Too little money for Childminding?

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(This is a post a friend made on my account, not actually me but do reply here thanks).

So I started Childminding 7 weeks ago for 2 kids that live up my road (ages 6 and 1.5 years old). There mother offered me 160e per week which I thought was a good price as money is tight at the moment. I have the kids from 8.30-5.00 Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and from 8.30-2.00 on Wednesdays. However the parents do not ussually appear until 5.20/5.30 every evening..

I worked out that I was working 31 hours a week for 160e (80e a child)

That means i'm recieving 2.58c an hour per child??.. Is this very little in terms of what I should be recieving?. I have experience as I have had 5 kids of my own and the kids I mind now love me. I'm just looking for advice regarding pay and how much I should recieve! If this is the average then I don't mind but if it's not i'd like to know how much I should be getting!

Thanks in advanced!
K

RedXIV

I don't know about the going rates of pay but taking them for 3 hours for free every wednesday sounds like your getting ripped off OP

Gurgle

A bit on the low side, but not by much.
Hourly pay rates are irrelevant, its not as if you're working a job.

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RedXIV wrote: »

I don't know about the going rates of pay but taking them for 3 hours for free every wednesday sounds like your getting ripped off OP

I don't have them for 3 hours free every Wednesday, I have them for 5.5 hours on a Wednesday and that's included in the 160e a week pay!

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Gurgle wrote: »

A bit on the low side, but not by much.
Hourly pay rates are irrelevant, its not as if you're working a job.

But why should it not be counted as a job?. Believe me it's a damn sight harder than a lot of jobs so why shouldn't I be recieving minimum wage?

dahat

PictureFrame wrote: »

But why should it not be counted as a job?. Believe me it's a damn sight harder than a lot of jobs so why shouldn't I be recieving minimum wage?

Assume you pay tax,levies etc on this money?
If not then be gratefull for the "wage" you getting on sideline if you are............

Gurgle

PictureFrame wrote: »

But why should it not be counted as a job?. Believe me it's a damn sight harder than a lot of jobs so why shouldn't I be recieving minimum wage?

Can you do whatever else you do while minding the kids ?
(housework, shopping, gardening, knitting, minding your own kids, treadmill, baking cookies... whatever stay-at-home mummies do these days)

Are you qualified, registered, insured, paying tax ?

How much would you have to earn in a job to make the same take-home, once you've factored in the cost of going to work and having your own kids minded ?

PictureFrame

Gurgle wrote: »

Can you do whatever else you do while minding the kids ?
(housework, shopping, gardening, knitting, minding your own kids, treadmill, baking cookies... whatever stay-at-home mummies do these days)

Are you qualified, registered, insured, paying tax ?

How much would you have to earn in a job to make the same take-home, once you've factored in the cost of going to work and having your own kids minded ?

Yes I am a qualified Childminder, I am registered and I DO pay tax.. And no it would be extremely difficult to "bake cookies" as you put it with a hyper 1.5 year old climbing around and a 6 year old with ADHD and behaviour problems...

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dahat wrote: »

Assume you pay tax,levies etc on this money?
If not then be gratefull for the "wage" you getting on sideline if you are............

And yes I do pay all of the taxes etc. also..

Moonbeam

It is a bit on the low side but it is fine.
What would piss me off is that they are not coming to collect the children at the agreed time so I would bring this up with them and tell them if the hours are changing then the charge will change too.

And yes child minding is a job but not one that the minimum wage applies to once it is in your own home and income tax only applies if you earn over 15k.

Full time childminders also have to get insurance,change their car insurance and notify their house insurance all incurring costs and also should keep their 1st aid certs up to date and all of these incur costs.

Moonbeam

You did not originally mention that the 6 year old has adhd that changes things big time. Does he get help for it?did you know in advance that he had it? does she pay you the same whether they have school or not?

PictureFrame

Thank you, yes it's very annoying when they come late. Especially as I have 5 kids of my own at home and they might want to go somewhere after 5pm on the Summer Holidays etc. I will bring it up with them thanks for the advice!

Daisy M

PictureFrame wrote: »

Thank you, yes it's very annoying when they come late. Especially as I have 5 kids of my own at home and they might want to go somewhere after 5pm on the Summer Holidays etc. I will bring it up with them thanks for the advice!

That puts a whole new slant on the pay side of things. You are not solely devoting yourself to the minding of these children you are caring for your own family at the same time. If you went out to work for the minimun wage or more and did the same hours you would end up paying more for childcare than you could make. How come your paying tax on such a low amount of earnings?
Re the collection time in the evenings let the parents know that you wish for a set time for pickup and if they choose a later time charge for it. It comes across as if your feeling stressed and hard done by and not enjoying this new role maybe its time to rethink things. I have childminded in the past and while the first two families I cared for were a delight the third put me off forever. I have recently got a part time job and it is so much easier than childminding for this family ever was, they treated me like a door mat and took complete advantage! From discussions in the media and some threads on here I have reached the view that the majority of childminders feel unappreciated and get taken advantage of.

LashingLady

Childminding is a service rather than and job and doesn't attract an hourly rate. Childminders are considered to be self employed rather than an employee of the parents. As others have said when childminding you can do things for yourself that you couldn't do while working in a job - i.e. look after your own children, make the dinner, etc etc. Although no cookie baking or treadmill I am sure!

There are however "going rates" for childminding with the amounts depending on where you are in the country. As far as i know in Dublin you can pay up to €45 a day per child with rates less in more rural areas. BUT of course, these rates can be incredibly prohibitive where there are more than one children in a family, so there are lots of arrangements where the rates are much less.

You are doing three full nad one half day. In childminding rates you are getting €45 for each of the full days and €25 for the half day so that's like a rate of €25 for one child and the second discounted to €20 for a full day. It's probably not miles off what comparable rates are outside of cities to be honest, especially where both families have to weigh up the benefits of working and paying for childcare. The parents may not be able to afford to both work if childminding costs much more meaning you would lose what you do get.....

i would think about how much more you think you should get, especially considering the 6 year olds behaviour, and see if it's worthwhile discussing it with them. However, you can't compare wtih minimum wage rates. Also, I would talk to the parents about the late pickups and if you need to negotiate based on later times....

Chuchoter

In my own opinion that's very low if you're doing this as a proper job. I'd be looking for absolute minimum 200 a week, if not more considering theres adhd involved. You're working a full week, just because its kids and not paperwork doesn't make it fun or easy.

ash23

Minimum wage when you are childminding in your own home with your own children there is unrealistic in my opinion. Min wage in childminding usually only applies if you are working in the families home or if you are employed by a creche.

If you are working from your own home and also caring for your own 5 children, then expecting min wage is a bit much. You don't pay childcare for your own children as you would have to if you were minding outside of your home either in a family home or a creche.
You also are not giving your undivided time and attention to the children so cannot be expected to be paid the same as a minder who cares for the employers children only.

I would speak to them about the late pick ups and advise you will start charging x amount per hour or part of, for a late pick up. If they are not going to be able to make it on time then the hours and wage need to be reviewed accordingly.
If you aren't happy with your rate of pay, you need to decide an amount you would be happy with and advise them of this.
They may say no and choose to find another childminder but that is the risk taken when broaching these things. Ultimately you need to decide a wage you will keep them for.
So if you ask for €200 and they say no, are you ok with losing the €160 if you know what I mean?

Also, just to ask, I'm assuming the older child was in school until July and will be back in school in September?
You started 7 weeks ago, so he should have been in school when you took him on first? Did you get an increased rate for the summer? Will you be on the same wage when he goes back to school in September?