just a bit of pocket money!

[Memina]

Oh fellow childminders not sure if this is due to my pregnancy but I'm so annoyed!

One of the parents of a little girl I've cared for for over 2 years are expecting baby no 2 in the summet like me. Mum and I where chatting and she mentioned she wants to register as a childminder. 'Because she'll need the extra pocket money'

I found myself biting my tongue and calmly explaining that its not as easy as it may seem and that actually I'm a professional childcarer and this is my lively hood not extra pocket money!

What planet are these people on?!?!?!?!

[Kiddleywinks]

Direct her to the following website pages, advise her to download and read through them thoroughly, and then if she's still interested, you'll give her the number she needs to call to get the ball rolling, all said with a helpful smile and a bit tongue

https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/AllPublications/Page1/DFE-00023-2012

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) - Welcome (http://www.education.gov.uk/school/teachingandlearning/curriculum/a0068102/early-years-foundation-stage-eyfs)

https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/publicationDetail/Page1/DEVELOPMENT-MATTERS

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/registration-forms-and-guides/r/Records%2C%20policies%20and%20notification%20requi rements%20of%20the%20Early%20Years%20Register.doc

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/registration-forms-and-guides/r/Requirements%20for%20the%20Childcare%20Register%20 childminders%20and%20home%20childcarers.doc

Pocket money indeed! Pfft! I wish! :laughing:

[phoenix2010]

I very much doubt she will get past the first hurdle of thinking about it to be honest

especially if thats her attitude

if shes looking for a bit of pocket money then she should be looking at doing Avon or stuffing envelopes

honestly , people really have no clue

[The Juggler]

ooh I'd have bitten my tongue off. Even those minders I know who work very part time (their hubbies have a really good salary) do it to pay for extras for the family - but they totally appreciate how much hard work it is :panic:

[vickylou]

This sums up what me and other childminder friends have thought for ages, that a lot of parents think we do this as a bit of pocket money. That we don't rely on their money!! And this is why they think its Ok to pay late, or not at all!! Gets me so mad!!

[MessybutHappy]

Sadly I feel like I earn only a smidge more than pocket money! Still, it can only get better!

[Nicola Carlyle]

It's a lot of hard work for not a lot of money sadly and we have all chosen this as a career for our own personal reasons. Some people really get my goat up. It has been suggested to me that I'm expected not to continue with childminding once my little girls goes to school in 2 and a half years time and that I can put my feet up!!!!!!!

I didn't choose childminding as a short term job. I have spent a lot of time, effort and money investing in my new job for me to walk away from it as I'm sure all if you have to.

It really does surprise me just what people think our job entails!!!! Walk a month in our shoes and I bet they decide its not for them.

[Littleglees]

Pocket money :-( it is hard work I remember at my pre reg meeting that the leaders said a lot of the women/men in a group wouldn't be seen again and it was very true !

Sare x

Sarah

[thills]

It's not just parents though, I worked at a playgroup before having a massive fall out with my boss and that being the deciding factor in me starting childminding (was already aeriously considering it for family reasons) one of her comments, before we fell out was that childminding would be a waste of my level 3! So far I've been open 8 weeks, and I feel I have used my training a lot more here, and that I offer a better care than I was allowed to there!

[Helen Dempster]

Encourage her as much as you can, and then watch and feel all smug when the realization finally dawns on her.... :) It'll come LOL x

[hectors house]

Tell her how much it costs to do basic course, that she could pay up to £100 for her dr to sign health declaration, that she will have to pay £100 to do first aid course, £50 for food hygiene course, £40-50 for safeguarding course before she starts earning any money - she may well decide to keep her mouth and her purse shut in future!

[Memina]

Well I'll be on maternity leave so will enjoy watching! Might send her my two that'll definitely put her off!!!!

She said 'I dont see you doing this forever!' Well thats right I replied because as I get all my qualifications and complete my degree I'd like to go in and specialise is play therapy or even child psychology. Then I'll have a proper job!

[SammySplodger]

There are often many reasons for a person's choice of job/career. The reasons behind that choice are often not as simple as it may first appear. In my case, good quality Childminders are very hard to find locally and I live in an affluent town. So it is a sensible choice of self-employed work in a tough economic climate. There are other jobs I could be doing right now, but I do this because I like the company of children (more than adults!) and it allows me to be around for my own two children. If I was doing the job I was trained to do, I would be leaving the house at 6.30 each morning and working many evenings and.... employing someone just like ME!

I don't think it is fair to judge what is, or isn't, a 'proper job', they all have their value and we all have our own reasons for doing what we do.

[littlemiss60561]

My daughter does the washing up etc for pocket money.... She has more than I do at the end of the week! So what am I doing wrong???!
A parent I know said they may consider doing it as its no different to what they do at home already with their 4 year old...." I'm always playing games and stuff"
I invited her round lol

[Little Puddings]

I was asked by a friend not long after I finished my degree of I was going to get a proper job... so when they visited us later that year (from Sweden) I made sure I didn't change the children's display until after their stay just to make a point. I have signs up in the downstairs loo about washing hands, flushing etc and I heard her say to her husband, they don't have any of this at nursery or school at home... she hasn't asked again if I was to get a proper job...
It annoys me when our very important job is not being recognised as a 'proper' job.

S

[mama2three]

Some parents do speak before thinking though , and dont automatiucally undervalue what we do. others do of course , but sometimes we sre a little oversensitive arent we?

Take sammysplodgers post as an example - she says she would '' employ someone''. Now we all know that parents dont employ us , it really gets my back up that some think they do!!
But sometimes we all just say things without really meaning it in the way we think they do.
( sorry sammy , hope you dont mind me using the example)

[samb]

Maybe she didn't actually mean that she sees it as pocket money for you but that's what it would be to her? I know a few minders whose husbands have high paid jobs and they pay all the bills and any money earnt from minding is extra - I don't think she meant anything about it being easy or not a job etc just that maybe she will need to earn some money but doesn't want to work full time and leave her little ones behind?

[skatie]

I'd tell her to go for it! She'd soon realise its a lot of hard work, mentally and physically draining and that the 'pocket money' soon disappears! Lol! Don't take her words to heart, she has no idea what the job involves.

[pipandbaz]

Well we had 10 in our group and only 2 of us became registered and that's in wales so a lot less paperwork than our fellow England based childminders!

[kel1983]

Wow. Pocket money. I would sit back and see how far she gets.

My parents know its not an easy job. For starters we usually have our max 6 lo's a day plus 3 school aged children. They are all with us at least 3 days a week or more and their childcare bill is a over couple of hundred. Surely they can calculate how much we are roughly earning. Definitely not just pocket money This is a lively hood. It pays our bills.

[Koala]

Ha Ha Ha :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:Pocket money, I wish it was, I might get a decent rate!!

Oh dear there are so many unintelligent folk out there with some very strange ideas about childminding.

One of my bizarre parents (who has since been asked to leave) actually said "well you get your gas and electricity free don't you" after I challenged her about a flippant comment she made about paying me. She was honestly a nutter. :p There is a lot out there that think because you have the premises anyway and you are at home anyway, why would you want paying? They would love to stay at home and 'not work'!! I think next time I will encourage them to become a childminder and smugly grin knowing they will never make it, the amount of sick time they take of their jobs as it is they'll never get any money being self employed. :D

[pipandbaz]

That's a classic....wish I could stay at home and not work....how daft are they!

[Koala]

That's a classic....wish I could stay at home and not work....how daft are they!

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: off their rocker :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

[SammySplodger]

mama2three - Well pointed out!
Ha! Yer got me!
Most of my parents have 'employed me'
;-/

[phoenix2010]

Some parents do realise how hard we work , got some feedback forms returned yesterday and one mum commented "thankyou for all the hard work you do " and another commented that "her child has come on in leaps and bounds since being with me rather than in the nursery she was at previously"

I dont think it is a coincidence that these 2 mums both work with children , so i think this gives them a different perspective on what we do

Oh and by the way Im not bragging , as the majority of my parents still see me as a glorified babysitter and were a little surprised when I recently sent home their childrens assessments and 2 year checks , I knew more about their children than they did. Ha !

[migimoo]

aaaaaaargh...my brain is hurting I have so much I could put on here!!:angry:

I've had people saying the same thing to me which annoys soooo much.
I've had "ooh,it must be great to be able to keep on top of your housework,etc now u're home all day"....no-my house looks like Beirut by 9am!

A parent was shocked the other day when we were talking about schools and she heard that I went to a private school on a scholarship "wow,you must be really clever then....don't you get bored doing this all day?":eek:
........erm,no as I CHOSE this as a job and I love it-I don't do it to 'fit' around my kids as they're 9 and 13,I left a secure nursery job for the insecurity of self employment,the money's pants most of the time and our days are full of poo and snot but i've never been happier and I happen to think i'm great at my job as you NEED to have a brain to do this job thanks!!:clapping: