honest opinions required...could I be a childminder.

[girlylala0807]

Hi all,

im looking into becoming a childminder in Scotland.

The reasons for thinking about doing it are I enjoy working with children, its a job I could do at home and I could look after my son at the same time.

However, reading some of your posts there seems to be lots more involved than just looking after children. What I mean is the paperwork side.

So the reason im questioning if its right for me is because I would also be in 3rd year at uni and by then my son will be 5 months old.

To much at once? Any help appriciated.

Thanks.

I would say childminding full time would be too much as in your situation I would find fitting in studying plus cm paper work plus normal family stuff very hard. You could cm just a few days a week, plenty of parents only need childcare a few days a week. You won't earn much but would have a more of a chance of fitting it all in. You will be expected to go on courses and things for cm too so have to bare that in mind too. Cm is very tiring in my opinion. I am knackered at the end of that day and am struggling to fit in NVQ work but I do have 3 children of my own who need my time too. I cm 4 days a week and weds is my day off. I say day off, I spend the day cleaning, washing, catching up on stuff, squeezing in drs dentist etc so no rest involved really!!! HTH

Does sound busy!

I think I have an idealistic view of how it would work rather than a realistic one iyswim.

That does help thanks, any other opinions welcomed!

girly - you could CM part time but full time and study is not really feasible - unless you don't want to see you LO during the day!!

Are you studying at uni eves or set days or is it OU degree? That will make a difference

Hey,

I think im only going to be at uni 9 to 1 Tue/Wed/Thurs but I may have to do project work in groups at other times.

I live in a 1 bed flat at the moment as well, I assume that will limit the number of children I can look after?

girlylala - I would wonder how many parents in your area would only be wanting full time childcare on Monday and Friday's. You could offer after-school collection (are you near a local primary school) but having several 5-9 year olds at your 1 bed flat may well be an issue (how much space is there?). The size of your home will limit the number of children you can care for.

Scotland has different childcare regulations to England, so I would advise that you contact SCMA to find out about becoming a childminder in Scotland. National Care Standards, Early Education, Guidance - Details about the amount of space required can be found in Annex A (for over 3's, it is 2.3 square metres).
To see how much space you have, use newspaper to make 1m x 1m squares. Then lay those out over your floor, folding squares in half as required. Do this for the main room in which you would be providing care. The space you measure is the free-space around the furniture.

Hi again,

Im actually next door to a primary school. Our flat is a reasonable size but I think to small to have a huge number of children, will try to measure it later. We have alot of the babies stuff in here... I had no idea they needed so much lol.

Another question, does it cost lots to set up the business to begin with?

Oh,

and thanks for the links nannynick.