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Thinking of going into childminding- ADVICE PLEASE

8 replies

DetentionGrrrl · 18/11/2006 08:51

As my employer is not happy with the hours i want, i was thinking about childminding instead. No childcare costs, lots of time with my bubba, and no stressful office management malarky.

Does anyone have any positive/negative experience of going from managerial work to childminding?

Are there any financial considerations i need to make- eg, would i need to provide car seats for kids in my care?

Also, roughly how much per child could i expect for full days Mon-Fri?

Any other comments or advice greatly appreciated!

OP posts:
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ssd · 18/11/2006 08:56

It's harder than you'd imagine

Your standards can be way different than your mindees parents

The hourly pay is crap

It's exhausting

Your home gets a bashing!

BUT you'll always be at home for your kids and you'll learn to enjoy the various kids you look after

You'll earn £'s without paying out for childcare yourself

Seeing your kids play with the mindees is lovely!

GOOD LUCK ON YOUR DECISION!!

mykidzrmyworld · 18/11/2006 09:17

The only thing I can say is dont expect to earn straight away - ive been registered mths now and spent a far bit on advertising but still no joy -just one enquiry. If you can afford not to earn any money for a few mths then u will be ok.
I know lots of CM who earn good money & 1friend pays for her kids to go to private school with her money.
U will have to spend money to set your business up but my suggestion is to buy second hand!
Good luck

nannynick · 18/11/2006 11:30

Your DS I believe is now around 5 months old and you have no other children - do correct me if I'm wrong. While I have come across a few childminders who have just one baby of their own, most childminders I come accross have older children themselves (who are often at school) and thus have some prior experience of caring for young children. Do you have any experience other than caring for your own son for the past 5 months? If not, then think very carefully about if you really want a houseful of kids running about, as while your DS may be easy to handle, other children won't be!

Know what you mean about the office management malarky... I left an office based job before caring for children on a full time basis (though was caring for children on a part-time basis for many years prior to that). You can't manage children like you would manage staff, but being able to organise things well helps a lot, especially if you were dealing with situations at work which required immediate action, thus you very quickly had to formulate an action plan.

Financially, you will need to budget for things to make your home, garden, and vehicle safe for children. You will need to budget for course fees (you will need to do an ICP and First Aid at a minimum, which you may get funded for, or you may not depending on where you live) - contact your local Children's Information Service (CIS) for details about how to become a Childminder and the courses they have available. Some parents will provide a car seat for their child, others won't. Personally I've found it easier buying my own as I then don't have to interchange them on a daily basis - getting car seats in and out of cars is not much fun!

Pay per child varies around the country... where I am on the Surrey/Berkshire border, it can be around £4.50 per child, per hour. However, don't expect to have children all day... often parents will want shorter periods of time.

As you have a young child yourself, try pretending that you are still planning on going back to work and try looking for childcare. Contact CIS for a list of minders and then contact them to find out how much they charge, what facilities they provide, what is and isn't included in the cost, which schools they take to/collect from etc. See what patterns you can spot... and possibly spot things that are not being done which if you did could be your Unique Selling Point. Have you ever been involved in sales, advertising, promotions etc? This sort of 'office' experience can come in real handy, as in childcare and any one-person business, you have to do everything.

Don't expect to get rich quick, being a childcare provider... most of us I would say do it for the love of the job and the chance of pace.

wantaliein · 18/11/2006 13:44

Don't feel you have to have a house full of kids. I have used the fact that I don't want to go up to my full numbers as a selling point and charge accordingly £6.50 ph. As my mindee is a toddler his mum appreciates the one to one time he gets and my children already love him being here even though it's only been a couple of months. So far I have found it very positive and rewarding because I haven't tried to take on too much at first-though plenty of demand here so very tempting. I got a start up grant which covered the cost of a travel cot and buggy. My ICP course and first aid were free so setting up was not much financially. Still had quite alot of equipment from my own children though.

DetentionGrrrl · 18/11/2006 14:19

Cheers guys.

The more i think about it, the more i think it's the right choice. There's apparently a shortage in my area of registered CM's, which should bode well for me.

I do have plenty of experience of kids- had a huge role in caring for 2 youngest brothers aswell as my little one now.

As soon as the house is finished after Xmas i think i'll get the ball rolling. I do have excellent organisational skills, which should help me.

And thanks Nannynick- good idea on the pretending to look for childcare! I'm quite excited now!
(And no paying for childcare for my bubba....)

OP posts:
dottyspots · 19/11/2006 12:46

I'd check the 'apparent shortage'. The village I live in is a targetted recruitment area, yet all the c/ms and nurseries have vacancies (multiple).

Isyhan · 26/11/2006 18:54

I went from quite well paid management job to childminding. Partly because I could spend time with my own baby,partly becuase I got sick of an attritional environment, and partly because Id be paying out money on childcare myself. It takes a while to get set up and registered, but Im a nurse so just did that in the interim. If you have pre-school and after school kids and under 5s as I now do its quite physically challenging. If you have young kids yourself (older daughter of 7) then there is an impact on them. However sometimes I sit and watch the kids play together and think what a fantastic job. To counteract the need for adult social contact I do the odd nursing shift and take the kids round to other cmders houses or go to mums and tots.

ThePrisoner · 26/11/2006 23:53

The hourly pay isn't rubbish if you are caring for more than one child at a time, and you won't be paying out as much tax as you're paying now in your current job.

You don't need to buy any equipment (high chairs, car seats, double buggies etc) until you know that you have a minded child, then you can buy whatever you need then.

The ICP course, which I thought most minders get free (?), usually gives you all the information you would need in terms of paperwork required etc.

Try and find some nice local minders and quiz them too!

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