Career Change for the best !

[Wardywoo]

Good morning ladies.

This is my first time on Mumsnet and i am amazed to see the huge amount of advice and support on offer.

I am after some advice and feel you are the best to advice me.

I am a mum of 2 girls aged 6 & 11, one at Infant school and one at Senior school.

I have worked full time since they were little and have recently reduced my hours to part time 9 - 3. Anyway i am enjoying this so much i now feel would like to be at home all the time and am considering child minding as a career change.

I live Hemel Hempstead and was wondering if there is anyone out there who can give me advice on where to start.

I have been on to the normal sites advising on what to do but from reading this site feel you would be able to advise me of the real situation and process.

Oh hello Ww, your girls are at the right age for you to child mind as they have a little more understanding as to why they have to share mummy with your mindees, the only draw back with that age is that during school holiays it is difficult to arrange things that are suitable for all age groups ( I currently mind, my youngest mindee is 17 months and my oldest DD is 13) we regularly have mutterings about not being able to do fun stuff as a family cos of the mindees).

However another plus point is that you are always around when they come home from school etc. As too where to start: Phone your local childrens informtion service and have a chat with them, they will tell you what you need to know in order to start the registration process. Hope that helps. Goodluck!

Bear in mind that childminding does not pay all that well. Not sure how much you make in your pt job, but it is worth weighing that up. However, I think it is good for the kids to share time with you, and for hte mindees to have 2 older kids there at times to play with them. I know my kids love the childminder and are almost part of the extended family there!

Do you LOVE children. Because another thing you need to think about is that other people's children are not necessarily as enjoyable as your own - they have their own foibles and sets of boundaries that you need to deal with. And some people have very different ways of raising their kids from you - something you need to go with to a big extent.

Good for you - hope it all works out