Any pearls of wisdom from those with experience for a new childminder

[ChildminderToBe]

Im a regular poster and happy for HQ to confirm that if needed in case anyone thinks I’m a journo fishing for material.

I’m going through the registration process and am thinking ahead to potential issues or problems so that I can plan for how to deal with them.

Those of you with experience do you have any advice you think a new childminder should know? anything I might not have thought of? Any problems that you never expected to have but did? Etc. All advice greatly appreciated.

TIA

Oh I could say so much, but it would be overwhelming for you. It is probably better for you to ask questions on specific areas/subjects and to get answers that way. If worried about setting fees, advertising etc then I would research to see what other childminders local to you charge to gauge what level to set your fees at. When setting that level remember to work out what you are including in that fee; is it food (this takes a lot of the money if you provide all meals & you need to learn to cook on a budget), is it nappies, wipes etc, is it outings (dependent on the type e.g. Toddler groups or soft play centres, there is a big difference between these in prices especially if you have 3 children with you).

I would recommend getting to know local childminders and look out for the perpetual moaners who always complain about everything, there are lovely people in the profession really!

When starting out I would recommend joining PACEY, although perhaps a bit more pricey it is the Professional Association which has plenty of years experience in supporting childminders and also has good fact sheets, sample policies, and a very good business smart support for childminders.

Advertising wise, make sure that once you are registered that you are on your Local Authority Family Information Service list and that you keep it updated, join that well known website Childcare (you can be a free member or a paid up one, & they also have useful information accessible for their childminder members), look to see if their is a local Childminding Group where you can advertise vacancies on their website plus social media is very useful for advertising, but be very careful how you do it.

If you want any more help either ask on here or you are welcome to pm me direct.

Definitely arrange for your fees to be paid a month in advance. Ofsted also advised this at my registration visit as it helps to prevent unpaid fees.

Make sure your contracts cover everything; notice periods, late fees, charges, holidays, when you/they can terminate contract.

Thank you both!

I guess I don’t really know which specific questions to ask as I’m thinking along the lines of problems I haven’t already thought of if that makes sense. I’ve done lots of local research for things like fees and CMer groups, I’ve thought about what i’ll Include in the fee and what I won’t, what notice/holidays I will take etc.

Good point to watch out for the moaners! I do know a few local CMers already and there are a couple that have made me think about doing things differently. I’ve used CMers myself for my own children when they were small and picked up a few DOs and DONTs from them.

Was there anything that really surprised you about the job that you hadn’t planned for/expected?

Can you tell I’m anxious about starting?

Or any little tips to make day to day run smoother?

Think about children’s own toys that they bring with them. If you have older children who are expected to share toys then they usually expect to share the mindees toys. This can be an issue, especially if it is a comforter. I would ask that no toys are brought to the house other than the comforter and that your children know that this toy is out of bounds.This will save some epic meltdowns.

The same goes for food. I prefer for children not to bring any food unless the parent is really insistent or if there are allergies. It is much simpler for all the children to eat the same. I did not let mine bring treats as this also can cause prob,ems.

Ask for spare clothes, ask about messy play, ensure there is always clothes that are weather and activity suitable. Ask them to think about easy fastenings. This might seem trivial but the children have their coats and shoes on and off so many times during the day, that it can save you aggravation.

Stamp on late comers, make very clear your holiday policy and what happens if the children don’t come. Have a very firm late pick-up policy.
.

You ask what surprised me. I was a childminder for 16 years and the thing that surprised me most was becoming really good friends with the children’s mums. I was very firm right at the outset and no-one seemed to mind, the mums liked having rules and I was never taken advantage of.

The biggest thing I can advise,

Trust your gut!

Each and every time I have ignored my feelings in choosing a family, I’ve regretted it!

Thanks, this is all really helpful.

That’s lovely rocky!

One thing that has just occurred to me is how the new GDPR regulations will impact me. Has it caused any problems with how you run your business?

I think my biggest tip is to be firm about payments. Always in advance and if they don’t pay, be firm about not having the children till they do pay.

I don’t encourage children to bring their own toys with them, obviously a comforter is fine, but anything else is a no. I have so many toys and resources, I found that what the children brought with them would lay disguarded in a corner taking up space until someone else touched it, then world war 3 would erupt.

As Georgie said, if you have doubts about a family, listen to them, don’t think you can change a family or that you will be able to put up with whatever the problem is, as it will eat away at you and you will get frustrated and won’t enjoy your work. Hold out if you can and something right will come along.

So this was my setting
I used to provide food but got fed up with throwing food away, "because it didn't taste the same as mums"..
Packed lunch or tea was the way I went..

My own children were at times a lot older than the mindees, so their 'toys' stayed upstairs.

No toys to be brought from home, apart from comforter and/or dummy.
I had plenty for all ages.

I had it written on to my registration that upstairs was out of bounds apart from my bedroom, for sleeping babies in the travel cot, and the en suite for pooh explosions!!

I'm sure there's a few more, but off out, will pop back later if I think of any more