my MIL is a family day care mum, she loves it. She used to be an emergency foster care mum but when she moved up north, she decided she needed a bit of a break, so went into FDC. She was saying that the checks they do are really stringent, they checked over ALL her toys and made her replace a few (that had parts that *could* break), they also went over her house with a fine tooth comb, checked out her vehicle, did criminal checks etc - she said that the checking they did for FDC was MORE than they did for fostering.

I'd say give it a go, I was in FDC after my dad died, predominantly after school care (with a few families) and on school holidays and I loved it, it was like having brothers & sisters close to my own age (my brother is 25 years older than me and until his first was born when I was 8 I didn't really have any "siblings"). I think I learnt more about sharing etc from day care than I ever did in school/kindy/occasional care.

This will be the path that we'll go down when we have kids (even if I become a SAHM) - we can't convince my MIL to move back to Brisbane, so I'll have to find somebody good and local - not that I'd expect her to raise my kids for me (unlike my DH's sister-in-law who goes away for "breaks" while her husband is working in the mines & just leaves their child with my MIL - my MIL is their FDC on a day-to-day basis anyway).