Maternity question

[AmyWatty]

Hi,

I attended my pre reg meeting last week and have been going through my tick list of booking courses and training etc.

This was a quick post to see what people have done when they fell pregnant. I want to become a childminder ASAP really but am looking to have another baby not too far away into the future. Do you give notice to your mindees and start all over again when you're off maternity or do you try and keep them on but in an alternative setting temporarily?

Any tips or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

[TabbyTuTu]

I'm also pre-reg and don't know for certain, sorry. I also plan on having another baby in a few years though, I think it will probably have to be a case of giving notice and starting again. Of course, I have heard of childminders only taking a few weeks off maternity so not needing to give notice. I do think this would be quite hard work though as newborns are so demanding. I would probably go back part time when baby is four-six months if it was me, obviously in an ideal world it would be 9-12 months but maternity pay is bound to be ridiculous.

[moggy]

Either is possible...

I took on a boy while his CM was on maternity leave- it was a planned C-section and she took 6 weeks off. I was new to CMing so was happy to take him on just for 6 weeks as I had no other mindees then.

Sometimes it is just a coincidence that you go on leave when mindee(s) start school or move onto nursery or move on for some reason. Some families may prefer to start again elsewhere, but then families come and go anyway so losing mindees and filling spaces is just part of the job.

It is hard to predict and there are lots of ways around it, so I would not worry about it yet.