Hello there, I am so completely not a member of Baby and Toddler Club (my first is due in October), but I like to plan ahead, so I have a question for you all.
I run my own business. I work from home and it's not very stressful at all. No clients ever need to come the house, and I can generally stop what I'm doing whenever is necessary and then just go back to the task in hand once the interruption has been dealt with.
Anyway, I've been thinking about childcare (you see, I TOLD you I was planning ahead!). There is no nursery in my village, and I have no intention of putting my baby in the car to drive him/her to another village for nursery. (Enviro and health reasons, if you're wondering.)
So, I had this idea - if I could find another mum with a baby who is also not at nursery, I could employ her as a non-official childminder to work in my house for a couple of days of week. She would be able to bring her own baby with her and at the same time I'd be on hand in my office for when it's breastfeeding time or if there was an emergency.
To me, this has a lot of benefits. I get to carry on working, if only part time. (I earn more per hour than I would need to pay a childminder, so financially it makes a lot of sense.) But at the same time, my baby is in the safety of our own home, I am only just upstairs if he/she needs me, the childminder earns a bit of cash at a time when she might not otherwise be earning any money, and she also gets to have her own baby with her while she is working.
This seems such a brilliant plan that I can't believe I've not heard of people doing it before. So tell me, girls, do any of you do this or have friends who do? And do you have any thoughts on it, good or bad? Thanks!
I run my own business. I work from home and it's not very stressful at all. No clients ever need to come the house, and I can generally stop what I'm doing whenever is necessary and then just go back to the task in hand once the interruption has been dealt with.
Anyway, I've been thinking about childcare (you see, I TOLD you I was planning ahead!). There is no nursery in my village, and I have no intention of putting my baby in the car to drive him/her to another village for nursery. (Enviro and health reasons, if you're wondering.)
So, I had this idea - if I could find another mum with a baby who is also not at nursery, I could employ her as a non-official childminder to work in my house for a couple of days of week. She would be able to bring her own baby with her and at the same time I'd be on hand in my office for when it's breastfeeding time or if there was an emergency.
To me, this has a lot of benefits. I get to carry on working, if only part time. (I earn more per hour than I would need to pay a childminder, so financially it makes a lot of sense.) But at the same time, my baby is in the safety of our own home, I am only just upstairs if he/she needs me, the childminder earns a bit of cash at a time when she might not otherwise be earning any money, and she also gets to have her own baby with her while she is working.
This seems such a brilliant plan that I can't believe I've not heard of people doing it before. So tell me, girls, do any of you do this or have friends who do? And do you have any thoughts on it, good or bad? Thanks!
Leicester to the northern Peak District is probably a bit of a distance for you to travel, so I may not be able to offer you the job 
but I'm dead pleased at least somebody thinks it's a good idea. Once I start my pg yoga and other classes, I hope to meet some other, more local, mums who might be interested.
