First day of minding!!!

[Jo1988]

Hi guys, I'm 3 and a half hours into my first day of minding!!!!!!!! and it's nap time!

I have a few questions.....

I am minding an 11 month old boy just on Tuesdays, my sons are 4 in April and 15 months. My eldest is at nursery today so I am at home with the littlies.......they have spent the morning playing with building blocks, baby walkers and looking through books.....I have pretty much been watching them and making sure they are safe and just encouraging them to explore things. Also, I have been making notes for starting points for mindee....and just making him feel welcome with cuddles etc.......Think I'm just looking for some reassurance that what I am doing is ok/enough? Sometimes with the littlies I think it can feel like your not doing much at all/or enough??

Also, I have set up a travel cot in the living room and drawn the curtains to make it cosy for mindee whilst my son is upstairs in his cot for naptime.....but mum usually has him nap in front of cbeebies in car seat at home....he wouldn't go down in the travel cot at all...(suppose he's not used to it and I doubt he will get used to it as he is only here 1 day a week).......what would Ofsted say about this????????

Later we are doing red handprints and making cards for mummy and daddy for valentines day and having pancakes, fruit and chocolate drizzle......yummmm x

[Maza]

Sounds like you are doing everything perfectly! The best thing to do with a new mindee is to let them explore and find out about their new surroundings whilst you get to know each other. Keep it simple. Just persevere with the travel cot for now. Much better for his posture and great for teaching him to go to sleep on his own. x

[Shamai]

It is difficult when you only have them for one day per week but sounds like you're doing everything brilliantly. My mindee didn't get on with travel cot upstairs so I used pushchair downstairs which let him lie completely flat and now he crashes out on the sofa for a nap with furry cushion and throw which he gets himself! As your mindee is new he probably wants to be near you so travel cot downstairs is a great idea. Enjoy your pancakes :thumbsup: x

[Ruthlyn]

:::laughing: Hi to all my mindees out there. My name is Ruthlyn I am on the waiting list for OFSTED registration. I am posing this question how long after paying the fees, doing your medical and CRB checks that Ofsted come to your home to inspect the safety of your home? If you have parents in waiting is it possible to care for their children before the inspection or not? Is this possible or do I have to wait? I have children of my own but how difficult it is looking after someone else child for the first time? Please can anyone enlighten me with some advice. I think my home is safe I put in place the gate, smoke alarms both battery and electric, plug holes socket, Radiator covers and first aid kit. the windows are high up children would find difficult to reach and the front door has door chains which I put in place each time the door is closed.

Thank you

[sarah707]

I hope you had a good day! :clapping:

I wouldn't put a child down to sleep in a car seat - it's not safe their heads are in the wrong positions and it can cause breathing problems.

How about a lie flat buggy with some background noise? Mine like watching the fish tank bubbles :D