Pros and cons of nursery?

what are some of your pros and cons?

@Jodie Development and social interaction for LO the 15 hours free childcare (initially my parents were going to babysit and mil however this is temporary and stepmum now is unwell so unable to babysit) No rainy days as nursery is open all year round. Will prepare LO ready for actual nursery and school. She will develop social skills and learn to be without us /family members. Cons - LO will be with someone unfamiliar. - worried she can't speak yet so unable to tell us if something happened at nursery. - picking up bugs and all sorts at nursery. - accidents and injuries. Just the thought of leaving her with strangers is upsetting me. And worried she'd be in a room with other children so attention shared so she may not be well looked after.

I’m not fully against nursery but I’m on the side of holding off till 3ish where possible. My first went to a childminder for a blip then Covid happened then a nursery and it did her so much damage (she is an extreme example). She’s home educated now. My second was looked after at home along side his sister for a year and then with me for another year and a half and I’m considering a nursery for him now but still tentatively because his communication is still a struggle. Third baby I won’t consider till 2/3….if it wasn’t for my first the second and third would have undoubtedly gone to nursery or a childminder from 1 though, I’ve given up my job to accommodate my eldest so the younger ones benefit from me being available for them too.

@Kierrah ohh this makes me worry sorry to hear that. 😢

Most children do fine… but some don’t and then everyone just pushes to keep going and sometimes it ends really badly. Whatever you do, my biggest advice is listen to your child. We didn’t, we listened to people who aren’t here to pick up the pieces and support us and we’ve had to sort ourselves out and it’s hard.

My LO started nursery a few weeks ago now and she absolutely loves it. She loves the workers there and is happy to go to them in the morning with no troubles. They give her big cuddles and she giggles with them on drop off. She’s gotten so much better with eating solids. Learning from other children. She’s picked up a few new skills. Pointing is one. I have more energy for her and am now more enthusiastic about doing things with her because of this. Which to me is huge. She has picked up a bug once so far. But this will happen either now or when they go to school. It will happen regardless. I’d rather she build her immune system up now. Currently I have no cons if I’m honest.

Also regards to your con with being with someone unfamiliar. They don’t just put them in. They are gradually introduced. So they become familiar to them. The ratio is 1:3. They will have attention. But I think it’s also good for them to learn they need to share their attention with others. If they can understand that at that age.

@Kierrah this is my concern as she isn't at a talking age as she'll just be 1. I'd be more comfortable with her being at that age where she can communicate and tell me if something is wrong.

@Charlotte thank you for this insight that's really helpful to know.

My son LOVES nursery. He goes 3 days a week. The activities they do with him are amazing, toys we don’t have, he loves the staff and other kids and watching, also all of the new and different foods he hasn’t had at home. My only con is the bugs. It’s inevitable. Although I like to think of him building an immune system before school and not making that his first environment of staff/kids/germs x

@Hollie this is reassuring! Yep the bugs is the con!

Honestly Ada didn’t need to talk to communicate that she wasn’t happy. She hid from her childminder when we saw her out and about, she refused to poo in her care, she didn’t babble there, drop offs were awful etc. she was only there 7 weeks but she hated ever single one. Then we did nursery from 22 months and she still wasn’t talking yet but again, drop offs were awful, it took months for her to stop bursting into tears at pick up, she didn’t eat much, a year in they asked if we wanted a referral to speech and language because she didn’t talk much but at home she never stopped talking, when we finally saw her in the setting two years in she was clearly shutting down to cover her distress. Like I said, she is an extreme example but we should have listened better, we never got to “she loves nursery” like everyone said would happen, we got a 3 year old with broken mental health. I’m only saying this because no one was saying this when my first was a baby. Most are fine but not all

Btw, my niece also struggles. They watched what happened with my eldest and they ended up managing to keep her in nursery but had to cut down from 4 days to 2 and get some adjustments for her in the setting