First day on Monday! Eeeek!

[NinkyNonk]

I'm newly registered and am starting on Monday - scary! I'll have a 1 & 3 year old (siblings) from 7am - 3pm, and will have my children at home too (9 and 12). No idea what to do! Depends on weather as to whether we can go to the local park. Have no idea what they want to do as yet, but when they came round to meet me they were very chaotic and getting EVERYTHING out, wanting to go in every room etc. I've been asked for no TV - not that I'd sit them in front of it all day anyway. Any ideas?

[gwm]

Hi Julie. Congratulations on becoming a registered childminder. Don't panic.....go with the flow. It's all about getting to know the children and developing a relationship with them. Choose some age appropriate toys and leave them out....squeezy, shakey toys, duplo, wooden bricks, play food etc etc. See how they react. Between mealtimes and nap times and maybe a little trip to the park their six hours with you will fly. Have fun.

[NinkyNonk]

Thank you. Do I need to limit what toys they get out? Obviously, as when they came round before, they just want to see everything at once. I have units with toy boxes and they are all accessible.

[Mouse]

I would limit the amount of toys you have out. You'll find that the more stuff you have accessible to them, the more they will just tip out & leave. It's been shown that if you give a smaller selection, they are much more likely to concentrate and play.

Don't feel that they have to have access to everything just because they want to. Set some boundaries from day one and you'll find it much easier. It is important that children to have free access to resources, but that doesn't mean they have to have free access to everything. It means they have to be able to independently access the resources that you chose to set out.

I wouldn't let them go in every room either if you don't want them to. I'm sure you will give them plenty of room to roam, but again, you don't have to let them take over your house!

Good luck for Monday. Try to be relaxed, go with the flow and enjoy yourself :thumbsup:

[NinkyNonk]

Thank you Mouse...I think I'm worried about saying 'no' all day as I know they will just be wandering around doing whatever they want. I've met them twice but not had any settling in (the parents didn't want it) so they don't know me very well. Their time has been changed to 8am so they'll be here any minute...HERE GOES!

[Vikki5531]

I'm newly registered and am starting on Monday - scary! I'll have a 1 & 3 year old (siblings) from 7am - 3pm, and will have my children at home too (9 and 12). No idea what to do! Depends on weather as to whether we can go to the local park. Have no idea what they want to do as yet, but when they came round to meet me they were very chaotic and getting EVERYTHING out, wanting to go in every room etc. I've been asked for no TV - not that I'd sit them in front of it all day anyway. Any ideas?

Good luck on your first day! Let us know how it goes :) xx

[Mouse]

Thank you Mouse...I think I'm worried about saying 'no' all day as I know they will just be wandering around doing whatever they want. I've met them twice but not had any settling in (the parents didn't want it) so they don't know me very well. Their time has been changed to 8am so they'll be here any minute...HERE GOES!

Good luck! I hope it's going well for you.

You might find yourself saying "no" an awful lot initially, but once they're used to your rules you won't need to say it nearly so often :thumbsup:

You'll also soon come up with all sorts of way to say "no" - let's not do that, let's not go in there, let's leave those toys in that box until we've put some others away ;)

[gwm]

It's been 3.5 hours! Can you see your floor??? Hope you are all having fun :cool:

[NinkyNonk]

Phew finally just found the floor! Goodness that was a full on day! They were really good in fairness, just wanted to see/do everything as quick as possible. I kind of let them have free play pretty much. They drew on some A4 which I'm going to laminate to use as placemats, and we talked about caterpillars/butterflies as I've got some from Insect Lore, so we can see them grow.

Sounds like we really didn't do anything but were busy busy busy!

Thanks for your help everyone, I think I'd wound myself up about the first day and having no idea how to entertain them!

[gwm]

Sounds like you all had a lovely time. Remember....Every day you make a memory for a child! I heard that once at an NCMA Conference....in the olden days :cool: