Man about the house
Alan Eames,
69, was the first male childminder in Shropshire to receive an
overall "outstanding" grade at his Ofsted inspection. He has been
childminding with his wife Barbara for 16 years.
Alan's story
Childminding pulled me in gradually. Barbara had been doing it
since our children were born because she wanted to be with them
while they were growing up.
Owing to an increase in her numbers I started doing a couple of
days a week with Barbara and the other days would be taken up with
my history publishing business, which involved travelling all over
the country. I soon realised that childminding was the most
marvelous job I’d ever had so I gave up travelling and became a
childminder full time.
Barbara and I care for 19 children from 17 families in total,
but we don’t have the same number of children on any two days. The
children range from 7 months to 15 years but we have taken in
children from as young as 5 weeks old.
When I first started childminding I was absolutely exhausted. I
had no idea looking after children was so hard. The hours are long,
11 hours a day, five days a week – sometimes longer. For a long
time we had one child until 11pm at night. I’m fitter now than I’ve
ever been!
Male role-model
A number of the children we mind are from single-parent
families, where the mother is the main carer. The mums often say
how nice it is for the children to have a regular male figure in
their lives. I also have a great rapport with the dads. They are
sometimes more comfortable talking to me rather than Barbara; the
questions they ask often aren’t what mums want to know.
I’m quite technically minded so if the children come up with an
idea for an activity, I can help them to achieve it. Whatever we
do, the children are part of it, from helping design new play areas
to growing flowers and vegetables in the garden. I’m particularly
keen on woodwork and we have a few children who just love it.
Because I always have my workbench up, we can work on things
whenever they like, starting with a risk assessment, of course.
Barbara says I’m like a grandfather figure to them but I’m just a
big kid really, 69 going on 12!
I was chuffed to bits to receive "outstanding" at my Ofsted
inspection. I would certainly recommend childminding to other men –
it’s the finest career in the world for me. I found it late and
wish I had gone into it a long time ago. I’ve had people laugh at
me when I tell them what I do. My friends used to say "Come on,
when are you going to get a proper job?".
Respect breeds respect
One of my personal rules is to respect each individual (no
matter how young they may be) which I find soon gets returned. The
greatest thing about being a childminder is the feeling you’ve made
a real difference to a child. That’s why you do it. It’s not a job
you do for money; for me the rewards are a bit more spiritual.
At my stage of life the exercise I get is great – we do a lot of
walking and so many activities. I’m a great advocate of learning
through play. I believe that teaching should be inspirational but
aspirational, too. I love to get the children painting, drawing and
making things. And I love to poke fun at the serious because I
think you get more out of children if they enjoy themselves.
So we’ll do things backwards or I’ll make funny noises while
we’re doing activities. The children will laugh and say, "Why are
you doing that Alan?" and I’ll say, "I’m having fun". I like to
think that they are, too.