Thinking of becoming a part time childminder

[felicityheather]

Hi!

I have a full time job, reasonably well paid that I work over four long days. (2 days 7-16:30, 2 days 8-6). I'm currently three months into my maternity leave with my first son. I would love to stay home with my son permanently but I'm the main wage earner and we'd love to have another child (for which I'd need maternity pay!).

Currently I'm considering going back 3 days a week, for 75% pay then becoming a registered childminder for two days a week, potentially with only one additional child.

I know pay as a childminder isn't fantastic but I've done my sums and with the reduction in childcare for my own son, it is a comparable picture and much more enjoyable for me to spend another day a week with my son.

I have some voluntary experience with children and am pretty confident I'd manage well and enjoy childminding.

I have some reservations about whether it would be a lot of upheaval for my son... he would have 2 days a week with me and mindees, 2 at nursery or local CM and one with my mum.

I would LOVE some thoughts from childminders.

Also can anyone recommend a level 3 course that costs less than £200! I'm struggling to find one!

Don’t be put off by comments along the lines of "I wouldn’t want a childminder who only looked after her own child plus one". I’ve lost count of the number of variations on the theme of "I wouldn’t use a childminder who....." this, that or the other, whether it’s pets, gender, location, age ranges, car use, or anything else you care to name. There was someone on here recently agonising about the pros and cons of choosing a childminder by ethnicity and social class, for heaven’s sake.

You can guarantee that, for everyone whose put off by some aspect of what you have to offer, there’ll be someone else who sees it as a plus point.

It’s worth being realistic about the amount of (unpaid) hours you’ll be working without minding children: paperwork, planning, training, etc. A lot of people underestimate this, and it has the potential to undermine your overall satisfaction level, as it may leave you feeling you have less one-on-one time with your son than before.

Consider how much you might (or not) be able to adapt to changing circumstances. Georgie has a good point about how restrictive it can be to work only two specific days. You need to think through a whole raft of "what if?" scenarios.

How quickly can you replace your one and only client if/when they leave? Consider running a waiting list of interested parents? What if you client changes their working days? Or wants to add more days? Or reduce to just one? What if they have another baby, will you want to expand to looking after more children? What about when the mindee and/or DS start school? Will you want to work with schoolies and EY children together?

I don’t think you necessarily need to have firm answers to all this stuff, but running over the possibilities might help you prepare mentally for whatever might come up. It can also mean you avoid the mistake of over-committing to running your business in a particular way.

If your figures work out go for it, but dont forget £5 is not all profit as others say it will be more like £3.
The only thing I thought was you thought your days were long now but in reality you need to be working about an hour ontop of what you care for in setting up, risk assessing, planning cleaning down etc then ongoing professional development and reading updated information. Its quiet hard to get exactly the hours you want in starting up as you dont have a reputation so many start off with whatever work they can get often school pick ups. Getting that first child through the door is hard even if you offer 55 hours a week to choose from, most are open 7 to 6 or a small variation to start with.
Your child will adapt and could make a lifelong friend if you handle it right. It can be just like a playdate twice a week.

You Do Not need a level 3 course and if you take one you will still have to take a specific childminder course.
Contact your local council as they run the courses and will be able to give you all the information you need .
Best wishes