Calling all current or past nursery workers!

[KaySamuels]

I am childminding at the moment, doing my NVQ3 and feeling increasingly stressed with the administrative side of it, I miss working with adults and I'm feeling a lot of pressure working alone.

Anyway my problem is ds, if I went to work in a nursery and put ds in the same nursery, how does this work? Have you done this/do this or worked with anyone who does/did? I am just thinking of alternative job options, but don't know what I can do. Any information or tips will be appreciated. TIA

Hi,

Yes I have worked at a cople of different nurseries and this has worked for a couple of my friends nursery 1 mum was in the same room as her dd aged 1 2nd nursery mum worked in a different room / didnt see the child - possibly in the hall way where they would hug etc also at nursery 2 the manager had her daughter in the nursery and would sometime cover in the childs room - this sometimes upset the child but on the whole it worked/works Good Luck

Thanks for replying. Do staff pay the same for a nursery place as the public then? I'm assuming they do as it is a business and another child could be paying for the place. I am just trying to weigh up my options really. At the moment I am at home with ds obviously but he is really scoiable, loves the other kids being there, that's what got me thinking about nursery work. He will go full time at school next September though I think.

I used to work in a nursery, and my dd was in a nursery until last week. Some of the staff did have children in the nursery, although most worked in a different room from their own children, not sure if it was policy. I do know the staff dont/didnt pay the same rate as "normal" mums and dads, i think they paid 50% of normal costs, but nursery work is badly paid so can understand this completely.

Have you thought about joint child minding, or having a care assistant with you so you could have the adult to talk to and share work load.

HTH
lisa

I was manager of a nursery when DS was 2 till he started school. He started at the same nursery as me but i eventually moved him to another nursery that was owned by my boss. I found the older he got the more he knew how to play me IYKWIm and it did stop be being proffessional. I started childminding and now have a DD who is home with me and DS is at school. Childminding has worked well for me for the past 3 years but i did have to build up a large support network and am currently out at toddler groups and childminder groups 4 days per week so im always with other adults!
When i worked in the nursery i did have to pay full fees but my boss was very good and deducted the fees from my wages before declaring IYKWIM so i didnt pay tax etc. Think this may have been a bit illegal but i didnt earn enough to pay tax anyway!!!!

Message withdrawn

Thanks for replies, seems to vary from place to place regaring fees for staff, suppose it's down to the indiviidual manager. I love my job working with children, I have just had a stressful week, that made me realise I never switch off from childminding, and the fact my home and work life are too blurred is getting to me a little.

I am considering lots of options at the moment, and weighing up all possibilities. Bank staff appeals too as could work term time only, TAs but not very good pay, there is a children's centre being built nearby, which I would enjoy working at too. I think ultimately I will continue childminding until ds is full time at school, then begin a new challenge. I'm very up in the air about it all at the moment, I do love childminding, it just gets too much at times with policies, paperwork and red tape.

bump

At my nursery staff had a better rate than others. We also had a policy of not allowing mums to work in the same room as their own dc but two youngest rooms (Under 3's and 3-4) were next to each other and were conected by a door with a glass panel, so we covered it if the kidies of staff were fractious, didnt always help. I'd think hard on wether your ds is clingy or whatever, it may be too hard for him. but some children thrive on it, and I have seen that 'I can do what I want cos mummy works here!' which needs to be squashed!