Understandably it can be quite daunting for a newly registered child minder to do their first interview, or meeting with a parent for the first time. You learn with experience; this is how I handled it, and I did manage to convince most parents to pick me as their child minder. Usually, a parent…
As an early years practitioner; you should be very aware of the need to work with the children’s parents in partnership. Here are some of my experiences of this from my many years as a child minder. I liked to think that I knew the children I was caring for extremely well, but I never…
Whilst child minding; I often heard the children say funny things. Once, whilst I was covering a topic on healthy eating we were making fruit kebabs and I asked “Where do grapes come from?” A 4 year old shot up her arm and told me “I know Karen; Tesco!” On another occasion; while walking through…
I believe that children and dogs can be great together; if managed correctly. When I purchased my German Shepherd puppy “Keira” she was 8 weeks old. I did a lot of research into her breed first (although I have always been an admirer of this type of dog, so knew quite a lot already) I…
Cats and kittens can make great pets. Kittens especially look so cute and cuddly; which they can be, but they also come with a good set of claws ready to scratch if they are not happy about a situation! Always supervise children around any animal. A kitten (or any other pet) can sustain a nasty…
I thought that as many parents may consider getting a pet to complete their family; I would share my experience of adopting a dog from the “Dogs Trust” When our beloved German Shepherd; Keira, died we were devastated. We got her back in 2006; from an extremely good breeder. Unfortunately in 2007 I suffered a Major Stroke, meaning that all…
Back in 2004 I launched a campaign to get the out dated play equipment in Rock park, Barnstaple up graded. I have now been made aware of a campaign to save Westacott park. Westacott park is a small park on Westacott Road in the Whiddon valley area of Barnstaple. When I lived in Whiddon valley…
For as long as I can remember; I have always wanted my own Horse. I wished for one every time I blew the candles out on birthday cakes and asked Santa for one each Christmas. I even came up with an idea that if I married a rich farmer when I grew up then I would…
Living in north Devon; I am very fortunate to have some wonderful coastal and countryside walks on my doorstep. Many years ago now; when my boys, were of school age I decided that we would go on a cycle ride together to a lovely place called Fremington Quay. The weather was pleasant; without being too…
You don’t need to spend a fortune to keep children amused doing art and craft activities. When I was childminding; I used to use the back of junk mail (which is often blank on the reverse) as drawing paper. The inside cardboard of cereal boxes is great to use for painting. Put an old adult…
When oxo tots got in touch and asked if I would review some of their products, I immediately enlisted the help of family friend called Ann and her 14 month old daughter; Arya. Sippy Cup Oxo tots sent me their tall sippy cup; suitable for 9 months plus It is priced at £7.60. This has…
Acropats come in packs of 16 pieces. They are made of stiff foam, and come in four different colours: red, green, yellow and blue. I asked three children; 2 girls and a boy who were aged between 4 and 11 years to help with this review. The product manufacturer recommend that they are not suitable for…
This is an article that I originally wrote for “childcare Expo.” I worked as a registered child minder for 14 very happy years; in all that time, I only ‘went sick’ once. This was because I had a bad stomach upset and there was no way that I could have looked after children (not that…
I was privileged to work as a registered child minder for many happy years, meaning that I never had to leave my children in childcare; other than in pre-school play groups. Being a child minder; I was aware of a parents guilt, and hardly a week goes by without something similar being brought up on…
Another child minder (also called Karen!) has asked me for ideas that are suitable for the older children. She also child minds after school; however most of her activities and games are aimed at younger children. The older children that I looked after liked arts and crafts (especially the girls) Making dolls out of wool was a…
For as long as I can remember I have always loved babies and children (and anything to do with them) including an interest in pregnancy and birth. All I ever wanted to do when I was growing up playing with baby dolls was to to get married and have children. I did get married, aged 19 and had two…
Rebecca, who is a registered child minder has suggested this blog topic. As a registered child minder; you should be invited to attend meetings and courses, on the basics of keeping child minding accounts, for HMRC. As a self-employed person, record keeping is your responsibility. You can, of course, hire…
When I worked as a child minder, I found that most of the new child minded children settled in remarkably quickly. I have written, in more detail, about a particular child, who took a little longer, in another blog post, titled “child minding tales – separation anxiety” I think, it is actually more distressing for…
As a Child Minder you are at an advantage over a larger setting such as a nursery (I’m my opinion anyway) when it comes to planning activities for the children in your care. For example; I like to think that when I was a child minder I knew the children I looked after really well…
Experts say that most children don’t get bladder control until around 18 months, so there is no point in trying to potty train before that age. I must admit however, to placing my first born son Leigh, on his potty just after his first birthday. He seemed to be quite happy sitting there, whilst watching…
Nowadays, keeping children entertained on long car journeys is relatively easy thanks to things like laptops, electronic games and tablets such as iPads. They can now watch a movie or play a game whilst they travel. When my own children were young, there were no such luxuries. I once made a booklet for each of…
Many parents are under the impression that teaching their child to read is the responsibility of their child’s teacher. While this is true to a certain extent, there is a lot you can do to help as a parent. My eldest son started to recognize words from a very young age by the way they…
When I met my second husband, my boys were aged 4 and 6 and he had an 8 year old son. Once we settled into life as a “blended family” the boys didn’t call their step-parent mum or dad (after all, they each had an absent parent who they still saw) neither did we tell…
After catching up with Terry who originally suggested I write a blog on Child Led Play, he told me his Daughter aged 2 had recently been to a birthday party. He was surprised that all the small children played separately, instead of together. This in my experience is perfectly normal for that age, and soon…
Thanks to Terry who suggested that I write a blog about Child Led Play. It is too easy to hover over our children while they are playing. It is much better take a step back and et them use their imagination. When I was child minding, I sometimes laid out the tea set on a…
The question of how to help a child with number recognition came up recently on social media. These are my ideas. In my experience, most children start recognizing numbers by their age. Many youngsters are given birthday cards with their age on ( usually the number is large and brightly coloured) Some children walk around…
I am hearing of more and more parents complaining that their children are addicted to electronic devices such as tablets such as iPads, MobilePhones and games consoles and that the children get stroppy when told to switch them off. I had a similar problem when my eldest son became obsessed with his play station and although…
Thanks to Tina for the suggestion of an absent parent, a difficult subject; but one I have had a little experience of. My boys, were aged four and six years, when myself and their father split. I decided at the time that I was going to try to stay on good terms with my ex,…
Similar to learning about numbers and colours, the easiest way to teach our children about shapes in my opinion is to make it fun. Start by looking around your environment. Sitting in my living room, I can see several different shapes; square and rectangle picture frames, a round clock, rectangular windows and door frames, a…
The subject of encouraging your child to do No.2’s (poos) on the potty, has recently come to my attention, both in person and on social media. I did encounter, this problem, with my middle child, although his problem was of constipation; which in itself can be a vicious circle, it hurt him to go, so…
Managing their child’s behaviour can be one of the biggest challenges for many parents, after all; the “terrible two’s” do start at around 18 months and finish at 18 years, don’t they? The solution to this is simple – reward good behaviour and, wherever possible ignore the bad. The best example I can give of…
Another request from Sarah Knight, this time for fussy eaters. Thank you so much Sarah. My experience with my own children, as far as eating goes is that they usually eat most things, until around twelve months, when the picky eating starts. My eldest son would eat a varied diet until this age and then…
During my time as a childminder I was asked; on a few occasions (usually by first time parents) what were my feelings towards using a dummy. When I was in my early twenties and expecting my first baby I was under the mind set that no child of mine would ever be seen with a dummy in…
Personally, I have never experienced sibling jealousy with my own children. When I was pregnant with my second baby, I told my son who was almost two ,in language that he could understand. We looked at pictures of babies in magazines and borrowed library books etc. He came with me for some of my midwife…
Many people are of the impression that child minders just put their little ones in front of the television and leave them to get on with it. Hopefully, my account of a typical day for me when I was a child minder, will show that for most this is far from the truth. A typical,…
Cooking with children is an activity that I have done with both my own children, and the ones I used to child mind. You can simply let the children help with baking, my own children used to like to stand on a chair beside me so that they could reach the kitchen worktop and help…