As an experienced child minder I often used to child mind for social services, which is now known as community child minding. This initially meant attending a 2 day training course ( where I met another child minder who 20 years on is still one of my closest friends). This training consisted of listening to…
Category: Child Minding
As a mother of 4 boys ( 3 of my own and a step-son) and that the majority of the children I looked after while I was working as a registered child minder were boys, I have quite a lot of experience in keeping them amused. In my opinion, boys will be boys, so you…
This is a request from Julie Tallin, thanks Julie, for tips on how to divide your time and attention between several children. In my experience, trying to juggle several children at once is easy, if managed correctly. I used to try to include everyone together, so nobody feels left out. I can recall my youngest…
I was sent this book by ichild. It is just the sort of activity book that I would have found really helpful when I was working as a registered child minder as many of the activities relate to the early years foundation stage (E.Y.F.S.) which are personal, social and emotional development, literacy, maths and understanding…
I love to get out and about whenever possible and liked to do outdoor activities, with my child minded children, when the weather would allow. One bright Autumn day I decided to take them on an outing to the woods, I had to drive us there, as it was approximately 8 miles from my home….
There are many advantages why a parent, mother or father should join a toddler group,( traditionally known as mother and toddler groups.) with their child. Firstly it is a fantastic opportunity to meet other parents in similar situations as yourself. A well run group will benefit your child as it will help to teach them…
Harry started at Little Treasures quality child minding, when he was 2 years of age. I had previously cared for his older brother, Kelvin, until he left me to start school. Harry had initially been with another child minder, as I didn’t have a space for him, at the time ( there are very strict…
This weeks post goes back to when I was working as a registered child minder and took a group of minded children on a visit to the local garden centre. We walked along a safe foot path and on arrival we looked around at the plants and pet accessories they were selling, before visiting…
When I was working as a registered child minder I had a few parents who came to see me to enquire about my child minding service, but were unsure or worried about using me instead of grand parents.. One such person was Heidi who said that her mum Lydia was keen to look after her…
Susan, who has been a child minder for just over a year got in touch and asked if I could offer some advice on transition documents. There are many documents available to buy or download on the market, but I used to make my own using the computer. Basically they need to include the child’s…
Once when I was a child minder and went to collect my youngest son from school, while I was waiting for him to come out of the classroom the head mistress came over to speak to me, ” Mrs. Dennis,” she said, “I need to apologise, as I have done something terrible today.” My first…
Regular readers will be well aware that I worked as a registered child minder for 14 very happy years. years, I proudly managed to achieve an outstanding grade from Ofsted at my last inspection. Sandra has asked for some tips to enable her to get a similar result. I displayed some disability posters in my…
Samantha has asked me for some tips to make food shopping with her children a bit easier. Food shopping at the supermarket can be quite stressful if you have young children with you. When my 2 sons had to accompany me every week to the supermarket, my youngest who was almost 2 years old would…
As a child minder you may well find yourself with a variety of children of different ages to look after. Unlike many nursery settings, who usually have the under 1’s in a separate baby room; a child minder will look after all ages together. I tried my best to include all the children in all…
I think it is a good idea to make your health visitor aware that you are a registered childminder; this will be the first port of call for many new mothers intending to return to work. Another good way of advertising is to be seen out and about. Go to local toddler group sessions…
Anyone caring for a child under the age of 8 years who is not related to them and for any kind of reward, must become registered by Ofsted Early Years. Many people will think that by becoming a child minder their own children will suffer, however because child minders are self employed they can…
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…
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…
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,…