Hi Mum2bless, your thoughts are similar to mine as well as IIIIII in that I do not take any child just for the money, the child has to 'fit' in. I do not mean that I discriminate against race, SEN, 'disadvantaged' etc it just means that whoever I offer a place to, must fit in with the current children that I care for, this could mean nap times, arrival, pickup, age etc there are lots of things that I consider when talking to a prospective parent. I think it also boils down to the fact that at the interview stage, I am just as much interviewing the parent and they are me. I too have had children from different cultures and backgrounds but whoever I am thinking of offering a place to, I feel that I need to be able to gell with the child as well as the parent.
I do have children of my own (young adults now though, although still living at home) so not in the same situation as you, I do not have to share my attention with minded children as well as my own.
When the sharing issues occurred, I did discuss this with the parents purely from the point of view that I wanted to know if their child was displaying the same sort of behaviour when with the parent say at playgroup or with friends/their children so I feel it is important to involve parents. When the smacking issue arose with one child, I did discuss with parent for same reasons above and discussed ways in which we could work together on best ways to discourage this sort of behaviour.
I have also had one or two very 'difficult' parents during my childminding career, this was my biggest challenge!
You sound as though you have thought what best fits in with you and your family for 2010 so hopefully you will find things a little easier as time goes on.
Good luck