What exactly does childminding mean??

[mummy_bear]

Hi, I'm a new childminder and I'm really embarrassed to have to ask this but its bugging me so here goes!
Is being a childminder involving your minded children with your everyday family life? like can a friend and her child come round for a cup of tea? and can I go to a friends house with my child and the minded children?

My instructor said as an example, you can do your food shopping at tescos but you have to involve the children, like make them a shopping list so they can help you. but I am looking after a 15 month old so wouldn't be able to do something like that, I suppose she would still be learning about the world around her from her seat in the shopping trolley, but I know its not the most stimulating of activities for a 15 month old.

Obviously most of my time will be spent playing and doing planned activities with the children, as well as visiting play groups etc but where do I lie when it comes to my family life? I hope I've made this clear enough, I feel like I'm rambling now!

Any advice anyone has would be very much appreciated! thanks xx

[HelenHale]

Hi Mummy Bear, you can run your business exactly as you wish as long as you are providing learning opportunities for the children within this. I think it is fine for a friend to bring her child over for a playdate as the minded child would be gaining valuable social skills from this (obviously you wouldn't/shouldn't be ignoring what the children are doing while you chat and drink tea). Similarly if you want to visit a friend you just need to ensure that you risk assess the friend's premises and do not leave your mindee unsupervised with someone who is unvetted (no matter how well you know them). Supermarkets can provide some fantastic learning opportunities as long as you talk to your mindee about what you are doing as you shop. I have always treated my minded children as an extension of my own family and done the same things that I would do with my children and grandchildren.

[dette]

i often take my mindees shopping but i wouldnt do my big weekly shop ,i tidy up and sometimes hoover if i have . i make sure that i involve the mindees in everything i do,my general rule is ,are they gaining from this experience ,if not then i dont do it while they are here.mindees love pegging out clothes ,sorting pairs of socks etc but they wouldnt gain anything from watching me iron

[mrs robbie williams]

i also take mindees shopping but not my weekly shop, i dont even take my kids weekly shopping :laughing: yes they can learn by things like choosing the fruit ie shall we get apples or bananas, get the bag and ask them to put the number of apples of whatever in the bag. My mindee who is 2 and a bit LOVES going to tesco lol, when we drive past she gets all excited and gets the hump if we dont get in :rolleyes:

family life, mindees fit around it, if i have an appointment or one of my children does mindee's come with us (with parent approval) i take mine to school concerts, sports day etc - we go and visit my mum sometimes for a cuppa she loves to see the lo's, infact when mum was in hospital with pnuemomania (sp) last year for about 8 weeks i took mindee everyday to visit (with parental approval) she used to love it :thumbsup:

[mazza58]

I take my mindee's shopping and sometimes I give them pictures of the items we are going for and let them find them on the shelves etc and pay at the till which they all love and I feel this helps with their learning too. We have my friends visit and we visit them on a regular basis which I feel helps them to socialize with others

[toddlers896]

When ive just got one we go into town for a coffee. She loves it. We meet up with a friend on a weekly basis at a soft play centre and we also visit each other at our houses. Children learn from everyday activities and I have permission from all the parents to take them shopping etc. Its a very lonely job and to be honest you need to be able to socialise with your family and friends. Ime also a home from home childminder so what they do at home they do with me.

[Rick]

Yes you can to a certain degree carry on as normal but as mentioned, I wouldn't take them on my weekly shop, it would just be a task. So long as you are providing activities that promote learning, you can also do other things. Some people have taken their mindees to the dentist (I wouldn't do it personally!)

Why not get the kids to help put the washing out, good life lesson! :thumbsup:

[migimoo]

I make it clear to parents at the first interview that we WILL be doing things like popping to the shops/doctors/school plays/gardening etc and explain that it's all supporting LO's understanding of the world and social skills but save big shop/ironing and so on for weekends, no-one's ever had a problem with this so far.

One of my LO's came to me after mum removed her from her old CM in disgust......LO told mummy that her and the other LO's had been scrubbing the kitchen floor all afternoon:blush:

[RachaelStevens]

One of my LO's came to me after mum removed her from her old CM in disgust......LO told mummy that her and the other LO's had been scrubbing the kitchen floor all afternoon:blush:

Laughing when I wash my walls my own children 3 and 4. Always want to help out and wash them too.