Starting Childminding

[mwheeler]

Hi,

Im currently a stay at home dad while my partner works full time, im interested in becoming a child minder as my current day is spend looking after a 8 month old and keeping her happy - I think it would be great too for her development if i was to become a child member as she obviously will have contact with the kids.

Ive contacted my local office in relation to child minding and currently waiting for the first forms to come through the door.

I have a few doubts though, firstly im male - Initial impressions i thought, would this be frowned upon? I always get told im good with kids and i enjoy looking after them, spending time etc.

Secondly, Ive always been a fan of tattoo's and currently have a few mainly my whole left arm is covered - Is this something that an inspector from ofsted is going to frown upon? Or will simply wearing a jumper / long sleeve top sort that problem,

Thirdly - Were only renting the house we currently live in, im planning on turning one of the rooms into a play room and will take all the necessary measures to make the house child friendly such as covering the plug sockets, locks on doors there not supposed to have access too etc.

Aside from that, All my time will go into making child minding a success, we have a park very close by which i'll use to take any kids too to play football etc and games,

Sorry for blabbing on a bit, i hope to have some informative responses,

Thanks Alot,

Mike.

[Carpet Monkeys]

Welcome and please dont worry about being male, there are a few male childminders on here, and I'm sure they'll be along soon, Daddy Day Care is one of them.

We are living in a rented accom and it's not been a problem, they only thing is to possibly run it by your landlord first and advise them of your intentions.

As for the tattoos, I should think they really wouldn't bother an inspector just as long as they are too explict, maybe someone else will be along to tell you more about that!

Good luck, you've stumbled across the right forum, everyone's friendly and full of great information/ideas!

[mwheeler]

As for the tattoos, I should think they really wouldn't bother an inspector just as long as they are too explict, maybe someone else will be along to tell you more about that!


Hi,

Thanks alot for the response. As for the accomadation, our lanlord is pretty much one of those "Contact me when theres a problem" kind of people, really relaxed so that shouldnt be a problem.

The house we live in jut really need a lick of paint, child gates to be put up etc and it'll be fine as far as ive looked into it,

As for the tattoo's - There all Chinese designs so nothing explicit at all - Glad to find they shouldn't really be a problem.

[SaijaM]

Hi!

I think it's a great thing that you are going to be a childminder, why not! Sometimes these kind of professions can be 'stereotyped' too much... My cousin, (who is a male!) is a childminder and absolutely loves it and the kids love him :)

I don't see why bodyart would be a problem... I have a couple tattoos myself.. didn't even think of asking Ofsted if they approve or not :)

Good luck and I'm sure you will make it a success!

:) Saija

[Mookins]

I too have tattoos its becoming more of the "norm" so as this has nothing to do with the way you childmind (unless they are as mentioned not explicit) but as you say who says they will be on show

male childminders.....dont see why not, dont think you will be frowned upon....whats to say you wont be as good as female...am trying to persuede my hubby to become one too hes up for it but i think is waiting forme to do all the paperwork side so he wont have too:rolleyes:

i wish you the very best of luck and hope you do really well

x x

[mwheeler]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. Glad to see that tattoos are not going to be a problem, im just waiting for the initial first papers to come through then i think i have to attend a pre-reg meeting on the 17th July, hopefully from there i should be able to progress on the courses etc.

[Emz]

I think its a great decision, there is much need for more male childminders :)

Im in rented accom aswell, ofsted wanted to see a letter from the landlord stating he was fine with me using his property to childmind, also i was told certain mortgages dont let businesses run on the propertys so i would get that checked out first, because if they say no then theres no point in doing all the work to get yourself registered.
Hope its ok for you though and i dont see tattoos being an issue either.

Good luck hun x

[Toothfairy]

Hello & welcome. :thumbsup:

There are a few male CM's on here who can give you a blokes point of view. It's a fantastic career wether you are male or female.
Being in rented accom should not be a problem nor should the Tatoo's if they are just chinese symbols (if lots of boobies etc then it might be an idea to cover them up :D )

It can be a bit of a long process to become registered (mine took 9 months) but its worth it in the end. Good luck :thumbsup:

[gemival]

Hi i'm currently in pre reg stage and have a male attending on my courses. I also know of male minder in area.
Think it good for males coming into childminding, my daughter had a male nursery assistant and now has a male primary teacher she thinks it great :)
Welcome to the site.
Gemma x

[marzi]

I think it's great you want to become a childminder. I'd be more than happy to have a man look after mine, especially as I'm a single mum and they don't see much of their dad so a good male role model would be a bonus.

I have tattoos that were visible when i had my inspection and the inspector didn't mention them.

I'm in rented accommodation too and my landlords alot like yours lol its a case of do what you like as long as you're making the house better. I didn't even get asked to provide a letter from him but that might have been my inspector.

Good luck with everything x

[Daddy Day Care]

Hi Mike,

Firstly welcome to the forum, joining here is honestly one of the best things you could have done, the level of support you get from the members is outstanding, and if you have any questions at all throughout the registration process just ask away, there will always be someone about to answer you.

I was in a similar position to you; id quit my job to become a full time dad, whilst my wife who loved her part time job took it on full time. I have 3 children of my own 5, 2 and 8months, id been doing it for about 6 months taking them to different tots groups everyday, meeting other parents/childminders when I decided to go for it myself.

I registered in June last year, to be honest it was a bit of a struggle to start of with, up until February this year I hadn’t had any work and was ready to give up on the idea, and if it wasn’t for the support I got from the girls of the forum I would have.

Then in March I got my first mindee, only one day a week, but it was a start, after a local newspaper published an article on me that had been written by another member about me.

Soon after the first I signed my 2nd mindee up, and that’s where I am now. I absolutely love the job, and would really encourage you to give it ago. Just in the few months I’ve been doing its been so good to see my mindee change so much, see him walk for the first time was almost as good as seeing my own children do it.

I don’t know if the struggle at the start was due to me being male, due to me being a new minder, due to there being lots of other minders in my area, there are some people who wouldn’t use a male minder but at the same time there are some people who specifically want a male minder, it wasn’t that long ago I had a call from someone wanting a male minder, she had googled male childminder for her area and it brought up the newspaper article but unfortunately she was a 20 minute drive away and it was to far.

Had quite a few calls recently but unfortunately because of the ages of my children I’m limited to what I can do and it seems that all the calls I get I’m unable to do.

Anyway I hope you go for it, good luck with the registration and keep us updated on how it’s all going

Gareth

[Trouble]

Hello and welcome Mike :clapping: :clapping: :clapping: :clapping:

[mwheeler]

Hi Mike,

Firstly welcome to the forum, joining here is honestly one of the best things you could have done, the level of support you get from the members is outstanding, and if you have any questions at all throughout the registration process just ask away, there will always be someone about to answer you.

I was in a similar position to you; id quit my job to become a full time dad, whilst my wife who loved her part time job took it on full time. I have 3 children of my own 5, 2 and 8months, id been doing it for about 6 months taking them to different tots groups everyday, meeting other parents/childminders when I decided to go for it myself.

I registered in June last year, to be honest it was a bit of a struggle to start of with, up until February this year I hadn’t had any work and was ready to give up on the idea, and if it wasn’t for the support I got from the girls of the forum I would have.

Then in March I got my first mindee, only one day a week, but it was a start, after a local newspaper published an article on me that had been written by another member about me.

Soon after the first I signed my 2nd mindee up, and that’s where I am now. I absolutely love the job, and would really encourage you to give it ago. Just in the few months I’ve been doing its been so good to see my mindee change so much, see him walk for the first time was almost as good as seeing my own children do it.

I don’t know if the struggle at the start was due to me being male, due to me being a new minder, due to there being lots of other minders in my area, there are some people who wouldn’t use a male minder but at the same time there are some people who specifically want a male minder, it wasn’t that long ago I had a call from someone wanting a male minder, she had googled male childminder for her area and it brought up the newspaper article but unfortunately she was a 20 minute drive away and it was to far.

Had quite a few calls recently but unfortunately because of the ages of my children I’m limited to what I can do and it seems that all the calls I get I’m unable to do.

Anyway I hope you go for it, good luck with the registration and keep us updated on how it’s all going

Gareth

Hi,

Thanks alot for the long post, ive put off visiting the forum since last month until i went to the very first meeting in relation to childminding, i didn't want to get my hopes up by speaking to alot of people then after the initial meeting, decide it's not for me - Well, i had that meeting yesterday and after speaking to about 20 mums for 3 hours............... Im still going ahead, lol.

I will be contacting our local pre-reg course training providers first thing in the morning, i will hopefully get on the course which starts in September and after the 8 weeks of the course i believe i have then 6 months to get my first aid and food hygiene in place, then be able to apply to ofsted for the first visit to become registered.

Thanks for the support and Gareth for the interesting read, it's good to see males doing this sort of thing and i expected to be frowned upon in the meeting but they didnt batter an eyelid.

Cheers,

Mike.

[littlemiracles]

Hi Mike,

So glad to hear you have decided to go for it!:clapping: I am also a male in the process of becoming registered ( hopefully almost there now :) ) and i think its about time that more men looked towards working with children as a career. I have spent the last year at college gaining an NVQ in childcare and i must say it was quite scary at first as i thought the same as you, what would people think of a male working with children, and being the only male on the course along with over 150 women was quite intimidating! But once i started the support i got from my tutor and from the ladies on the course was amazing and that has continued into deciding to become a childminder. I believe that the majority of people are happy to see that men are taking the step into childcare as this can only benefit the children even more! I hope everything goes well for you and look forward to hearing how you get on :) Please feel free to message me anytime if you have any questions and i will be more than happy to offer any help that i can. Like Gareth said before, everyone on here is fantastic and im sure they will help you out too!
Scott

[Kimmy050983]

Hi,

Just wanted to say welcome :clapping:
If I´d need a childminder for my son I would specifically choose a male childminder as I think boys in particular don´t get enough contact to male people. everywhere you look it´s mostly women educating them.. So I think it´s fab that you are becoming a childminder :D

Kimmy

[EmJay]

I have only just gone through pre-reg & I loved it!! I don't see how it should be any different whether you're male or female!

Sadly, I am also aware that a male childminder in my area has given up, From what I hear, he'd hardly started before he finished.

I have two daugter's & my husband work's away......if I were looking for a childminder, I think a male influence would be positive for them.

I would also give every minder in the area a chance as they are scarce here.

To me it's a true shame he hasn't been given a chance.