Thinking of becoming a childminder - advice please!

[lovelyrita]

I wondered if any of you family room types might have some words of wisdom, as I'm trying to work out plans for returning to work later this year, and am toying with the idea of retraining as a childminder. I really love my job which is working in orchestral outreach, and it involves working with musicians and a mixture of managing creative projects, running workshops in schools and, inevitably, lots of admin around it, and I also work freelance as a music teacher/workshop leader with children normally of lower primary age. *But*...work is an hour's commute away, the pay would work out pretty much the same as childcare would cost, and I really really love hanging out with my little girl! I've been thinking about doing 3 days a week as a childminder, probably with my daughter + 2 others, with an emphasis on doing 'creative' child care (with my background in music and storytelling with kids it's my comfort zone), and then having 2 days (with M in childcare) to develop my own freelance business (and hopefully my old job might take me on for odd pieces of work) I'm not sure at all about this yet, so had just wondered if anyone had any experience of doing similar? Also...

* Are parents interested in a childminder for 3 days a week?

* Would a 'creative' emphasis of childminding service be something that appeals?

* Has anyone done this and how have you found a chance in career?

I'd be really interested in hearing any thoughts!

[cashewnut]

Weeeell... no words of wisdom but you can practise on our toddler if you like, sounds great!

cashew (your trusty viola player ;-)

[Helen GV]

I think there's always room for good child care!

The registration and setting up process can be lengthy, you'll need to do the introduction to home based child care course before you can be registered for example and so you'll need to check how quickly you can get on one, plus first aid and crb checks. My point being that its not quick to do. Once registered though plenty of people look for three days child care, and if you enjoy it then why not!

The best thing would be to contact southwark council and go to a presentation about becoming a childminder. You'll get a good idea of what's involved and what it might be like.