Finding childminding exhausting!

[CrazyBabies]

Hi, been childminding for a few years, but recently I've been really busy. Hav 6 part time mindees and working 4 long days, between 9 and 10 hours a day. Have one new mindee who is teething and unsettled for 90 % of the day. He doesn't sleep for long. 2 40 min naps if I'm lucky.
Struggling to keep on top of things eg constant tidying, cleaning. The mess on high hairs and floor is horrendous after meals, and so fed up with giving really nice lunches which doesn't get eaten. I offer different foods each dy, typical child friendly foods, then moaned at constantly afterwards that child is hungry.
It's sooooo exhausting. I just don't stop throughout the day. Also coping with challanging behaviour from one who likes to hurt younger mindees. He's only just turned two. Nearly broke patio window by slamming toy into it on several occasions.
Know things will get bit better when teething newbie is that little bit older.
How on the earth do you work all day, keep home clean and tidy, do paperwork and so on.

I wonder if childminders can hire au-pairs? Obviously not to leave in sole charge of mindees but to help out with the other household things that need doing.

Sounds like a good idea. But I don't have a spare room!
Had thought about hiring an assistant, but that would defeat the point. Ie. may as well look after fewer children.

I have just changed my tidying and for the last 15 minutes before mindees go home I tidy up...not obviously everything but just leave a couple of things out..The older one goes first so her stuff is put away just before she goes..It is a good indicator to the little ones the day is ending and the older one is finding this more helpful.

High chairs I clean with spray and kitchen roll the minute they get out of them...

The room that is always a bombsite by the end of the day is the kitchen as I don't have time to go in and clean so simply dump it all in a pile. Do you have after school kids? Ask them to help tidy up what they have been playing with before they go home..they will be old enough to help..

Thanks starlight,
I am getting into the habit now of doing the tidying with the children before they go home so I don't have loads to do when they have gone. It's far easier to sit and read books at the end of the day, but then having absolutely no energy to tackle the mess when they've gone home.
If I can get the playroom super tidy, then it's a start.
The highchair/ lunch mess I do tacle straight after lunch, but its hard with a baby constantly crawling right behind me and crying, and toddlers to keep an eye on.
I have a huge range of toys, really lovely ones which I help set up with the children, and new outdoor toys which I thought the children would play for hours with! But this is not the case.
Find that the children do not play with anything for long.
The days seem so very long, even though we went to toddler group in the morning and the park in the afternoon.

Do you have any other childminder friends...Days can be very long and lonely with the Little ones ..I find I need to once a week meet up with someone whether it to be to go to apparent toddler thing or I have a friend who has a child the same age who pops round every couple of weeks..Her child joins in the activities and it works well

I go to toddler groups every day which helps break up the day. Three of my close friends used to childmind but gave up! The afternoons can seem really long though. But with good weather will be able to o to parks etc.

W try and tidy up as we go along. I try not to let the children have all the toys out at once. Get it out, play with it, put it away. We also tidy the toys all away before lunch and get new ones out after lunch and then children tidy up about 20 mins before home time. If they are quick they will get 10mins tv before they go home, if they are to slow, they don't get tv.
The lunch stuff, I cook extra food from our meal the night before and reheat a portion for the children at lunchtime. I find this works better than cooking a dinner for lunchtime. I've tried doing it the other way round and it just doesn't work, trying to cook while I have lots of little ones. This reduces the amount of clearing up needed, it's generally just putting dishes in the dish washer, then leaving the non dishwasher bits in the sink till later. I find in the afternoon the baby has a sleep and the older ones will have a quiet half an hour with the tv and I can catch up on anything that needs doing. Eg, washing up, wiping the table, getting the craft stuff ready for the next activity, tidying up properly from the morning activity.
Can you try and coordinate a quiet time with baby's nap time? Food, I keep it simple, make extra portions of things like bolagnaise sauce/stew and freeze them? Put a wipe clean mat under the high chair, then lift it outside and shake everything off, would that be easier? I found it hard going when I started with a new baby last year, she took me to three full timers, I did get used to It though and we have a fantastic routine now, although I suspect it may be harder for you as yours are all part timer, so they may not have had time to gel their routines together yet.

How about changing to parents supplying food for their dc? That would reduce your load considerably. You could still offer snacks ie fruit cheese breadsticks etc. Couch in terms of you have reflected on the dc needing to be well nourished and the sometimes-unfamiliar food you present is not always accepted, and you are sure that food from home would be. Better for the children etc.

Get a cleaner for once a week?

Line floor under highchair with newspaper, at the end of each day fold the debris in and discard?

Rotate toys/boxes of blocks or tracks. You might need to source a lockable store/shed?

Thanks. Love the idea about mat/ newspaper under highchair. Wil DEFINATELY be using that idea. As for the lunches I give to two siblings, the parent has asked for this. I hav looked after one of the children for a couple of years, but now I care for two she has asked me to provide lunch ( not a cooked one), so I know what they eat like, but the 3 yr old has become picky.
I hav realised for a while that I need to focus on tidying up routines, which I know will help. Need to get routines established , snack times, tidy up times, nap/quiet times. It's been quite hard to do this with a challenging chid who hurts the little ones and always is up to mischief, but he leaves next week, and I think it will be a lot calmer.

Ah so calmer waters ahead

Keep paddling on

I put a washable shower curtain under high chairs and tables especially under messy play. Then at the end of the day I shake any bits of food into the garden for the birds etc and bung the shower curtains in with any flannels, cloths etc for a quick speed wash in the machine and then hang up to dry overnight. Saves a lot of cleaning/ hoovering.

Eat in the garden now the warmer weather's here. The birds can pick up the crumbs.

Make sure you take any fabric covers off the high chairs too. Just let them sit on the plastic part of it. Much easier to clean up. I'm surprised you offer meals unless you are charging a good premium for that - the parents should really be bringing those in if they are paying the going rate. My mum used to childmind for a few years and she would take the children out of the house as much as possible - playgroups, park, shops etc. We had three window seats beneath a large bay window which she would keep the various things in - one for naptime items, one for toys, one for books. The older children had to put these things away after their activities. In the afternoons, my brothers and I would play with the mindees in the garden (I was in my early teens) and she would get things done around the house in that time too.

Is there enough local demand for care for you to simply not take on under-two's?

Love the shower curtain idea too! The parent does pay for the lunches, but theirs obviously not much profit if any.
Just been planning activities for the Easter hold, as no toddler groups. So will hopefully be out for lots, parks, woods, wildlife paks as under 3's free!
Yes, I am going to set up outdoor eating area as that sounds like a brill idea too.
Under twos's is hard work, but I have taken on a sibling as mum just returned to work after maternity leave, and my other little one is an angel, but obviously needs a lot of looking after.
I have a 4 year old, 2 3 year olds, a naughty2 year old and 2 under 1's. different combinations on different days.