Childminders - would you do this?

[leeloo1]

Hi all, hoping for a bit of advice...

I'm registering to be a childminder and have had a friend of a friend who is keen to sign up with me - she'll be doing 3 days a week, which I've just found out will be Tues, Weds and Thurs.

Now I'll need to work full time but was only planning to have a full time child to make life simple, as already have my own...

So, her days won't be ideal as it'll be hard to fill 2 x 1 day slots, so I may have to have 1 child overlapping, so have 3 on 1 day, but I didn't think it was insurmountable... but I just told DH and he is adamant that I shouldn't sign her up unless she can find someone to fill the extra days or is willing to pay for the extra days (I can't see either of those happening!) and I should wait until I've advertised and see who else I can get.

So, bit of a rambling post, but would you go for the (almost) confirmed part-timer or hold out for a full-time mindee?

why is your dh so against it?
tbh, i would probably sign her up, then advertise and if someone else came along with more ideal hours i would hand notice or see how it goes with both.
but then i can be abit harsh sometimes!

I have full-day part-timers... it shouldn't be hard to fill those extra two days.

I would go for the part timer

You are starting out and to launch straight into full time minding will be exhausting

This way you will ease gently into your new role

You would be surprised at how few Ft children are around

Good luck

Thanks for the replies. DH is worried that I wouldn't be able to fill the other 2 days and we'd struggle financially. He said he thinks she's taking the mick, but she seemed apologetic about days, so not sure she is...

Why is she taking the mick - she obviously only needs those days, why should she pay for the other 2 . Being a cm is very much about being right place at the right time for the right parents and their children. You would be very, very lucky to get a full-timer when you first start out - I've been doing it 4yrs and haven't even had 1 enquiry for full time.

Once you get started, you'll find future business comes mainly from recommendations, but like any business startng out it will take you time.

TBH, think your DH being just a little unreasonable and is expecting an awful lot of you in your new venture.

I would sign her up when your registration comes through - like previous post said, that will ease you in gradually, because [trust me] it's no walk in the park being a cm. Though there will be many walks in the park............

Good luck btw

i think your dh needs to get his head round the fact a lot of parents will be looking for part time not full time childcare. the friend of a friend isn't taking the mick, she's just arranging childcare for the hours she needs.

i'd have thought as well as you're just starting out it would be good to get someone on board early, like this friend of a friend, so when you're talking to future prospective parents you can actually say what you do with your current mindee etc.

Tell your DH a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush. You could turn her away and not get a full timer for 6 months! I manage to fill my odd days and hours fairly successfully.

I would not do it. I had 2 mindees, from the same family, they started out doing tues, wed and thurs, when I had no other mindees. I could not fill the mon and fri, so I asked if she could change days to mon, tues and wed thinking it would be easier to fill thur and fri. Well 2 years on I had still never managed to fill the other days. Because they were my only mindees for 2 years, I ended up being treated like a nanny rather than childminder ie on occasions collecting the children from home or dropping them off at home and they kept swapping days at the drop of a hat......all because they knew I had no other mindees on any other days. I would not get into that position again, I was taken advantage of in the end, I don't think they did it intentionaly, but I do believe that you'll be treated as a nanny if you only have their kids.

NB. ( to all nannys out there . I'm not saying theres anything wrong with being a nanny, but I wasn't being paid a nannys wage is what I mean. They wanted me to look after their children....exclusively....but didn't get a wage to match.

Thanks, honestly I agree with you that she isn't 'trying it on' - think DH felt that I'd been a pushover and that if I'd said no then she'd have gone back to her work and demanded better days or else , but she said she'd already asked and it wasn't possible to have any other days. Just wanted to make sure it wasn't completely unfeasible to fill the other days... especially as a local nursery told a friend she couldn't have 4 days a week as they wouldn't be able to fill the other day. Hope that won't end up happening to me.

I'm definitely of the opinion that a mindee in the hand is worth 2 in the bush though, so think I will sign her up!

tommypickles that does sound a bit worrying - hopefully cos there's my baby and her child then it'll be an equal footing, but will have to be firm - or as firm as I can be when my natural inclination is to say 'yes, fine' to everything (could be why DH thought I'd been a pushover!).

As a parent, I only use a childminder 2 days a week and my CM manages to fill all the other slots (in fact she is full every day) with a combination of 4 different children all under 5 doing different days.

It helps that we've managed to be flexible with days so she could juggle us a bit but she's brilliant and all the kids love her so it's no big deal.

I currently mind 5 under 5s during the week, and not one of them is full-time. They successfully slot together to fill the week. I can't even remember the last time I had an enquiry for a full-time place.

Thanks again everyone. Poor DH has come home and is apologetic for having caused all this fuss, he says he was just worried I would be disadvantaged in my new career (bless). We've decided the most important thing is that the mum and I seem to get on well (as do the babies!) which bodes well for a good working relationship!

I have 6 kids on different days (oldest is 3) - 4 each day. Have been full since I started minding (thankfully).

Glad to see DH has thought about it

It's CRUCIAL you get on very well with parents and kids alike... you play a huge role in eachother's lives All the best with your new career!!! x

Bless him, what goes through their minds aye.. my advice is take what you can get and keep advertising, I have 1 child full time and 4 others part time.. it works well and most people are ofter only after 2 or 3 days anyway.. good luck, its a great job on the whole.. even with all the paperwork..

Lol, thanks, I need all the good wishes and luck I can get at the moment, as am writing all my policies and procedures and its making my head ache! Even though Shoshe really helpfully gave me some draft ones to use as a template there's still just sooooo many of them...

then I need to work on drafting an advert for my services...

Definitely not 'easy money' being a childminder is it?