Today I’ve been working on the research for my podcast for childminders on the theme of valuing skills.

It’s a strange subject to cover in a podcast for childminders one might say. It’s seems to be something that childminder’s don’t really think about much until some negative media attention happens and we all jump on the bandwagon to defend the childminding sector, demanding that people start valuing us and stop saying these damaging things.

But I argue, maybe if we valued ourselves first then this would just emit some glowing energy that people wouldn’t be able to ignore.

I don’t think we get enough opportunities to show off our skills. People in conventional employment would need to attend interviews after sending in CV’s with their skills listed and displayed. In these they will be asked about their skills and what they can offer. But in childminding it’s not quite the same. We have skills and qualities that go largely undiscussed. I’ll explain my thoughts with two scenarios.

Prospective family visits.

When a new family comes to meet us in our settings they often come armed with a list of questions that they have compiled from websites and friends. These are along the lines of “Where do you take the children? What hours do you have available? How much do you charge? Can I see your inspection report? What are the ages of the other children you look after? What kind of activities do you do?” and more recently, “How much screen time do you let children have?”

Inspections

The nerve wracking day arrives when an inspector is at your door and they are going to ask you lots of questions. Questions about safeguarding and how you keep children safe “What would you do if” kinds of questions. Questions about your curriculum and the experiences of the children. You are asked to show statutory documents. How children develop in your setting and other such questions.

Please show me in the above where you get asked about any of your skills? I don’t think I have ever had a family ask me what I think the best thing about my setting is or what I think I am really strong at. Has any one asked me any questions about how I will comfort their child when they are sobbing over scraping their knee? Do inspectors regularly ask questions about how you support families through difficult conversations that need to be had about their child? Is there ever a time where you in your day to day job get to say “Hey I am really good at this thing and that makes my setting pretty great actually”? Answer: It’s not often is it?

We wear so many hats in our role, not only do we wear a hat of ‘educator’ , but we are often supporters, champions, children’s rights activists, confidant, artist, chef, mindfulness coach, administrator, first aider, leader, SEND supporter, equality co-ordinator, curriculum creators, emotional support, intimate care givers; the list goes on(and often many of these hats gets worn in one day.) Where do all of these skills get noticed? I think it has to get noticed from ourselves.

This year I have worked hard on learning to appreciate my skills and I am to encourage other childminders to do the same in Episode 5 of the Mind That Childminder podcast. Writing this website meant I had to find the confidence to announce skills that I know to have in writing in public. That was hard work for someone who didn’t even attend their graduation ceremony. I would love to think that in my next meeting with a prospective family that I can say to them that I believe that I am confident at nurturing children both emotionally and developmentally. That in my next Ofsted inspection I can say. Yes I meet all of your requirements but I also believe that I have many skills that help me to go beyond this and that I help to reduce the inequalities in the world by being great at supporting children with SEND and have confidence to support all children to stand up for themselves, others and the world around them.

Being able to highlight and be proud of these skills outright for ourselves will surely mean that other people will see confidence and professionalism extruding from us and there will, as a natural consequence, be an improvement of the public perception of childminding. We must not call ourselves ‘just’ a childminder. We must recognise our skills and speak highly of our actual expertise. Only then will others start to realise that those things are true and will start to say things that align. You will get recommendations from your families because of your confidence, knowledge and professionalism. They will tell of your skills. Your own self worth will help to leave a legacy that childminding is something pretty special.

We bring the village to a world that is pretty village-less right now.

I think that’s extremely important.