Childminder v's Day Nursery

trinnylilac

In the next few months I have to unfortunatly find childcare for my now 13month old daughter. I feel sick at the thought of it and wish I could give up work but we need both our wages to pay the mortgage.

I have been really lucky as in the past my husband and I have worked opposite shifts and so my other three children have always been at home with ether one of us.

My other half will be changing positions at work in the next few months which will mean his shifts will be so unpredictable we will definatly need childcare.

Has anyone got any advice about which route to take, get a local childminder or find a day nursery. I can see poitives and negatives with both and I really don't know what to do or where to start.

$17mma

It's a difficult call and you have to follow your gut feeling.

We stuck DD in a nursery between 12 months-3yrs just felt that as she could not talk I wanted her to be in an environment where a group of people were so there was more than one person looking out for her. Not only that the nursery assistants also had their children there and our daughter still stays in touch and visits all of them from time to time.

Once she was pre school age we moved her to a child minder, however if I had met our childminder before hand I would have used her from day one. She is fabulous.

I know you want to ensure that you find the best care for your child, so take your time and as I said follow your gut feelings.

Get references and speak to other parents to find out their view on the care their child is receiving.

trinnylilac

You have really summed it up for me as although I would rather her be with same person everyday. How on earth do you begin to trust another person with the most precious thing you have.
In a way I agree that in a way at least in a nursery there are lots of people there to keep an eye on them but then think back to a panorama undercover in a nursery program I saw a few years ago and I think noooo
I know I am being completly irrational

$17mma

Trinnylilac

You are right, how can you trust someone with the most precious thing in your life, what I done was trust God with her.

Like you I had to to go back to work and was at uni at the time too, and had to leave her.

Was really hard at first, but she came on leaps and bounds and learnt from all the other children too. In the end she was sad to leave the nursery, but she made so many friends there we always stop by to say hello, especially when she started her first day at school we took her in to show them her new uniform!

Like I said, your instincts are ALWAYS right, that little voice that we sometimes hear will let you know if she will be ok.

And no you are not being irrational, this is your baby there is nothing like a mothers love.

So write yourself a check list and when you go there to see spend a day with them and maybe stop by un announced a couple of times to see what the place is really like without the airs and graces, this will let you test the security and reception from staff you may not have met.

And the best observation of all is of the children themselves. Do they seem happy there? are they interacting? are they clean? etc.

Spendless

Hi- As you say there are pros and cons. Mine have only gone to nurseries but they didn't start there till they were 2. A childminder will give a home environment and one carer, but ask what arrangements there are in place for if the childminder is sick/on holiday. Also if the childminder decides to stop childminding for whatever reason(eg a few round here have given up or packed in for 6 -12 months when they've had a baby themselves) then you will be looking for another carer and a a different setting.

Don't know if you will need childcare till babys school days but the funding you can get at 3 (which reduces your costs) is only available here at nurseries and pre-schools. We have no accredited childminders in my town.

Daughters nursery only opens and closes at a set time, if you are late collecting then you will be charged extra. A childminder can be flexible if you are running late. So depends on how your job is whether you need to stop late sometimes or how bad traffic is.

I'd say weigh up your advantages and disadvantages of both and see what suits your needs most.

Good Luck

stuart1266

I would personally choose a nursery everytime. Both of my kids went there and from an early age, they learn to play, respect and learn with other kids. I only realised how important it was when they went to school. They embraced it like an adventure, neither of them nervous and really enjoyed going. They made friends quickly and settled down easily. However, this has now all changed as they are at high school and the law states that kids at high school must moan and whinge about school and everything else in life!!

emma_b_4

hi
i used to work as a nursery nurse and b4 that as a nanny.

the main differences really are the social setting of a nursery (but, admittedly less time actually bonding one to one with children), the facilities (eg outdorr play equipment soft play) and the fact that the place is purposely designed for children

CM - great for one to one bonding , but might not have the chance to bond with other children, hours could be a bit more flexible.dont really have much exp with childminders as was a nanny, which is in your own home rather than theirs. suppose its similar in some ways though.

when going to a nursery ask these types of questions;
(and ask them to the staff aswell as the "boss")

- how long have you worked here? what did you do before?
- whats the daily routin? how flexible is it ? (eg sleep times, some nurserys opertae a "set" time like after lunch when all youngsters are encouraged to sleep, others its when the child is showing to be tired)
- menu
- some scenerios, eg what would you do if my child had an accident? wouldnt settle?
- security - door, gate etc
- how the staff look - happy or bored or fed up?
- speak to other parents if they around.
- offsted report (although most are good cos nurseries know when they are gonna get checked)
- ask them on ratios

will post more when think of more, brain tired

Lillibet_2

I have spoken to my HV about this very issue last week as I am considering going back to work part time when Spud reaches 12 months. I was suprised by her advice but as she seems very sound & so far I have found her advice to be invaluable (unlike all my friends who hate their HV's not without reason as they do seem to get some odd reccomendations from them) I have taken on board what she says.

Firstly visit every type of childcare style which is within your budget & get a feel for all the options. Visit more than one of each setting, as many as you can, as they all vary hugely. Gut instinct about what suits your child & you can never be replaced. In her experience, children under 2 benefit more from being with a childminder, as at that age securtiy is their first feeling : am I secure here or insecure? And the feeling of security comes from recognition. That is not to say that a child won't feel secure in a nursery environment, just that in her experience a child minder is better for under 2s.

I know this is going to be controversial, I am only (very badly) repeating what I was recommeded last week by someone I trust who has experience. Unfortunately I haven't put it nearly as well as she put it to me. My HV also re-iterated that nurserys have a lot of good points too & that chosing a nursery may be the better option for indvidual circumstances/area etc, but if she was chosing for her children or grandchildren (she has 3 children & 6 grandchildren & does seem to know one end of a child from another unlike some HV's!) she would chose a childminder until they were 2 years old.

Please all the people with children under 2 in nurserys, don't flame me:o

HTH;)

Edit to inc costs : around here nurseries are around £60 per day inc all food exc all nappies, child minders are around £40-45 per day as above. HTH

Jet

I have used both for my son when he was under 5 and personally preferred a nursery environment for him. I felt it was structured and the children are given 100% attention at an age when they need adult interaction to stimulate them. He thrived in the nursery environment but was very unhappy with the childminder.

A lot of childminders have a lot of older children before and after school and this surely has an impact on the time they can spend interacting with your child? Unless you can use the childminder in school hours and not in the holidays, this is something that is worth bearing in mind.

Also, when you are relying on one person to look after your child, you have to accept that she/he may have very different ideas on how your child should behave than you do. Be prepared to visit lots of childminders and ask lots of questions if this is the route you decide to go down.

The downside with nurseries is that they often have quite "fixed" hours which may not suit your working hours.

bestpud

I would say nursery too.

There are obviously some very good childminders out there but I've had a bad experience with dd and would never use one again. This particular person actually looked after all my children and I had no issues with the first two, but, for some reason, my youngest was not well cared for. I certainly feel happier knowing there are other people around in a nursery setting and dd is very happy.

I visited every nursery several times, including unnanounced, before choosing where to send dd. Some I ruled out straight away and in the end I went with my gut instinct but I haven't had a single cause to regret my eventual decision and she's been there 3 years now.

Hth, it's a very difficult decision.

lara1983

I was left with a child minder from being very little. It was just me and one other little boy, and although I obviously can't remember much, I certainly know I was happy and have turned out fine! She wasn't a massively active Mary Poppins type person either - my mum said I always used to watch 'Sons and Daughters' with her, but I felt safe with her and she felt like my second mummy while I was there.
Have you considered whether you could maybe have a little time with your child at lunch? My mum is a teacher and used to come home from school for half an hour at lunch, give me a cuddle and a breast feed (!) and take me back to the minder after that (beyond the call of duty perhaps!).
I'm sure nurseries are just as good, and I was quite shy when I went to school, but that's maybe just a personality thing as much an anything at that age.
It's true that child minders often stop doing it - between age 1-12 I had five different child minders, of varying qualities. The best one had loads of outdoor toys in her garden, a couple of her own children who me and my sister loved playing with, made her own lollies and had a fun 'cutting and sticking' activity prepared for us every night.
Let's face it, whatever you choose, it's going to be hard to leave them. But I guarantee that if you find someone/somewhere nice, you'll immediately feel more relaxed about it all.