Advice on becoming a childminder

[willowsmam]

I've always worked in the corporate world and feel I might be having some kind of career crisis!

My husband is really keen to become a childminder, he loves kids and we decided not to have a second one because of how bad my postnatal depression was... so we've started discussing me also becoming a CM and doing it together.

The negatives I see are:
I'll be taking a salary cut and my income will be unstable (although I've had my own business before so well used to this)
If it doesn't work, I might find it more difficult to enter back into the world of work at the level I was at
Wear and tear on our own house and the house would never be "our own" again
No break from kids if you're having a bad day

The positives I see are:
More flexible working - we can work from home, we can go out, we can basically fix our own hours
I get to cook and bake a lot with the kids and I love that!
Potentially could work less hours than I work now.. as I work lonnngggg hours
Not constrained to the corporate world
Get to spend more time with my own daughter who's 4 - she hates having to stay after school until 5-5:30 and I'd be able to pick her up around 3/4 depending on what after school clubs she would be involved in
Able to offset expenses and reduce the tax we pay so although overall might be earning less, our take home might be similar to what it is now

What is everyone's thoughts and experiences?

DH and I gave up the corporate world, following redundancy. Mine was 10 years before his, so I was doing it alone for a while.

We are earning MASSIVELY less, but we're much happier.

Maybe you could do it one at a time, to minimise the risk and work out whether there's really a market for it. He could go first and if it's working out great for the family and there's enough work, you can follow later.

Would that work?

Good luck if you go for it. I've been doing it nearly 20 years now.

I gave up a corporate job to become a childminder 10 years ago when DD was a baby. I haven't regretted it for a minute as I'm at home with the kids and no childcare costs etc

But, childminding comes with its own negatives. Wear and tear on your home and your own child having to share you/their space/toys being 2 biggies for me.

It can also be hard to establish yourself, I've got a rolling waitlist of about 2 years at the moment, all spaces are filled for at least 18 months and they are all word of mouth/siblings but it took a long time to be in this position.

My advice would be to let your DH set up as a childminder and then when/if there is enough demand he can take you on as an assistant.

Thank you both. It's so daunting!

And it would work for us to have DH set up first and then I follow suit. I was going to do my checks anyway so I have them and can be his assistant if needed (pickups, drop offs etc). I'm a BDM for a big software reseller so get to work from home a lot now (I know that will not be as easy with kids in the house..!).

We think there will be demand, there's no male CM beside us and DH is such a lovable guy, I think people will be choosing him over a lot of the other CM but that might be my big head because I know he's so great!

I'm just not happy and had a really bad experience with my last employer and although I started this job in Feb, I just can't shake it and not sure if I will be able to. I feel like I'm done with the corporate world.

He does need to be ready for the 'all men in childcare must be paedophiles' brigade. DH has been very sad at a few ignorant people. Generally though people love that we're a couple and it's like a family for the children.

I would also suggest doing it one at a time so you have time to establish yourselves, you can both do the course and training together but maybe register initially under one name with an assistant so that as you get bigger your assistant can give up work and then decide to register in their own right.

I work a 50 to 60 hour week before training so hours may not be less, and physically its a lot harder. I was a marketing manager before and although I would often work until 8pm and some weekends once I left the office I could leave work now I'm often doing bits late at nights and weekends you never stop. But I love the children and there is a lot of job satisfaction.
my children found constantly having others around difficult especially as they got older, but I was always about at the end of a school day which was a major thing for me.

I left a corporate job to become a CM. I enjoy my job and don't miss the corporate world at all.

I'm actually now working longer hours (used to do 9-5) plus there is admin/ongoing training to fit in.

There was a good 3-4 months in the beginning when I earned nothing as I had no children on my books. It's very much a word of mouth way to get business.

My children were excited about me being a CM for the same reason as your DD. The reality is that they do sometimes find it difficult having other children constantly in the house, particularly when they might dislike the other children.

Baking with mindees can be completely different to baking with your own child. The mess!!

Wear and tear is not too much of a negative but having to deal with a child that frequently poos on the floor and unravels a whole toilet roll each time can be challenging!

The set up process is quite long. You have to complete a training course, first aid and safeguarding training and get DBS checked before you register with Ofsted. It took me 7 months from starting training until starting work. The set up costs are quite expensive although some local authorities offer grants to new CMs.

Good luck!

Hi I’m a cm and have been for over 10 years now. We manage completely fine with it being our second income and could manage on less than I actually bring in (the extra means we get an abroad holiday rather than camping for example), we wouldn’t manage at all if they was our main family income, it just doesn’t bring in enough. (Work out what your top income could be by finding out roughly what other local minders are charging per day, multiply by 3 for your eyfs spaces, thenif you are going to do school runs, how much you can charge for them multiplied again by 3 for your school age places. Times by 5 days a week, times again by how many weeks a year you will work. Take away expenses, which in my area seems to be generally around a third of your income and that’s your top pay. Bear in mind you might not fill all your spaces all The time.
The amount of toys I have in my house does get me down. If anything was going to get me to leave childminding it would be this. I try to move everything work related at the weekend as I just don’t want to look at it all the time.

I generally structure my days quite well and try to go out each day. I’ve got a really good network of childminder friends and I see them often which really helps get through the week. I don’t have many really bad days at all and I think this is becasue I keep us all busy and entertained.

You can choose your hours, but that might mean parents don’t choose you as their childminder. I know I have put some families off becaUse I am quite set in having a day off each week. Some families can work with it, some can’t and they obviously go somewhere else. I also stick closely to normal working hours, some cms do early/late, which is great, but it’s not for me. This has meant I have had some gaps where I have only had 1-2 children, but if you can afford to be patient some one always comes along to fill the place.

I love that I can come and go as I please. I can’t imagine having to work in one place all the time and think the children I look after are really lucky that they get to be outside so often in the wide world, not just in a small nursery playground.

You can offset your expenses, but there are expenses to the job, so you are paying out all the time. Food, petrol, groups, car parking, entrance fees, drinks out, toys, car seats, buggy’s, activities, craft stuff. You can spend a lot on this job without thinking too hard about it. In my area, there is no way that being a childminder would ever earn you as much as a corporate job (which sounds quite well paid).

My dc go through phases where they like me being a cm and where they hate it. It’s easier now they are getting older and need my time less. They are able to stay in bed in the holidays and we don’t have to worry about childcare. But when they were young they were obviously always in my ratios which meant my earning potential was reduced.

Massive apologies, that’s a right essay! Didn’t realise I was waffling on so much when I was writing it!