Only just realizing how difficult it is to find a photo for the blog that doesn't show the children's faces, and that still conveys some significant meaning. The impact seems to be in the expression on the face of the child. So my next challenge will be taking photo’s that tell a story of (mainly) child initiated learning without identifying a single child. A tall order.

So back to the beginning, why The Isolated Childminder I hear you ask.

Well childminding can be quite isolating. I work alone all day. I do get out & about and of course I do have company in the form of children, primarily under the age of three. My conversations with them are for the most part wonderful, whacky and occasionally baffling.

Childminding is a complex job that is a simple as ‘playing’ and as complicated as trying to decipher Ofsted talk. The two seem worlds apart at times and that makes my job challenging, and also makes it imperative that I have support from other childminders, early years services, my family and the families using my service. If one of those elements is missing or weak then childminding can be the most isolating place to be in the world.

The truth is I also find myself isolated by where I live, but not because I am on an island in the Outer Hebrides, or half-way up a mountain. I’m sure there are childminders living in those sorts of places because every neighbourhood needs a childminder, and I’ve no doubt they don’t feel isolated at all by their location surrounded as they are by their close-knit communities.

But I live on the south coast in a village, in fact on the edge of the village. Village life is not always what it is cracked up to be. Another cause of my isolation is transport. I do not drive, and buses are not the easiest things to get on & off with a pushchair & a toddler in tow. It would be easier if they could be guaranteed to provide accessible buses, sometimes they do but you never know until the bus draws up in front of you if it’s an ‘accessible type’ and whether you are actually going to be able to get on, or not.

When I lived in a city I took the library for granted, I had half a dozen play parks to choose from and a toddler group for every day of the week if I was so inclined. My world has shrunk but the result has been my childminding practice has changed. We stroll instead of charging around from place to another (although honestly I don’t think I ever charged anywhere) we stop and look at interesting things- or stop to discuss the best way to blow ones’ nose- we stand under the same horse chestnut tree every week to observe the change, stroll down a country lane chatting about the birds we see, guess if we might see the ponies in the stable or are they already out in the field? I spend more time experiencing life instead of filling time.  

When I was thinking of a name for my blog The Isolated Childminder sort of fitted, I am isolated by circumstance, profession and location. But I’m not isolated from anything important.