Childminder with own pre-school children - how well does it work in practice?!

[IzzyWizzyletsgetbusy]

I am looking for a childminder for dd (2), one day a week, and have been speaking to one who has her own dd about 6 mths older than mine.

I can't say this bothers me per se - I know a lot of CMs do have their own pre-school children, and in fact it might be nice for dd, who loves other children, because at least there will always be at least one around her age, but I just wondered how people found it worked in practice? Any problems to watch out for?

Hi there Izzywizzy Every Childminder I know has at least one of their own LO. I have my own DS and it work very well. The number of LO's a Childminder has will be taken into account with regard to adult:child ratio.
I think you'd be hard pushed to find a CM who doesn't have their own LO.

Thanks for reply - does it ever get difficult re lo's getting "territorial" (I know they all do it at some point!), I'm just wondering if CM's lo's feel that somebody else is coming into their house, playing with their toys etc and that causes any problems? (as opposed to, say, nursery, where said toys belong to none of children)

I agree it is the usual situation and like I said I don't have a problem with it - just wondered if there were any potential issues I should be aware of...

Geniunely interested, as whole CM side of things is complete new territory to me and I want to get it right!!

izzywizzy - i started c/minding because i had a young child - there is a very big gap between my kids so i thought ds would benefit from others to play with and share with - i never have problems with him {apart from showing off} and he is a very kind and generous child this may have just been his nature or because he has always had to share his toys/home/family/pets.
so i think it's to your advantage if c/m has dc of a similar age - my 1st mindee who is 4months younger than ds is ds's best friend - even now i rarely mind him they have a really strong bond more than just friends really.

It will be useful if you agree on pre-schools, or ones with co-ordinating runs. Other than that, it's good fun and great socially.

Now and again DS doesn't like to share but this is also the same for my mindees My DS has had other children in his life since he was born so he's used to sharing me
I was a Nanny when he was born and went straight into CMing.
I think most CM's children are pretty used to sharing toys/their mum. We have a few of DS's "special toys" which we put away until he's on his own.
Some Childminders (if they have an upstairs) don't allow mindees into their LO's rooms and use downstairs as a main playroom while working. I've heard this works well.

My DCs have 'precious' toys which they keep in their bedrooms ( I only use the downstairs IYSWIM). They are older now - 8 and 6 - but quickly became accustomed to sharing with others.

HTH

As mentioned - think about which pre school you may use in future. If it is a different one to the cm then she cannot be in two place at one time to drop off or collect.

I am a childminder sans my own child. I have found that those kids that have come here first get territorial too with their toys etc. when a new child starts... all part of growing up and learning to share. I have never had a problem with it. It's a natural instinct to feel territorial to a point