New Year
resolutions. I often feel I should make some and then before I know it the new
year is here and I rush into it without any planning on how I'm going to
achieve the 'Lose weight, take more exercise and eat more greens' mantra. Putting my
personal health goals aside for the time being, the question is what are my
resolutions/goals for childminding?
Well I've been reading comments on some of
the childminding forums and it seems the most popular resolution has been to
reduce paperwork and keep on top of the accounts. They are both very valid aims and mine is similar as it is to be more efficient. I tend to procrastinate and time management is
not my strong point.
So how to
achieve this goal? Lists
I have decided that is the only way to go. I will
have a to-do list, I will prioritise items on the list
into important/urgent, non-urgent, and things that I would like to achieve but
that are not essential. My aim is to become effective (probably still stressed)
but not overwhelmed and stressed- which is how I feel now sometimes.
Over
the holiday period we have decorated the playroom. Furniture has been moved
around, a large piece of furniture has been discarded and I am now in the
process of trying to put it all back together again. I childmind from one large
room, I call it the playroom but in reality it is our conservatory and is part
of our home- we use it too. Getting the home/work balance right is difficult, I
often feel it is 80% a childminding environment and only 20% part of our home.
For example the children need a low table to paint on and have playdough, but
it needs to double up as a snack table, and it needs to be within view of the
Tv (only put on during snack time) but close to the toilet for hand washing
after painting and not on the rug so that I do not end up with banana,
playdough or paint trodden in. That is just one consideration, there are dozens
of other decisions to be made for childminding about the placing of furniture, the type of necessary
furniture or the spaces available and their uses. How my family might want to use that room is always
the last consideration.
I work from
home in an environment that is set up for children, every decision that is made
about home is made with the considerations of childminding in the forefront.
Childminders will know what I mean. I know there are plenty of other
types of businesses that are run from an office, workshop or studio in the home, they
like me often have regulations around health & safety & environmental health
but they do not have the EYFS and Ofsted to deal with or the needs of young children to provide for.
The placing of
furniture is one thing, how to leave the childminding mode behind at the end of
the working day is not so easy, in fact for me it is impossible as I think it
is for many childminders. The lists might help me use office time more effectively but no doubt I will still spend a great deal of time thinking
about childminding, it is what I do and what I enjoy doing.
There are
two new challenges/threats this year. One is the expected announcement on the
deregulation/changes to childminding, which I will say no more on until the
facts are published.
The other
challenge will be how the new 'nursery' opening locally in May this year will
affect my business and what I can do to weather that storm. I can not compete
but neither do I plan to fall into the 'wrap-around provision' trap of rushing around picking up and dropping
children here there and everywhere. My aim
has always been and will continue to be, to provide an oasis of calm for children
in their very early years.
Happy New Year.
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