should i seriously consider childminding?

[tshirtsuntan]

Any advice welcome, I am a nanny, NNEB trained, 22 years experience, great references etc,however, after being made redundant while on maternity leave with my son 5 years ago I am struggling to find a job now that he is at school and I'm limited on hours available to work (e.g., even if he attended breakfast club at school drop off is at eight, so still a little late by normal nanny hours) I attended my local info session on becoming a cm several years ago and was put off by the amount of paperwork and regulations necessary, could any childminders or users of childminding services share the good and bad experiences (honestly) and help me decide please? Thank you.

I know several nannies who have become CMs. Sorry, not much help, but I've been minding 15 yrs and still love it.

Thanks for replying, how do you find the paperwork side of things? Am worried it may be too much? Also what is the impact on your home life? Do you have children? How do they find it if you do? Sorry for so many questions

Paperwork is a bit of a pain. You just need to keep on top of it and do it the way that suits you. I do duplicate daily notes handwritten and everything else on my laptop, so I can email stuff to parents and don't have to print reems of paper.

My DD is now doing GCSEs, but she has lived with this all her life. At times she has found it hard and had to share her toys and barely seemed to get any of my time, but it was nice to be home with her.

It does take over your home, so everyone who lives there has to accept that.

Thanks, I will try and talk to my son about this see how he feels about it, just me and him so no one else to consider.

I was a career nanny and then became a childminder when I had my second child. I personally hated it. It felt like so much more work for less pay. Everybody is different and it might really work for you. My nanny jobs were a dream compare to childminding. Your house does go through wear and tear, you won't make decent money unless you take more that one child, the paper work in my eyes was ridiculous and definitely takes your time away from actually doing childcare and ofsted expect you to run like a nursery when it is not it is still your home and your kids home. In my head I didn't want to be a professional childminder and run just like a nursery all I wanted was a little bit of extra income and doing what I do best which was hanging out with the kids and keeping them safe. Without having to think about it they were learning and developing. In the end I just kept a little diary for the parent but that's it! I stopped doing all ofsted paperwork and decided I would quit the day ofsted rang to come for the next inspection. I really wish they would change the laws and have two types of childminder. The professional one who can take on more than one family and the babysitter childminder who is only allowed 1 family at a time and only needs a first aid certificate. That way if a childminder loved and and it worked they could then go pro!

I was a nanny and am now a childminder. I long to be a nanny again, but I have three dc and where I live now, nannies just aren't as in demand as where I lived before. Ofsted is a big pain for me. I constantly worry I'm not doing enough, they were not impressed by my responses that I do a lot of things verbally, they wanted to see everything recorded and written down, they wanted to know why I didn't record daily chats with parents and nursery staff. But, it's all I am qualified to do and I enjoy working with children. Childminding is kind of a means to an end at the moment. When my own children are bigger I imagine I will do something else with a bit more security, less stress and more pay. Pay wise at the moment, it's fine, (but no where near my nanny pay from 8 years ago) but in the summer I lose a child to school and my pay will half, something will turn up I'm sure, but until it does I will worry.

I do love being able to pick my older children up from school and nursery and just being here in the holidays with them and not having to rush them to get ready in the school holidays. The extra children just kind of fit in to our routine, but it does mean they sometimes miss out on trips their friends are doing as I just can't take everyone with me.

Thank you for replying, the things you both have mentioned are concerns for me, to give all children in my care the best possible care should be my priority and I worry the whole ofsted thing may occupy too much head space for me, also my son is still young and I wonder what impact sharing me and his home/toys/garden rather than just me in the nanny share scenario would have. Some serious thought and research is necessary I think!

I plan to do this in five or so years, when I have more than one child essentially (NWOC are able to find some work down here thankfully!) but I would have no intention of taking in EYFS-aged children. It seems to quadruple the paperwork. It'd be hard enough keeping up with the paperwork for older children!

But then things seem to be changing in the child minding world so I'll have to see what happens first.

I reckon it depends what kind of nanny you are. If you wrote little notes for the parents, send them photos and keep a daily diary religiously until beyond school starting age you'll be fine! If you prefer to just go with the flow you'll hate it.

I know I'd cope quite well - I like having 3/4/5 children, I like to log my DC's development and daily routines on apps, I send DH pictures throughout the day, I find the challenge of setting up stealth learning activities positively fun - but if that's not how you nanny/parent, and I know it's some people's idea of hell, then it might take all the joy out for you.

Or you can accept that you'll never get a Good or Outstanding rating and build up a reputation through w