Any Husband and Wife Childminding Teams out there?

[wellybelly]

The company my husband works at is having bad times, so I have therefore convinced my husband to register as a childminder, just incase the worst happens and so he has something good to fall back on. Hes applied for and booked onto the pre-reg course, is looking into dates for first aid courses and looking into it quite positively. We thought it better he became registered in his own right rather than assistant, then we could share the business, responsibilities and no one would have anything more than the other one.

I was wondering if anyone on the forum works with there huband (as 2 childminders together) and if so could they answer a few questions for me...

Do you have to have seperate policies or can we share them?

How are parents when you told them you were a husband and wife team?

Has there been any hurdles with ofsted as you work as a team?

Any comments would be greatly appriciated.

[angeldelight]

There are a few on here

I am sure they will come and reply soon

Hope things are ok with your hubbys work

Angel xx

[OrlandoBelle]

My husband to be and I are also thinking of getting him registered and working together so I will be interested to see if anyone else comes along to answer your questions.

I asked my Ofsted inspector last week what she thought and she said it would be great, but she recommended having a part tie job on the side to fall back on jus incase the worst happened and you lost all the chldren you look after and would be left with no income what so ever.

I don't think you would need separate policies if you are planning to work together as a team. You will be partners in the same business, so one set of policies will be fine as long as he agrees with them all of course.

My H2B booked onto his pre-reg which should've been on 1st June but the B*****ds he works for now wouldn't let him change his day off so he couldn't go. He's got to re-arrange it for september now :-(

[mum2two]

I work with my husband. He was registered as my assistant, whilst he was still working, but in the end decided to give up his job, and register completley.

We both register individually, and we have seperate certificates, which include out our children on each. So individually we can care for the same. Together, our children are only counted once, (as we are together so only one of us responsible.)

All of my parents were happy when hubby started with me. he had been around the kids anyway, so it wasn't like they didn't know him. He offers a different side of things to me, so it's quite nice for everyone.

We have one set of policies, they all just say 'we'. Permission forms etc allow say '...give permission for A or B to...'

We have to both have seperate public liability insurance, but I have been told when hubby's runs out this year I won't have to pay as much for his, as it can be added to mine as a family one or something. Will find out later too. Prob won't renew his NCMA membership either, as I have it, so silly paying for it twice. Contracts are in both our names...

The only issue we have is our own child is in the EYFS age group, so we are allowed 5 when working together, but only 2 when on our own. It has caused issues with playgroup/school pickups. It has finally been resolved, after nearly 3 months...

Most people cannot believe that we work together - at home!! We are around each other non stop. We get on brilliantly, and it works really well for us.

We are both inspected indivdually. Mine was May 2007, hubby's was Oct 2008, so it'll be about every 18 months we have ofsted round. I don't mind too much, as we have to stay on top of things.

Any other questions, please ask!

xx

[Amaranth]

Hi, me and hubby work together as registered childminders :)
We have worked together for 3 years now. He started off as my assistant and registered in his own right just over a year ago. It is much easier now he is self employed, as I don't have to bother with employees tax, payslips and NI any more (that was a real pain!) We have one set of policies that we share. I just went through all my policies when we knew we were going to be working together, and amended them to work with both of us (changed I to we and my to our etc...) OFSTED were fine with this and even did a joint inspection, which was better than them coming twice!!:laughing:
Parents have been fantastic and we have had nothing but good comments from them. We are always full, so it doesn't seem to have put anyone off.
We have a joint membership with NCMA (which is cheaper than two individual memberships) and our insurance is in joint names too.
We are insured with morton michel, so we can use our own contracts, record forms etc... I have designed these with both our details on so that there's no confusion for the parents as to who is looking after their child. On paper each child is assigned to one of us as their 'key worker' but in reality we both look after all the children equally.
If you want to know anything else just ask. :)

[TheBTeam]

Hi, yes i too work with my husband as a childminding team, he was my assistant for a while and registered in his own right just over a year ago, and sat the dhc unit 1, first aid and stuff. We both have ncma membership and liability insurance, the ncma membership is slightly cheape for him as he has a family member rate, mine is part of a group.

We have all paperwork joint, the contracts have both of our names written on and permissions etc are for both of us.

We have had a very positive reaction to a man being around, and the good thing is you immediately have back up care on hand, and the parents are getting two carers for the price of one.

I have to be tough with my dh to make him do his share, but we are getting there, he is often responsible for lunch, i do all of the paperwork, but i am happy (bit of a paper control freak, so would re do it anyway!!). I am handing control of risk assessments and safety checks over to him.

I sometimes go to groups without him, and sometimes we go together, it is dependant on our numbers, he will often stay behind to do the hoovering and washing and then i come home to lunch prepared.

As long as the work is evened so you are both happy it can work well, but obviously you have all of your income relying on having children!

[wellybelly]

Thank you all for your fantatsic comments, all very positive which is really encourgaing. Its early days with his job, but in the current economic crisis, a back up plan within child minding seems daft not to plan for. Hes very excited at the prospect of working with me and seeing more of our own kids. He already plays a big part with helping me around the house, brainstorming ideas and having patience for all the paperwork. But after a lengthy chat with a Early Years Development Officer this afternoon, I was so proud to see him looking all excited about this new venture. Bless him.

Thanks again for your comments x

[Amaranth]

Hi, yes i too work with my husband as a childminding team, he was my assistant for a while and registered in his own right just over a year ago, and sat the dhc unit 1, first aid and stuff. We both have ncma membership and liability insurance, the ncma membership is slightly cheape for him as he has a family member rate, mine is part of a group.

We have all paperwork joint, the contracts have both of our names written on and permissions etc are for both of us.

We have had a very positive reaction to a man being around, and the good thing is you immediately have back up care on hand, and the parents are getting two carers for the price of one.

I have to be tough with my dh to make him do his share, but we are getting there, he is often responsible for lunch, i do all of the paperwork, but i am happy (bit of a paper control freak, so would re do it anyway!!). I am handing control of risk assessments and safety checks over to him.

I sometimes go to groups without him, and sometimes we go together, it is dependant on our numbers, he will often stay behind to do the hoovering and washing and then i come home to lunch prepared.

As long as the work is evened so you are both happy it can work well, but obviously you have all of your income relying on having children!


That sounds just like Me!!:laughing: :laughing:
I would have to re do it too!

[wellybelly]

Just another question, do you have to complete 2 seperate SEF's? :panic: :panic: :panic:

[TheBTeam]

yes, we did, but tbh he cant type fast and has dyslexic traits, so i have typed both and the vast majority is the same. He does the job but wouldn't get involved with a forum like this.

It is useful doing the job with dh in that you can go to the loo at a reasonable and not break neck speed, my dh is a tea freak so i don't dehydrate like i often used too! And have the luxury of the time on the loo when i have drunk, which is why i used to not drink much!!!:laughing: :laughing:

I find it hard when we differ on the discipline side of things and occassionally the child in him means things are louder than if i were on my own, and sometimes there is more rough and tumble than there would be with me!

What is good is the time we can both spend with our own children, my cm friends find it useful and like him coming out and about with us, all of the cms children love him, and you often get comments from the other new parents about who is K, as the kids go home and talk so much about him and that he is their friend etc. This does all of our reputations the world of good.

I admire any man who is prepared to enter this job and embrace it, my husband (although he moans about some of the kids etc) really appreciates being around in the nice weather, out and about, not stuck in a factory somewhere, and at least childish behaviour is coming from a child and not a childish boss!!!:laughing:

[wellybelly]

Ive just got my hubby to read your posts and he is still quite upbeat. (The weather bit was great, never thought to tell him that bit) Im also hoping to take him to my next childminding group where there are 4 male childminders for him to meet (and hopefully chat too), I think theres a bit of me wanting to protect him as I remember how isolated I felt till I started to mingle.

Thanks again x

[TheBTeam]

Wow 4 men in a childminding group, we don't have any other men! I was the least likely one for it to be my dh too, we can't stand the sight of each other but by some minor miracle still work together!:panic: :eek: :laughing
The times we really appreciate what we do are walking back from the school run, enjoying the nice weather, ad hoc trips to the water park/woods, playing in the sun in the garden, not rushing out to work, and getting our children off to someone else. The times when one of our children is doing something like a school football tournament and we can both go and take the mindees to watch our child, we don't need to take time off work or miss out.

The worst bits are having all your eggs in one basket, we recently lost around 75% of our income and that is a bit scary not having a settled wage coming in, and no enquiries!

[wellybelly]

I understand there are fors and againsts, especially when being self employed. But the fors surly outweigh the againsts when it comes to family life and all you've mentioned above. Id go stack shelves at tesco at nights or weekends (which i used to do) if things got really bad. I think the message here is that we're not sitting on our bottoms waiting for something to happen, we're planning ahead.

[TheBTeam]

I understand there are fors and againsts, especially when being self employed. But the fors surly outweigh the againsts when it comes to family life and all you've mentioned above. Id go stack shelves at tesco at nights or weekends (which i used to do) if things got really bad. I think the message here is that we're not sitting on our bottoms waiting for something to happen, we're planning ahead.

Definitely, which is why i admire men like yours and mine, my cm friends husband has been out of work for over a year now, and i can not for the life of me see why they wont at least consider cm for him, i think being proactive is much better and we wouldn't go back! The life we have now although we have less money is far nicer for us as a family.

I hope you don't think i was trying to put you off, my message was meant to be that the positives outweigh any negatives 10 fold! I would do any job to protect my family and am a bit more versatile than my husband, but we have managed.

I say go for it and enjoy, if i can do it with my dh then anyone can, we have been married for 23 years (got married young) on 21st June, and i could have murdered him 1000 times over, but we are still together and in some ways this has helped not hindered our life together! ( Blimey theres a statement i never thought i would hear myself type:eek: :eek: )

[Amaranth]

I'd certainly agree with that. The positives definately outweigh the negatives. No sitting in rush hour traffic, walking to and from school without having to rush, and we both love being able to take our dd to school and be there for special assemblies, plays etc...
We're not making quite as much money as we were before but our quality of life is better. :)

[sarah707]

I work with my partner.

We are still registered for 6 as we didn't want to mess about having to apply for planning permission to up the numbers.

He is registered for the childcare register only as they wouldn't register him for the little ones.

I am admin... he is chef and footballer / fun in the garden guy. It works really well.

Parents were great about it and the children like having him around. So far no problems on that one.

We have separate paperwork and 2 Sefs... :D

[mum2two]

Like the others said, hubby loves it, especially this weather where we can go out most of the day. He loves the fact he's getting paid to play football with the kids, go to the park, legoland, build things... He's not overly keen on the colder winter months, when the kids are indoors more, making mess indoors. He is a bit of a tidy freak, and sometimes I can see him really not enjoying watching the kids paint, and get glitter, pasta etc all over the floor...

We got to the woods & build camps, walk across 'tree bridges', climb trees etc, loads of things that I wouldn't be confident or strong enough to do on my own!

The kids love him - as he is more rough & tumble, especially now I'm pregnant, so can't really have them bundling me...!

Like others have said, the parents like it too, as we cover for each other, If one is ill, the other is there. Being pregnant though, and all our money being in childminding, we can't afford not to be working. So we are only having 2 weeks off when the baby is born. We we be working right up til I go into hospital really.... :eek: But again, 2 of us, I will get breaks & rests, and think it will all be ok...

Yes, the positives do far outweigh the negatives, but I think you do have to think about them & consider them!

[Playmate]

Hubby and I are both registered. We have joint policies contracts etc.
So far Ofsted have always done our inspections on the same day but we receive different reports. The Parents we have think it is huge positive us working together and so do we :D
My hubby is an ex Business Manager so he likes paper work! I donot!
We have completed our SEF's seperately but alot of it is copy and pasted.
Good luck :clapping:

[wellybelly]

I was looking at my SEF last night and I had a go at trying to copy and paste and for some reason it wont let me. Im thinking it must be something to do with my computer.

[sarah707]

I was looking at my SEF last night and I had a go at trying to copy and paste and for some reason it wont let me. Im thinking it must be something to do with my computer.

Copy using control and c on your keyboard... paste using control and v! :D