Be honest, who can actually say they love their job:(

[OFSTEDoutstanding]

Hi I have now been a cm for 2 years and a nanny for many years before that. I loved nannying and I loved being a cm until I had my 2nd child last Sept now I find it alot of hassle. I don't do EYFS as my parents have asked me not to so I have a print out of gov guidelines that says you don't need to do it til term they turn 5 to show ofsted. I don't agree with paper towels or hand driers in my home bathroom and I certainly don't agree with the catering certs and private taxi things they keep saying we might have to do.
I loved my job til ofsted interfered I am now doing my own thing with the kids and they are thriving and don't seem to have exploded because eyfs is not being followed.
The parents are all really happy because their children are being cared for in a home environment which is exactly what they want for them, with no obs.
Am interested to see what happens at next inspection and how ofsted will grade an outstanding childminder that is not jumping through their hoops.
And before anyone says that eyfs is no harder than b23 you all know it is a much bigger pita.
Was just wondering if you all still enjoy your jobs with even more rules attached or like me love it your way and screw ofsted!

I do agree with you although have been on mat leave myself since July so as yet not got to the eyfs as my only mindee isn't returning as planned in April as Mum has a new baby on way!

I hate the paperwork but i also annnied for 10 years and think we were totally spoilt by not having any papers to do, just pure fun childcare.

My maternity runs out very soon and i am trying my best to 'think positive' about all the paperwork etc if my mindee does eventually return (in the meantime i'll need to do something to earn) but no-way are we doing any hand driers/paper towels. They get home-from-home with me and i agree ofsted have ruined alot of it for us.

Sorry for garbled message-have my 4 mth old on my lap bouncing away!

I'm a childminder about to go on maternity leave for the next 6 months and I can tell you that I absolutely can't wait to give up the tedious, all-consuming admin for a while! I'm going to miss my kiddies very very much and plan to keep in touch with them and their parents with whom I have forged wonderful relationships, but that paperwork.....I DETEST it!!

It's true that it completely ruins the job, not to mention places stress on my personal life as I just don't seem to have enough time for my own family or myself anymore. After I've finished the evening chores, settling my 21 month old son, and managing a bath myself, it's already 9 pm, and one hardly feels like sitting down and getting on with paperwork at that time, especially when 30 weeks pregnant and exhausted! Am seriously stressed about how I'm going to manage when I have my second baby to care for as well.

There are some childminders that are coping quite well who for example do all their admin on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, but even that wouldn't work for me as it's impossible to even check my emails with my toddler around, let alone sit down for a few hours with a pile of papers! All I have is his daily 1 and a half hour sleep during which I fly around the house trying to get the housework done and once his baby brother arrives, will probably have to say goodbye to any baby free time for a long long time.

I completely understand and totally agree that it is essential that the industry be regulated and welcome their guidance in most aspects, but practically it's not working for many and I forsee many childminders giving up work that they otherwise love. It's very sad!

i LOVE my job, but i am a nanny and havent got all the hassle and stress and paperwork you cm's have

you certainly have it tough from what i have read on here and tbh i dont think i would ever be a cm beacuse of that reason

Im obviously in the minority here!
I have 40 white face cloths from ikea and they are stacked at the side of the sink. I child washes their hands, and dries them on the face cloth then drops it into the bath, where I collect them and wash them as required.
I was inspected in Dec and my inspector thought it was a great idea and would pass it on.

My paperwork takes no longer than it used to take me to drive home from work when I used to work outside the home.

I love my job, although I have days where I dislike the parents, but I count myself prividged to be able to stay at home, play all day and get paid a decent wage for doing it!

I too love my job although I'm blessed with great parents (well, most of them). I hate and detest paper work though. I gave up my former life because paperwork was getting in the way of what I did best - delivering care.

Hate the paperwork but it does have to be done. Any job has paperwork attached in some way. The trick is to only do what is necessary. I try to do at least one observation a week and a fire drill every month. I have a daily tick list I complete every morning before kids arrive to say I have done things like checked plug covers on, toilet roll in toilet etc. takes minutes. I keep a list of what kids have eaten during the day and I do the usual marking in and out as they arrive or leave. I must admit my tax accounts do take some weekend work now and again, but other than that once you have paperwork started it doesnt get too much time as long as you only do what is the bare minimum. I dont do a lot of forward planning of activities like in the old days where you could tell a year ahead what you were going to do in April say. I just look at what the kids like to do and what they need to learn and go from there day to day. I think the inspectors would much rather see happy minders and children than reams and reams of paperwork and project files on everything. Lets all get back to enjoying the job and not making work for ourselves.

I have to agree with Bradfordmum, as this is what I do as well. I bought a load of little towels/large flannels and do the same I also have a stack in the kitchen and they do for wipes as well.
I was also inspected in December and got an "outstanding", not because I have done loads of paperwork, but because I make it personal to each child. It is what you make it, although I must say that I am thinking of giving up as I would like my house back rather than the paperwork as I would go back into a managers role somewhere and then have the same stuff to do and have to work just as long hours wise, so that is why I am stopping here for now.

I think the flannel idea is a very good one, but they must surely be a pain to wash and dry? We don't have a dryer and live in a tiny two bed flat.....so find paper towels to be the more practical solution.

I agree it's what you make of it and largely due to one's attitude in general. Sometimes I think that I am doing too much and just making more work for myself - I do one observation per child per week (I mind three children) and plan daily activities a month in advance according to a theme, then there's the fire drills, risk assesments and all the other monthly stuff which the inspector was all very impressed with but I still only got "Good" after everything!

There are all sorts of ways of looking at it and at the moment the benefits of the job far outweigh the negatives for me so am not planning on leaving the profession any time soon....just would sometimes like the freedom if you like, of having a straight cut 9 to 5 job - but that's how running your own business goes doesn't it!!

I haven't noticed a massive increase in the paperwork - but then anything is better to the amount of tedious admin i had to do as a teacher!

I only find the constant playschool/school runs a hassle - it eats too much into the play day.....its taken us a week to make papier mache pigs!!

I am dreading my next inspection though because i know that I have some things ofsted hates like the dogs water on the floor in the kitchen and her bed in the hall....i know my paperwork will be fine and I also got a bulk load of ikea towels for each child...but I tend to use the anti bac gel instead of soap and water...is that allowed do you think?.....

I am behind with my planning though........

I love my job but I get annoyed that people will pay more to have their ironing or cleaning done than I get paid to care for their children.......i have a friend who is a cleaner and she gets £10 an hour to my measly £3.50........

Im a nanny and i LOVE my job!

I love the childcare side of childminding - lots of fun activities, messy play and generally larking about offering good quality care. As for the rest of it - hmmm, am thinking I should step away from this thread ...

I do not understand whatsoever how minders think that there isn't extra paperwork with the EYFS. We do still need to do planning, after doing our written observations. I have 7 children I have to do written obs on. How many of us actually have minding parents who want written obs done? And don't forget to take photos to prove that you have done what you have said you've done.

And then we have our written risk assessments - written risk assessments for my home (and I do not intend to walk around my home ticking a chart every morning); written risk assessments to cover going for a walk, going to the shop for a loaf of bread, travelling in my bus, playing in the garden, going to each and every individual social group that we attend, and then any one-off day trips, etc.

I have had to alter my written policies to suit the EYFS guidelines (there was nothing wrong with my policies before).

We record the exact arrival and departure times of each child, write daily diaries, issue questionnaires to parents to ensure that they are happy with the care offered, hang posters and certificates on our walls to prove how professional we are, and on and on and on.

And this hand towels palaver - just how ridiculous is it really to have separate drying facilities for each child, given that they have probably exchanged numerous licky kisses with each other, the toys, my cats and me.

Rant over.

I'm not a childminder anymore. I gave up before EYFS came in and I have to say it sounds like a lot of extra work. I loved the job overall and did not fine the paperwork too much although I was as stretched as I could have been - IYSWIM.

I also found some parents drove me potty while some were lovley. I have thought about going back into CMing but I won't unless I have to and I think nannying might be my prefered option.

I guess its different for me because I have just qualified as a child minder and only know the eyfs way of things.

I have written policies and proceedures, downloaded them from internet and just tweaked them for my setting..

I have two mindees and do daily diaries for them, the activities I offer are varied and meet all the criteria, I mention the food the kids eat and what we do and link it with the 7 areas of learning.

I have a cleaning check list and tick it every day but just have one towel which i change daily, we all kiss and cuddle and seperate towels would serve no hygenic advantage but would look good for Ofsted.

I do all paperwork every sunday, takes bout an hour which is a lot less than i did as a district nurse and best of all I am home based for my kids so if they are ill or need picking up I can do it myself.

I have also turned my dining room into a playroom so all toys and equipment are seperate so I only have a stair gate, take this off at the weekend so the house is ours again.. best job I have had so far and loads of fun.

I have been minding for 2 months and have to say it's amazing. I get to have fun with 2 year olds all day! Today we spent half an hour feeding the ducks with tears of laughter rolling down our faces (you had to be there!). My own DDs get non-stressed out mummy who actually has time to find the joy in simple things like the pebbles we find on the beach, or the mad squirrels in the park.
That said, I had my Ofsted on Friday (got a good), and despite having highly fantastic paprework, and detailed planned activity sheets for each session over the next 2 months; a fab spidergram that related our theme to the EYFS categories, and an individual learning file with assessments, observations, photos and lovely parent feedback....i was a bit horrified to discover it still isn't enough... the inspector told me I should have detailed spidergrams for each child relating to the eyfs and where they are in minute detail. I work 12 hours a week and do obs about once a fortnight (or 2 a week depending on the progress she makes...)Also told me that I should be doing an FdA in ECS rather than an NVQ3 as I already have 2 degrees... Only good thing is that she won't be back for 3 years by which time I will have gone back to teaching!
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babylily - I think your description of childminding is spot on. The pleasure you can get from helping small people grow and develop is amazing.

I love your paragraph about the organisation and paperwork side of things even more! I wish everyone (parents, childminders and the government) could just read all of that through and tell me, honestly, if that is really what they want for their children when with a childminder.

I work far more than 12 hours per week - I have children here from 7.30am - 6.00pm, 5 days/week. I have 7 mindees to take into account when working with the EYFS. Multiply up the individual learning plans and spider diagrams for that many. Oh yes, and I have 2 new part-timers starting shortly. That would be 9 children then. Oh joy.

Although I have been minding for several years, and the EYFS is new to me, I am not a stupid person and am more than capable of doing it. I am more than prepared to adapt or change how I work if it is of benefit to the children and their families.

That is not the issue though - it's great that CMs are being given greater professional status and are included, except that we are working solo, and we do not have extra staff to do admin or play with the children as a nursery might. Many of us work very long hours already - and I do love what I do - but the paperwork side of things is slowly but surely destroying it.

thebody - it's interesting that your Ofsted inspector accepted you having only one towel changed daily. Unfortunately, other inspectors (including mine) will insist on minders having separate towels for each child. Until you have your inspection, no-one knows what their inspector will want - if you do the wrong thing, you can be marked down on it and your grading could be affected. The inconsistencies are unfair.

So true - your grading is all about the kind of inspector you get. I do nowhere near as much as babylily (and I thought I did a lot!) and my inspector was still very happy and most impressed with what I did show her - at the end of the inspection she told me that she couldn't fault anything and only had one recommendation for me which was to go on the EYFS training which I am planning to do once my baby's born and while on maternity leave. So yes, the inconsistencies are a common complaint it seems.

Another childminder told me that they only got a satisfactory on the health side of things because of the towel issue (they children use a shared towel) so thebody, I'd be careful to make sure that when your inspector's around you do the seperate towel thing - they seem to be quite sticky about that.

but when i was ofstedid!!! she said the towel thing was fine and i KNOW as a nurse that its just a waste of time and money.. I think we must also be prepered to complain if feel ofsted is unfair..

Unbelievable!! Another perfect example of an inconsistency!

I go through phases tbh, some days I love it other days I wonder what the hell I'm doing but overall I know I'm not cut out to do anything else, I love making the kids happy and the kids are happy, they love being here and all the activities we do and the routine they have etc sometimes I get fustrated because of the paperwork (feels like a massive weight) plus I wish I could have my house back sometimes like TP I work quite long days and I'm very busy (not as busy as TP) but i'm as full as I want to be, the job does have it's perks so its swings and roundabouts!

Love the job. The kids parents are all OK at the moment. Admin a pain, but necessary. It's just so great to have a job which means I can still be around for my DD.

Thanks for the tip snooch, will have towels at the ready for an inspection. Seems very arbitary grading to me,after all we are in our own homes and not a nursery.

About time authorities looked at themselves and started to improve the lives of the kids in their care. some shocking statistics on crime, pregnancy and drug addiction..

I am just persisting with the daily diarys and lots of varied activities for my mindees and take lots of photos to prove it.. if thats not enough then b.......s to them...

The more practical the job the less paperwork there should be,

Thats why hospitals are so bloody filthy, when I was a student nurse we spent the first 6 months doing jobs like washing the bed heads and cleaning the sluice and lockers, no bugger does that now. We didnt have degrees but we could get our hands dirty and bloody well wash them afterwards as well.... ..and no we didnt need to record the fact...