Child Minding

I too would say give it a go in whichever house suits you best. Most grannies finish up with duplicate baby equipment, whether bought or borrowed. As they are of an age to still have a nap, you might find yours easier, but only you can say.
However, and this is, in my opinion , important - you and they do need a Plan B in case of illness and you should not be the person to put this in place-if necessary, your DIL might need to take time off work, just as she would for a "paid" childminder . You will love the time with them, you will be helping their parents and most importantly, forging a very special bond with your grandchildren.

I'd say give it a go, perhaps just one day a week at first, and see how you go on. Try it out at your house then at theirs and just see what works best for you.

I look after my DGS2 two days a week, 0700h to 1745h, and it's a joy. Of course there's only one of him and as of last month there are two of us as DH has just retired and is, for now at least, coming with me. Would you be on your own with the children? It's so much simpler to nip up two flights of stairs for a forgotten muslin, etc, when you don't have to carry a child with you. DGS2 adores his grandad and they have their own fun sessions out in the garden etc while I have a little nap rest.

We usually look after him at his home, though occasionally he comes to ours. There are different advantages to each. We are told very firmly that we are not expected to tidy up, etc, at DD2's, though of course we do a bit of it on the sly. That means we can just wave goodbye at the end of the day and go home to our tidy house. She also cooks for all three of us, bless her, so our lunch and tea are in the fridge ready for us just to heat up.

It's good to have him at ours sometimes though - we have a lot of toys here for him and can take him out to our local child friendly attractions for a change. And he can torment play with our cat, which he adores.

Good luck with your decision! It sounds as though you have a lovely family, so I'm sure things will work out whatever happens.

If I were you I would give it a trial run and see how it goes. We do one day a week looking after 2 year old GD in our home and neither of us would pass any sort of fitness test! It is so lovely when she is here - she potters about as if it were her own home and it is a real trip down memory lane for us to the times when we had our own little ones at home; especially as she is the spit of her mother, so it is like having little DD3 around again. Aah!

Have taken all advice on board, will probably tell them that I will give it a try until Christmas and if it is too much with the long day then I will not carry on. Thank you all.

Hi, I was a registered childminder from 1987 until August last year (had a break to care for my husband who has Alzheimer's) and I had to give up around my 62nd birthday - last August - because I just couldn't cope with them anymore. I do have osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia but the toddlers wanted me to roll around on the floor with them like their parents do and you can't explain to a 2 years old that you're not as fit as Mummy and Daddy. It certainly is very tiring and tying too although we love them and hate to say no to looking after them.

In my case, being registered, I had to do the childminding course and keep doing courses in the evenings after the little ones had gone home and the paperwork now is unbelievable but as a grandparent, you wouldn't have to do all that. It was as much the paperwork as the children wearing me out that made me have to stop.

Good luck in whatever you choose to do.

Have made the decision to have them from mid September, two days a week but if I have other plans such as concerts (I go off for a week or so following my favourite Celtic band) or appointments then my son will take the day off work and only needs a days notice. I am looking forward to it.

If your fit enough then i'm sure you will enjoy it.I look after my 2year old GD three days a week 7am till 5pm. We go to parent and toddler groups and i was surprised at the amount of Granny's that attend ! I drive so we are always out and about it breaks up the day, and i am also lucky that she takes a nap for 1-2 hours so thats when i recharge my batteries lol. It takes a wee while to get into the swing of things but if you just take your time and relax it can be great fun.

Good decision flower. I think little girls are easier to look after than boys and am hoping that I might get asked to look after my little grandaughter sometimes as I'm no longer needed to look after the boys. I just hope that it doesn't change the dynamic of the relationship with your DIL though, even though you do get on very well with her.

Oh and buy a playpen, it gives you peace of mind if you have to run to the toilet etc. lol.

Yes, I would do it to, you will be helping out and forging a good relationship with the children at the same time.As city granny says, get a playpen!So many parents don't have them now, and it's a nightmare If you need the loo or to answer the phone etc.If it all proves too much for you, then at least you have tried.

My grandson used to go into his playpen and shut the door when I asked him to so I could go to the loo. I always said please and thank you to him for doing so . I spent quite a lot of time looking after him when he was a toddler but feel a bit sad that, even though I remember what we did [eg reading Thomas the Tank over and over again] he doesn't recall any of it. When he was in his high chair I used to blow bubbles around the kitchen and when he got older I always used to sit at his little table with him to eat. I asked him about the house he lived in back then and he can only remember the house where he is now.

Tegan, yes it's sad isn't it that they remember so little.My eldest DGS remembers virtually nothing of when he was small, and our own children the same. I did read that the brain actively dumps memories of no consequence so the child can fill it with memories that are important to remember, which is called something along the lines of conscious amnesia.So none of us recall much of what happened before we are about five years old, unless it was momentous or terrible in some way.However, although they won't actively recall things that we did for them, I like to think that it still helps build the relationship.

They do 'absorb' that love when they're little, in the same way that babies/young children that have been badly treated don't get over it, even if they don't remember what happened.