CMs: is the paperwork worth it?

[mrscrocoduck]

Need advice - have just been to an info evening and was really keen to get started with Child minding but now I've seen all the preparatory paperwork, not to mention all of the on-the-job requirements I'm worried that it'll be a huge amount of work for little return.

Is this unfair? Would love to hear from experienced CMs as well as any just recently registered!

Thanks

Hi it does seem daunting when you first look at it and to be fair the initial meeting only shows a portion of what is necessary paperwork wise, or at least the one I went to does. But in saying that once you have all of the initial stuff in place its just a question of keeping it all up to date so initially yes you will be glued to a computer sorting policys, proceedures, sef, planning, risk assessments, observation records etc but really on a week to week basis I do registers, school collection lists, observations, monthly I do invoicing and accounts termly I do planning for 7 individual mindees which ties into 5 different school curricculums and general planning for over 5's, and annually I update policys, proceedures and risk assessments.

Once you have the formats in place it doesn't take to long to update or renew stuff, although I do find EYFS stuff can get me down at times as it can be a bit never ending. It can be a stressful job at times but also very rewarding, long hours and a very messy house at the end of the day.

There is a lot of help on here though and some loverly professional CM's who share stuff and offer loads of advice and support, so although you can feel a little isolated at times a friend is only a couple of clicks away.

thank you atwork...

Am seriously in 2 minds about this.

No, it's not worth it. The paperwork is mind-numbing. I wouldn't be a childminder if I could do anything else mainly because of the paperwork. If I didn't need the money I would pack it in immediately.
You must be mad!

I think those that have one child free week day each week in order to do their paper week find it better. It's no longer a job to do as it fits in with your own pre-school children much more a chosen voaction IYSWIM.

I say that as a parent not a cm though.

Far less paper work if you become a nanny.

I think it's finding the time to do the paperwork rather than the actual stuff you need to do, it is daunting at times even then though. I became a mum at 17 with no qualifications or training in childcare, by 22 I was considering childminding, I started the wheels in motion and by the timne I was 24 I had registered and was advertising if I'm totally honest I wouldn't have started had I known the EYFS would come into play.

I'm now in a position where I've been doing this nearly 4yrs I enjoy looking after the children I have of course but it does have downsides.....
I work the hours I am required to work because i can't afford to say no when customers ask for extra hours, early starts, pick up's drop offs etc
I have to do paperwork and my dh does sometimes complain about the amount of time I spend on it.
The state of the house.
The lack of attnetion my own dc's get because all of dd2's waking hours mon to fri are shared with other children and dd1 only gets my to herself a max of 6 hours during mon - fri.

It ain't all it's cracked up to be.

There are some good points though and I can't afford to work doing anything else because now I've built my business up I wouldn't get the same money if I worked for someone else, I also would have to do as I'm told by someone else which would be strange now. Though at times I do think it would be nice to walk into work stay for 9 hours and then come home and not worry about it. Swings and roundabouts.

You have to be comitted and dedicated, it has to be what you think about most of the time. For instance the other week my dd's stayed at grandma's and dh suggested we go out for the evening I said no because I haven't been feeling great (had a cold) and I know I need to get a very early night so I can be well enough to get up early and do paperwork all day before I pick dd's up, as it happened I did do a lot of paperwork but still even after working from 10 until 5 then again 7pm to 9.30pm I still hadn't done as much as I really needed to, turned out I had an ear infection, I worked mon and tue but by wed I was in agony and had to take the day off and instead of relaxing I spent the day doing paperwork again and still lost money too.

I think in short (this post is far from that sorry) if you can do it for extra money great but if you have to work in order to pay bills it can be incredibly stressful, when you're quiet you are stressed because you have no money to pay bills if you are full you don't have enough hours in the day for the paperwork, if I could choose I'd strictly work 8 til 5 and I wouldn't provide dinner and I'd have friday's off but you can't pick and choose like that when you need the money.

you need to look at supply and demand in your specific location. If demand outstrips supply than you can do the hours/days you would like too.

thank you all so much. I've thought it through, been to all the info sessions and have decided that it is over-bureaucratized and totally unwieldy. I see now that it must have been naive of me to think that something like childminding would be a straight-forward or common-sensical thing for a stay at home mum to do.

The EYFS does not seem like an inherently flawed idea - in fact I think I could really get some nice ideas from it - but the idea of the continuous evidencing does seem impracticable to me. It seems odd, also, that I (as a stay at home parent) am not expected to apply the same (albeit unwieldy) rules to my care for my own child. 'Every Child Matters' [as long as they're someone else's? Yet more neglect and abuse occur within families than without].

The paperwork is all about making you accountable. I've had enough of that axe hanging over my head in teaching.

I really appreciate your feedback.

I've got to disagree with some of the comments, the paperwork is only as hard as you make it, I do the bare minimum, I earn £12 per hour, get tax consessions that many people working from home don't get, I work 3 and a half days a week, I do the paperwork in the afternoons when all the children sleep, but for me one of the main reasons to do it while I was bringing up children was to access the free training available, I wouldn't have been able to do the nvq3 and now can get other work on the back of it,
I can run creches freelance.
I wouldn't have done it when my own children were babies but I started when my youngest was 2 and going to playgroup. It has taken 2 years to get where I am but i'm now bringing home adecent amount of money and work term time only because thats what suits me.
I think £300 plus a week for a 3/4 day week over 38 weeks is worth the hassle, not many other jobs are as flexible.

As long as you meet the legal requirements as shown in the EYFS framework 'bible' then that is all Ofsted look for.I had my inspection several months ago, and my inspectro literally just went through the book and ticked off what I'd got.There are also sections about what you are advised to have-i.e. policies but a lot of paperwork isn't necessary.You could go on forever with it and I'd rather spend time looking after the children than constantly writing stuff down!!

The paper work can be much if you haven't had the training to help put things into prospective. Danthe4th you are very lucky to be earning so much an hour. As well as providing the practical care to the child I am completing daily diaries, Portfolios, observations and planning. I aim to earn £240 per week for five days, still struggling to do so blush