Is it worth it?

[fun house]

Hi i had a visit from a lady and her 13 month old daughter this morning. Everything went really well and she is going to phone me after speaking to my references. Her daughter was lovely and got on well with my children which was great. The problem is she only wants a couple of hours a week and for her to be here when a child of similar age is here. I have said i can do Mondays 9.00- 2.30 as i will not have space in the car to do school runs. She was fine with it but i feel she only wants about 3 hours as she said over 5 hours was to long to leave her. How much would you charge for this? At normal rate of £3.50 a hour it would mean £10.50 and i am thinking is it worth doing it, or can i charge more for this situation?
Also is there a certain amount of hours a child has to be with you to do EYFS?

[mum2two]

There is no minimum number of hours for EYFS. If a child with you falls in this catergory, you must follow EYFS.

I would say you charge a minimum of 5 hours per day, or x hours per week, so at least you're getting something worthwhile out of it.

I hate enquiries like this. They take up a full day space, for peanuts.

x

[sarah707]

I would say if it fits in with what you are doing then take it... otherwise no.

It's a full day's space for a few hours and the child will be hard to settle if it's such a short time.

Hth :D

[Twinkles]

If you really want to do it I'd charge a higher rate. Having said that I agree with Sarah it will be difficult to settle someone of this age on just those hours.

[uf353432]

I would say its definitely worth it.

I have 1 child who is with me 3 hours per week and another 2 hours per week. Both mums have asked for the hours so they can have a few hours to themselves to either spend on themselves or spend time on the house, or with an older sibling. The fabulous thing is that they are flexible - the hours they do right now are the odd hours I don't mind.

For example on Wednesday I look after a child 8.30 - 1.30 - so one of these children fits in to the 2-5 slot. On Friday again I work 8.30 - 1.30 and the other child takes 1.30-3.30 slot. However I know that if I loose the child I have on Wed and Fridays - my Wed pm child - would if I needed to offer a full day wed to someone else move to friday morning, and likewise my friday afternoon child could move to wednesday morning.

I never see it as only £10.50 a day, I see it as £40 odd a month in addition to the other income. Plus its only a few hours now - but in the future these hours could very well be increased to a full day or after school care or holiday care etc.

I also quite like a couple of hours with one or 2 children. Its a nice break to the rest of the day, fresh blood, change of tempo, and a different way of playing.

If it works for you, and you have the hours then i'd go for it :)

[Tatjana]

Why not charge a higher hourly rate, £5 that way you get a bit more. I charge more for part time hours and say it's a minimum of 3 hours daily.

hth
xx

[helenlc]

I charge a slightly enhanced rate for those who comes 10 hours or less a week.

If you have before and after school ones, this child could earn you a few extra pennies without taking up space in the car etc. Maybe ask mum if the days could be flexible, so if you get another enquiry you are able to move her to accomodate the new exquiry.

I like part timers. I just had one full timer until recently. But now I have 2 part timers, it makes it more fun. It makes every day different as we do different activities/outings depending on who's here that day.

Other wise, just be honest with her and say that you are prepared to take it on but if you get an enquiry for more hours that includes her day & or times, then you might have to consider moving her hours or giving notice. I think it was suggested on another thread to have just a 2 week notice period instead of 4, incase this did happen.

I think its worth taking on if you can accomodate her - you never know, it might turn into more hours later on as baby gets older. I had 2 little boys for 3 hours one morning a week - we went to toddler group for 2 hours of that so it was extra pennies for not much effort to be honest!! But sometimes Mum would want a few extra hours and so this was extra pennies for me that I hadnt expected.

Its also extra experience. But as Sarah said, it might be hard to settle one so young for such a few hours. Maybe suggest to Mum 3 hours one day and 3 hours another day, say Monday and Thursday so they are a bit spaced out.