If I'm looking after children of different ages, how do I work out ratio's?

-ie; I have 3 children, aged 2,3, and 6, and would like to start a childminding business, with the hope of extending this to a small nursery. How do I work out ratio's when I have such a variety of ages, and bearing in mind my own children's care, how many children can I 'take on'? As my husband will be at home some of the time, does he need any childcare qualifications too? I am also interested in collecting children from school; do I need special insurance, and what are the ratio's then? Please help, I am a little bit confused!!!it depends upon the level of qualification that you/your employees hold.

eg a level 3 practitioner can be responsible for more children than a level 2.

Also depends on the age of the children as with younger children the ratio is smaller for obvious reasons.
I'm not sure what country you're in, but I work in the industry & when we have a variety of ages amongst children, we have to go by the ratio appropriate for the youngest child in the group (assuming there is only 1 person caring for the children - you probably couldn't include your husband in ratio because you say he's only there sometimes & I would assume he is unqualified & I'm also assuming that you wouldn't be paying him! You can only include people who are being paid to work there in your ratios).

So in the case of having an infant, aged 2 or less in the group, you can only have 5 children with yourself caring & you must include your own children in the ratios if they are going to be there. If you were to start a business, I'm pretty sure you can only take on 5 children per day, because there is a good chance there would be infants in the group.

The ratio for babies is 1:5, for 2-3yr olds it's 1:8 & for 4-6yr olds it's 1:10

So basically if it's only you most of the time, it'd be 1:5 regardless of ages & including your own children.

Hope this helped :)
This isn't going to be especially helpful in answering your particular question, but I offer it only in the hope that, when you do work out the numbers etc. you improve the education of the children.



Your question uses what is sometimes termed "the greengrocer's apostrophe". The plural of the the word "ratio" is simply "ratios". It doesn't need the possessive apostrophe. (The allusion to greengrocers refers to their inclination to put labels such as "apple's 20 pence" on their stalls.)



Regarding your question, you will be subject to national and local legislation, inspections and analysis if you move beyond looking after your own family. Indeed, there are many who would like you to be checked and tested to manage your own children. It's going to be a major challenge to you and your current situation, but you seem to have the right questions in mind, anyway. Good luck.