“Why do you want to be childminder?”

If I had a £1 for each time I’ve been asked why I want to become a childminder, I wouldn’t need to become a childminder!

After having our 2nd child, returning to teaching was almost impossible.  We’ve moved to a small village so childcare is pretty much non-existent.  Therefore we would have had to get someone to provide  before and after Pre-school care, alongside someone to have our son all day.  This alone looked to set us back over £1000 per month!  Even with the new introduction of free childcare for over 3’s, it would have still been a push.  I’ve always felt strongly about being with my children, don’t get me wrong when I went back to teaching when Evelyn was 6 months I needed it.  I needed adult interaction.  I needed to feel like I was using my brain.  However juggling both was horrible and I felt guilty 24/7.  I felt I was not only letting down my daughter but 30 other people’s children.

I LOVED teaching.  Anyone who knows me knows I kind of get obsessed with things.  I put 100% effort into my lessons, the planning, the evaluations, the next steps, the displays, the assemblies and before I had Evelyn I loved it.  It was all-encompassing! I would (like the majority of teachers) get to school at 6:30am and be one of the last to leave.  Often being thrown out.  I would then get home, and after eating a quick dinner would continue working (either marking, planning or assessing) until 11pm most nights.  It was hard, but it was no where near as hard as trying to juggle the amount of time and dedication I was used to putting in alongside a 6 month old.

This then led me on a slippery slope of self-punishment.  I used to beat myself up (mentally) that I wasn’t doing enough and that I should be able to do better. (This leads to another story!)

I made the decision to leave teaching in December 2014 and to be honest, I do miss it, but it was the best decision for me and my family at the time.  I then went onto doing some supply whilst being pregnant with Jack which took some of the pressure off.

Fast forward a couple of years and I was faced with the decision- I need to earn to take the pressure off of Matt, but at the same time I need to be there for my kids.  I looked at a couple of schools and thought YES-I can do this.  I will just need to ensure I have that work/life balance everyone is on about!  Then came the search for childcare and oh my god that nearly killed me (figuratively speaking!).  There was one childminder in the village.  She was full.  There was no one else without going down the nursery route and thus me working just to pay for someone else to look after my children and then be no help to Matt what so ever!!!!  It just makes me so mad, but that’s a big issue that the majority of working families are sadly having to deal with!

Matt suggested a while back that I should become a childminder and the first things I thought about are the first things that people ask me now.

“Won’t it take over my home?”  “Will it affect my children?”  “Can I earn enough?”  “Will the paperwork take over?” “Have I wasted my degree and teaching status?”  “Is it a silly decision considering I’m still paying off a huge student loan?”  “Would I get enough children?”

I just focused on the negative (as usual) and didn’t even consider the pros of being a childminder and what that could do for other children and my family.  Then a lovely lady in the village approached me and over a cuppa one morning she said “Why don’t you do it?  You can have mine.”  That was that.  After a bit of research, we made the decision to go for it and in true obsessive Amy fashion, had started 100 folders and signed up to this course and that.  5 months later here we are!!!!