While looking after young children can be a rewarding proposition for some, it may not be for everyone. Before entering the childcare profession, there are pitfalls and hurdles to overcome, before the all-clear is given and this requires a lot of preparation and consideration. So before contacting the local authorities about registration and signing up to the training courses, you should first consider the following:
Your Health
Childminders need to be physically and mentally fit. Working long hours with children can be draining. Getting them dressed/changed, lifting buggies, taking them out, playing with them, cleaning up after them, cooking for them, not to mention picking them up and carrying them around – depending on the their age, can be a very physically, mentally and emotionally taxing job, even for a healthy person. For this reason, all childminders will have to pay for a health check with their doctor and pass the medical before registration is granted.
Your Family
Running a business from home, will affect everyone living under your roof; especially during the times you are working. Your home may need stair and safety gates everywhere, easily accessible toys, places for your mindees to sleep, strict guidelines and routines on what can and cannot be done when children are in your care – such as keeping outside doors locked etc.
If you have young children, they may not want to share their toys, or may fall out with the children in your care, as they do not want to share your attention too.
Quite often, it is the childminder’s own children who cause the most disruption and behave badly, rather than other people’s children.
However, on the plus side, having extra children at home to play with, is a bonus for some children. It is therefore important to have your whole family’s support when setting up a business at home. Children may also be dropped off early in the morning from 7am, and sometimes be picked up as late as 9pm in emergencies, which can disrupt family life and be intrusive. At the end of the day, most people go home to relax and unwind, but when the last child leaves and you are left to clear up the mess left behind, it can be demoralizing unless you are ultra-organized and naturally tidy.
Childminding – Is it worth it?
According to new governmental guidelines, childminders are only allowed to look after a maximum of 6 children – three of which can be under the age of 3 and three under the age of 8. Therefore, if you have 4 children of your own under the age of 8, there may be little point registering to become a childminder as your costs may outweigh your earnings.
This can be a financially precarious business too. Childminders tend to provide more flexibility than nurseries, being paid hourly or daily compared to monthly or termly as in the case of nurseries, often losing money, if children are taken away on holidays or parents end contracts at short notice. This can cause a great deal of stress and financial uncertainty. If you are entering childminding to gain a regular income, then this may not be the most suitable route to take, depending on how you arrange your contracts.
On top of this, to become a childminder you also need to undergo a very rigorous and lengthy registration process and the process can take at least 6 months, so not a speedy option to make an income either.
Having a garden and/ or pets is also a good selling point for many parents.
Even though these are not essential requirements, it could make finding new clients difficult if you do not have one or the other or both of these and your competitors do.
While many may be attracted to the prospect of looking after and caring for children, there is another side to the business they may not be as enthusiastic about and this is the administration.
Besides the contracts, risk assessments, permission slips, accounting, invoicing and so on, there is also the continual assessment of children. Planning activities to support their development, assessing and reporting on how well the children are progressing. Children under 5 will need to be taught basic numeracy, literacy and other skills in preparation for school and all this information will need to be planned, logged and assessed for the purpose of Ofsted Inspections. This requires someone to be very organized, so that they are able to stay on top of things. This is in addition to the bookkeeping required by the HMRC.
The Children
While some children can be lovely some of the time, working with children can be very demanding and some children can also be a challenge. Childminding is also not babysitting, you have to arrange activities to support children’s developments, and plan for these in advance. All this will be scrutinized by Ofsted. They will check to see that children are progressing well under your care and are being treated as they should. You will also have to do all the necessary assessments and paperwork to evidence the progress made by children and this may have to be done after minding hours have finished i.e. in your own time. In addition, if you sign up to being a childminder, you cannot turn children away even if you do not like them, for whatever reason. This is a non-biased, anti-discriminatory profession and all children must be treated equally and given the same opportunities to thrive, without preference or favouritism. The only exceptions apply to disabilities your setting cannot cater for, such as wheelchairs etc.
The Hours
While you can choose the hours you work with children and be paid by the hour or day, if you provide ‘free places’ subsidized by the government, you could earn less than you normally charge and have to work longer hours to cover costs. As all the assessments, reports, resources and planning, cannot be carried out during the time children are in your care, this often means a lot of work may have to be done out of minding hours, taking up more of your time than you originally thought. The impact of this needs to be considered, especially if you have other commitments such as a very young family of your own.
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