CMing is really starting to annoy me because I am so disorganised.

I feel guilty taking time off so only do it in the school holidays when it affects fewer of my families but then DS is off so I feel like we have to make the most of the time off and do loads of stuff and never properly recharge my batteries. I know this is the same for many families but it feels so relentless sometimes.

I'm fed up of moving sodding carseats around my car and trying to squeeze buggies into my stupidly tiny boot.

I'd like to have occasional conversations with people that have nothing to do with CMing. The only toddler group we can go to is full of other cms which is fine but the ones that frequent the one I go to only want to talk about CMing.

Oh goodness, what a moaner I am . It just feels like it's taking over my whole life.

Wednesday afternoons are my busiest and today I had two extra but it all ran very smoothly because I got up at 5.45am to make sure dinner was in the slow cooker and ready to serve within 30 minutes of getting home from school.

I suppose I just need to be more organised, get into better routines and get a hobby that has nothing to do with children. Oh and be grateful that I have a job!

Hsmm - It's interesting to hear how much of a difference no school runs has made for you. I have stopped taking on new mindees and have now decided to not take any more school mindees in the future ever. I do feel obliged to continue with the ones I already have and will possibly still take the current pre-schoolers when they move up but will have to work that out nearer to the time.

Hiccup I could have written this myself. Im approachin 20 yrs in the job and the changes in that time have been remarkable. I keep thinking to myself how much longer can I continue. The stress and strain of the job is really starting to affect me ( Im in my 50s now ) but Im at a loss as to wat I can do career wise after so long in the job.

Im a lone parent with a 12 yr old still at home so still need to earn a living.

I keep saying to myself I ll just do it till such a mindee finishes primary school or such a mindee goes to nursery but then move my own goal posts lol.

I too feel guilty bout takin time off. Hols I take in school hols because it affects less of the parents. I work through all types of illness whilst listening to parents twitter on how ill they are or stressed they are and how they are goin to have to riing in sick!!

I laughed when I read your comment about the car seats. The other weekend I was doin the usual shunnting around of seats in my car when a neighbour commented Minding you should really buy a small car for the weekend save you doing that every Saturday!! I also have the cramming in of buggys problem. Its like an episode of the generation game at times!
Im in the middle of re organising paperwork to try to help myself run the business smoothly. Ive been really lucky to be able to take a Friday off from Minding now so use that time to catch up on the paperwork side.

Ive got my share of mindees that clash and those that are never satisfied with any activity you organise but Ive got more that really love comeing and skip up my path with a smile and open arms. That keeps me going.

Meanwhile I carry on thinking If and when I finish how much fun will I have putting all those bloody car seats and buggys on that well known auction site oh and which small car can I purchase to replace my ancient 7 seater !!

I've only been doing it 2 years and hate the carseat shuffle and lifting the double buggy in and out!

Oh god the csr seats...urgh.

If you are computer savvy you could use baby days?

Orbit Early Years App is good too.

If you want to do something completly different why not look into cabin crew? Yes its different, long hours and okish pay but you still get to nurture your caring side and will have plenty of customer service examples from your career dealing with parents and children and ofsted etc to sail through the interview. If it would suit your lifestyle its a fab job!