Childminder
Do you want a rewarding career? Would you like to work from home? Enjoy spending time with children? Yes? Then read on because Childminding is the career for you.
Whether a child needs stimulating care, education, feeding or help with social and emotional needs, a childminder is there for children when parents need to go to work full time.
Childminders are there to provide a safe, secure environment and to encourage learning and development through a range of activities.
The demand for childminding has increased rapidly in recent years. Many parents find that they need to work full time to provide for their children. As such, they require additional help to look after them when they are not there.
Normally, childminders are responsible for taking care of other peoples children for more than 2 hours at a time. You will use your own home as a venue to look after them.
You have the freedom to choose the hours you work to fit in with your own needs or with the parents of the children you look after. Many childminders work between 8am and 6pm. However, you may decide to offer other hours of service and provide care during the weekend and overnight.
Typically, a childminder will look after children from 5 months old up to 5 years. They can look after children up to the age of 8 as long as this has no adverse effects on the learning of the younger children.
You will need Confidence when dealing with young children and good communication skills will also be effective. This will help when talking to the parents and understanding their needs for their children and projecting to them an energetic and friendly personality.
To be a successful childminder you will be to be extremely well organised and motivated. Stamina and energy also play a large part to attend to their needs and to keep their attention.
Working as a childminder you will have good organisational and administrative skills to keep up to date with the records of the children for which you care. An awareness of health and safety as well as hygiene is also essential.
Start up costs
Childminding is a home based business so you there is no need to look for other premises. However, you may need to make modifications to your home. This could be provisions for lockable storage for medicines and cleaning equipment, additional fencing, etc. Also, any modifications to your home if you are looking after children with disabilities.
Any person wishing to care for children under 8 for more than 2 hours a day must register with Ofsted. They are responsible for registering and inspecting childminders.
Although children bring their own toys you should supply a range of equipment to keep them entertained. These might include Rattles and mobiles for babies. A playhouse, swing set, cots and pushchairs for dolls for older children. Under the Children Act 1989 children should have access to multicultural toys and it is a good idea to have a selection of these.
You will of course need a PC (with up to date virus and security software), a telephone and answer machine.
Public liability insurance is also a must and premiums can be as little as £35 for up to £5 million worth of cover.
Legislation to note is the Children Act 1989, Care Standards Act 2000, Day Care and Childminding Regulations 2003, Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001, Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995, Childminding and Day Care (Wales) Regulations 2002.
What can I earn?
Your income solely depends on the amount of children that you care for and the amount of hours you work. Working full time, childminders can expect to earn anything between £12k to £18k a year but it is possible to earn more.
Get going and become a childminder today.
Some useful web resources are:
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk
http://www.ncma.org.uk
