How to become a Childminder

What does a Childminder do?

Do you love children? Do you relish looking after other people's as well as your own and volunteer to babysit regularly? Then being a Childminder could be the ideal career for you.

Childminders take care of youngsters in their own homes, including babies and pre-schoolers during the day and older children after school before their parents return from work.

A typical working week will involve:

• Making children feel happy and secure while they are away from their parents
• Feeding them according to their dietary requirements
• Changing nappies where appropriate
• Organising and implementing learning-related play to benefit the children's development
• Taking older children to school and collecting them afterwards

Is a career as a Childminder right for me?

Needless to say, you're going to have to really love kids to embark on a career as a Childminder, because you'll be seeing a lot of them. You'll also have to be prepared to set part of your home up to accommodate them safely - and you need to be at least 18 for legal reasons.

Childminders mostly set their own hours, but you'll have to be prepared to do some evening and early morning work, and your energy and enthusiasm will need to be a constant whatever the time of day.

Other qualities good Childminders will possess include:

• A sense of humour
• Endless patience
• An awareness of health, safety and child development issues
• Knowledge about child protection requirements
• Good communication skills - both with parents and children
• The ability to organise your own tax and accountancy affairs, as you'll be self-employed