If you've set up a childminding business and are now in the process of picking out workwear, these tips might be helpful.

1. Focus on making your inexpensive clothes look as good as possible

If you want parents to feel confident about your ability to take good care of their children, then you need to not only have qualifications and plenty of experience but also be well-presented. However, it's best to do this by finding ways to make your hardier and less-costly garments look good, instead of wearing delicate or expensive fabrics, such as cashmere and silk.

To run a successful childminding business, you need to interact with the children you take care of and ensure that they do lots of interesting and educational activities during their time with you. This might include letting them do things like baking and painting, or going outside and playing chase or teaching them how to garden. If these children are very young, they will get dough, paint, mud or grass stains on their hands during these activities, which they may then transfer to your clothing when they interact with you.

If you're wearing a cashmere top or a silk skirt, these items will end up ruined. As such, it's best to stick to classic-but-hardy clothes and dress them up with stylish, child-friendly accessories (such as stud earrings that the children won't be able to grab).

2. Wear items that you feel comfortable doing physical activities in

As mentioned above, you'll need to provide your clients' children with the opportunity to do lots of activities, many of which will involve movement and exercise. You may, for example, have to kneel or sit down on the floor with them whilst they play with their letter blocks or make jigsaw puzzles and whilst they help you to plant flowers in the garden.

If you wear items that don't make it easy for you to move in this way (for example, if you wear fitted jeans that are hard to kneel in or shorts that result in your legs getting scratched by the carpet when you sit down on it), you may be less inclined to get involved or to help out the children when they're doing these activities, in which case you'll be letting down both these kids and the parents who pay you to look after them. Because of this, you must ensure that your workwear has enough 'give' in it to enable you to kneel, sit cross-legged or even climb a tree without too much difficulty.