Milli Evans Childminding

So humbling to see your setting on display! The children loved pointing out themselves and their friends in the exhibition photos! 😍🤗🤩

Such a humbling experience to be a part of this Early Years expansion campaign across Greater Manchester. It all started with a film crew visiting our setting where we shared what we do and talked a little about some of the advantages and challenges faced when being an Early Years educator. The children loved seeing how the cameras and lighting worked and the film makers themselves were excellent at making it an interactive experience for the children whilst they were here 🤓🤗🎬🎥. Nearly a year later and we were invited to a fantastic launch event at Manchester Art Gallery last Thursday. My Mum (Nanna Kate) came up to support on the day and surprised us with a beautiful bouquet of summer flowers 🌷🤗 We had a day trip out to Manchester for the occasion and the children were delighted to see themselves and their friends photographs on display in Gallery 1 where the event is taking place all of this month - it’s worth a visit if you get the chance! I think the favourite part of the day for the children was the novelty of our train rides and the many many trams that past us on our walk down to Manchester Art Gallery 😍😂🚝🚞💺

I love my job and feel honoured to get to work with such amazing children, we laugh every day and each day I am absolutely blown away by the progress that the children make. I am grateful to hear all about their weekends and the things that they have enjoyed doing with family over the weekend and love that they are excited to share this with me 🥰🥹 No two days are ever the same, we welcome challenges along the way and work through them together 🤓💪It’s that time of year where some of our little ones are moving up to preschool or going to primary school next academic year and although it is always hard having to see them go I could not be prouder of how far they have come and the wonderful little young people that they are 🥰 I know that whatever the next steps they will absolutely thrive and I feel humbled to have gotten to be a part of their journey - if only for a short time 🥹🤗

Why consider a career working with Early Years children?

For me I have found my calling. It’s a hard profession with long hours, late night and weekend admin, you never stop cleaning 😂🤣 But I wouldn’t have it any other way. Planning activities for the little ones motivates me so much, I love seeing how they take what I have planned and do their own things, unexpected things with it. I never stop learning from the children and feel inspired to constantly expand my knowledge with research. Almost all of the research I do in my own time is in support of the children’s individual goals. I don’t do it because I have to, I do it because I want to and the progress that the children make means a lot to me. Working with young children inspires a professional curiosity which many careers don’t. When you get to see first hand the knock on effect of what you do for a living, the reward is immeasurable. And it doesn’t end when you say goodbye and then child goes off to school. Working within early years is being a part of a wider community. You will bump into children years after they have left you and hold back the tears as they come running across a busy supermarket or playground to come and hug you after all that time has passed 🥹🥰

Just like in teaching, you never forget a child and think of them fondly after they leave hoping that they are getting on well with their next steps. You make a real difference in this profession, helping young people to develop skills for life as well as early academic skills. And to anyone considering a career change or side step I can promise you two things:

1) It’s going to be one of the best decisions you have made in your life 🤗
2) There will never, ever be a dull moment 👌😂🤣😜

In case you missed it - here’s a sneak peek at the campaign video below, which will hopefully convince others to consider a career in this wonderful profession…

Milli's Childminding Career Journey "I've always been quite curious and passionate about early years brain development... I've always wanted to create this home from home environment." Milli is...

This really is the toughest job in the world 🩷 If this was your interview - would you apply for this job?

WATCH: Interviews for World's Toughest Job Millions of people saw a job posting by a Boston agency for a "director of operations" position, but only 24 people applied.In today's tough job market, why ...

Some hearts are a little bit broken - but they are still beautiful and full of love 🥰🫶🩷 awareness week 💔

This morning we have been talking about the important role our hearts play within our bodies. We have looked at ways we can keep a healthy heart - like lots of moving about and eating healthy foods. We have shared our feelings and talked about how different things can make us feel happy and sad and why it is so important to be a good friend to others 🥰🫂

We talked about how some people are born with a broken heart and that sometimes they may feel tired and may not be able to play - but that’s ok, because we can still help them to be happy by bringing the play to them or asking how we can help 😌

We were painting our own valentines hearts whilst talking about children who have a broken heart this morning and one of our children then proceeded to rip their beautifully painted heart in half and said ‘broken heart, still beautiful’ 💔 I could have cried 🥹 ‘That’s absolutely right, a heart may be broken but it is still beautiful’ 🥹🥰

Why not encourage your child to appreciate a broken heart this valentines 🥹🫶🩷Xx

Dear future bank balance,

I’m sorry. I couldn’t not 😍😍😍

The importance of role play in the early years is a vital part of play. It enables children to further develop language and communication skills and to build schemas to cope with real life experiences. It removes the ‘unfamiliar’ aspect of day-to-day activities and empowers children to develop a sense of pride within their own capabilities and as part of belonging to a wider community.

Why do childminders sometimes take little ones to the shops?

-Opportunity to learn about making ‘healthy choices’ when choosing food and drink items.

-Childminders can take lots of time and go at a slow pace with little ones, making a fun game of the trip to enable children to build a positive association with visiting the supermarket (which they will likely later do with parents/carers at home).

-Inviting ‘people in the community’ to engage with the children, striking up conversations and asking questions, reinforcing a positive sense of belonging in the community whilst modelling positive interactions with those working within our community.

-Subliminal learning (extending cultural capitalism opportunities) in future life, children will instinctively know they need to walk to the back of the shop to find their bread 🍞😂 They won’t remember how they have learned this but they will quickly adapt to life’s many ‘processes’ which we take for granted every day as a learning experience.

-Enabling children to learn about the journey of a cooked meal and understand the value of money. Children help to find the ingredients needed for a meal we cook together, they then get to see first hand how that food is used to make something delicious bringing a sense of reward and appreciation to the effort which has taken place beforehand. Many childminders will take cash with them, for the children to hand over to the check out cashier. It would be a real shame if our next generation only remember the ‘bleep’ and not the physical action of handing over cash and waiting for change (early numeracy links).

Children gain so much from both role play and trips to places within their community. If you see a setting out and about in the community, do wave and smile, do show courtesy and consideration and be polite. We are all part of our community and will play a huge role in the next generations assumptions and expectations of what it means to be British, what it means to be a good citizen and how to be kind 🤗😌🫶 # # #

On the bus ready to ‘Shine’ for everyone who has been affected by Cancer 🫶🥰❤️Please don’t forget to donate via the link 🫶🤗 Every contribution made helps thousands and means the absolute world to those who have personally been affected, or the family members of those affected by cancer! Shine with me and donate now! ❤️‍🩹🩷🙏 # # #

https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/millis-giving-page-11?urn=748923112&utm_medium=email&utm_source=mcmp&utm_campaign=N24NAGGLE6&utm_content=N24NAGGLE6002&utm_team=Shine_IN_N24NAGGLE6_GoodLuck_Regional_Email_Aug24

Woohoo! 🙌🥳🎉 Yeah I did! 🤩😂🤣 Finally completed and passed my NPQ Leadership Qualification (It’s been a very busy two years indeed!) and will shortly be added to my current TRN qualifications for all to see 😁🙌🫶 I’ll certainly miss the late evening seminars and conferences with the lovely Ladies on my course but I’ve made a wonderful network of friends across the UK and have already put so much of the academic Theory I’ve learned into practice 🤓. I’m so glad I persevered - even amidst my first Ofsted Inspection, a regional media campaign and everything else going on personally - it’s certainly not been easy 🥳🥂🎉 …and breathe! 😮‍💨🧘‍♀️

My cohort group of 40 setting leaders, owners and managers have decided to keep in touch so we can continue to share good leadership practice within all of our UK based Early Years settings. This includes Childminder Settings, Pre-Schools, Nursery and Specialist provision Leaders. I’ll certainly be eyeing up future events and seminars to ensure I keep up to date with all the latest legal policy updates and anything that will ultimately help me to help children to thrive here at Milli Evans Childminding. Happy Wednesday everyone! 😂🤩🤗

Kind regards,
Milli Evans
BA, MSC, PC-Cert, PGCE (with QTS), NPQEYL 😎😉

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