What are the chances of me finding mindees?

[Buggles2015]

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum. I would love to be a childminder but I don't know, given my circumstances, if I would ever find any mindees. My circusmtances are as follows:

Living in a one bedroom flat with no garden but plenty of parks etc and I would take the children out daily. It is a housing association flat.

I don't drive (is it ok to take mindees on a bus or in a taxi?)

What are my chances?

[Jiorjiina]

How big is the rest of your flat? If it's really small, you may have problems with fitting children in as there are legal requirements about the amount of space available per child (http://www.childmindinghelp.co.uk/becomingachildminder.html). Otherwise, living in a flat is fine, I know other childminders who don't have a garden (not everyone is that lucky, particularly in cities!) and as long as they make sure to get out to a park to play or for at least a walk pretty much every day then it's not a problem.

Taking mindees on a bus or train is absolutely fine, in a taxi and they would require car seats. I don't drive either, so the vast majority of the time we use public transport or walk to get around, and no one has ever had a problem with this.

Have you checked with the housing association if you are allowed to use the flat for childminding? It might be a good idea to check just to make sure. If they say you can't then obviously you can't.

[lisbet]

Great advice from Jiorjiina.

I rent a HA house. I emailed to ask permission and they said fine, just asked me to send a letter to inform them when I actually started. (Some landlords are dubious because about it because if they don't understand that childminding does not make your house like a business premises in the same way as other businesses.)

I have a garden, but it is tiny, so to stretch their legs we go to the local playgrounds/ green spaces a lot. As long
as you can explain to Ofsted how you will give the children fresh air and exercise, it will be fine :)

I don't drive. I include this info on my website and mention what local children's facilities we have within easy reach. So, parent know the score before they visit, and none has ever mentioned it as a problem. I have a 'permissions form' that parents sign along with the contract and this lists the places I might take the children to and states that I may travel by foot, bus, train or, in exceptional circumstances a taxi.

[k1rstie]

Outstanding advise given already. I think the best bit is to ask your landlord about the possibility of childminding from your premises. Maybe speak to other childminders locally who live in a similar style of property and enquire how many children they are allowed. Use this information when you contact your landlord, so you will be able to explain that you will not be having 15 kids in the flat but X.

Seek permission before you start forking out money, as registering can use be costly especially if you are not allowed at the end.

[hectors house]

A childminding friend of mine lives in a small house with no garden and she doesn't drive - she luckily lives 5 mins walk from a big park, she takes the children out to the park every morning (regardless of weather) and makes sure that she also goes to town library, toy library play sessions.

[bunyip]

I don't drive. We live in a village and make extensive use of the opportunity to walk everywhere locally. We can access the nearby towns/city by bus when needed. It just needs some thought: ie. we never rely on catching a particular time of bus in case the buggy zone is already full.

So it can be a bit limiting, but I've found I can work around it and make it a positive thing.

It will put some families off, but I find there are just as many who think it is great.

A word of caution. Many parents will say how great it is that you walk everywhere because they love their child to get fresh air and exercise. SOme of these will be genuine, 'out and about in the open air' families. BUT look out for the others, because they want you to give the children all the exercise they never get. This is not impossible, but it is a challenge. They drive everywhere, and their idea of a "long walk" is the distance from the family parking bay to the door of the superstore. So the children have zero road-sense and will moan constantly how mean you are to make them walk millions of miles. The school-aged ones of this variety will mean allowing a lot of extra time to crawl to school each day.

All that said, CMing is meant to be a challenge, and it can be quite rewarding to succeed and just maybe give them enough exercise to ensure they don't succumb to a coronary before they finish school. :thumbsup: