pain of nursery fees

pandora205

Statutory school age is actually the term after the child is 5 though few areas wait that late before providing education.

Devon is fairly late in comparison with other areas, although in many ways the structure of school life can be quite demanding for young children (depending how much - or how little - is play based and informal). It would certainly be worth checking out the local school+nursery combination.

I don't think you are moaning OP. The costs of nurseries are huge when you have more than one child and you are facing the dilemma that many of us face in thinking about children, families and work.

tsstss7

OP don't forget to factor in 9 mths pregnancy and up to one year maternity before you have to pay nursery for the next child that's nearly the two years you need to wait until your dd starts school isn't it? even if you only take 6 mths it's still not very long to wait.

Also presumably you could save on nursery fee's when on maternity as full time nursery wouldn't be neccessary.

milliemonster

Have you tried a childminder rather than nursery? childminders are usually cheaper and give one to one care

causey25

Hi there
You have my sympathy - I'm in a similar position & it really sucks sometimes.
My son starts school soon, which will save me a fortune, but at 39 & with debts to pay off before I could consider another maternity leave, I'm having to accept that I will not have another child.

It does upset me but there's not much I can do about it - I know how lucky I am to have the boy I've got. And I'm going to make sure he learns how to look after his finances better than his mother has done so that the big important decisions don't get made for him.

Good luck with your plans - the 5 free sessions really do make a difference to the bill you know - ask your nursery for an estimate. And 2 years will fly by (you could spend nearly half of it pregnant). Fertility is so unpredictable - if I could rewind a few years I would definitely make different choices.

Causey x

3under3

Hi,

I was in a similar position with regard to being the higher earner and worrying about paying two sets of nursery fees. However, thinking my age was against me we tried for a second child and fell pregnant at 36 with twins straight away. After that there was no debate. OH had to give up his job to look after the 3 of them. DD1 gets funded sessions now and twins will in less than 2 years, at which time OH will go back to some sort of work. As everyone has said your DD will get some funding soon and by the time you had another baby & maternity leave she would probably be at school. You can pay your debts at any age but you can't always have a baby. xx