nursery or childminder?

msb5262

DaisyFlower wrote: »

With a nursery, you know where your child is all the time. There are very few visitors and certainly no friends. No having to be taken out on school runs in all weathers or going to activities not suited to the age.

This is what I find odd about nurseries - in a home context, children are routinely taken on the school run in all weathers AND go to activities not suited to their age, simply because they have siblings!
My DD was born when DS1 was two, and I remember thinking that she had a far more interesting babyhood than he did, purely because she was taken out and about to playgroup, toddler group, baby gym, music sessions etc with her big brother.
To me it's all part of a normal upbringing: children shouldn't be cared for in a sterile environment with only "age appropriate" toys, routines and activities. Babies seem to thrive on being warmly cared for in a fairly busy family type setting - i.e. in a family home.

Hope this casts yet another light on the whole issue!

MsB

leos-mummy

My son has been at his nursery since he was 3 months and he loves it... although i think its because my mum works there in his baby room and he always has a familiar face, might be a different story in september when he moves to the big room when hes 2 where she doesnt work lol. I really couldnt fault his nursery but then again its personal preference. Dont be scared to visit several nurseries and ask lots of questions. Ive never used a childminder so cant really comment. I think the social interaction at my sons nursery is great... he has learnt songs and actions, learnt to sit at a table and feed himself etc. Im sure there are 'good' and 'bad' nurseries in all areas. Do what you feel is best... instinct will tell you whether childminder/nursery is suitable
All the best

Rockporkchop

vroombroom wrote: »

[There is a nursery on site which I get an automatic place in (if I chose to send E there) and they also have plenty of parking around the college I am going to as the bus route isnt great (you have to walk around a mile from town!)

Nursery would be my choice and if there is a nursery on site then I would definitely send my baby there, what a bonus. It means you could get there really quickly if needed (and in the early days especially I found that they were always phoning for one reason and another) and spend less of your precious time on drop offs and pick ups etc, especially as you only need care for a few hours.

Actually, looking at your original post, I think you would be hard pressed to get your LO into a normal nursery with the hours you need as you normally have to book either a morning or an afternoon session and your three hours are sort of in the middle. Also you would probably have to pay for a whole day on Wednesdays even though you don't really need it. Even a childminder might not want to use up a space for such a part time arrangement.

a_confused_mum

rachbc wrote: »

Also bare in mind that for CM also look after old kids after school and there is no upper limit on the no of over age 8 - one I looked at 11!!!

Actually even though we 'could' care for a lot more over 8's we are still limited by our insurers.....each insurance comany {ncma/mm} will give a maximum number of over 8's.

izoomzoom

onlyroz wrote: »

Some nurseries will do this - in the summer months my daughter's nursery will take the children out in groups to the park, library etc.

My experience of nurseries taking LOs out to the park is that they all get pushed in a massive buggy to the park, taken out for a customary photograph and then put back in the buggy to go back to the nursery.

rachbc

izoomzoom wrote: »

My experience of nurseries taking LOs out to the park is that they all get pushed in a massive buggy to the park, taken out for a customary photograph and then put back in the buggy to go back to the nursery.

My dd's nursery take the toddlers and preschoolers out on trips on the bus, to feed the ducks, to the park, shopping. I often see another local nursery having picnics in the park.

tooldle

My daughters nursery did this as well. If you left your own pushchair with them, the child would be taken out in it. One nursery nurse per pushchair,with an older chil on the reins. They went out most days in the summer months. I still see them in the park now, when walking home from work.

vroombroom

thanks for the info guys

Yep we have a place in the uni creche, but I wanted to have a look round first before definitely sending him there. I've emailed a few nurseries in the area and have registered on childcare.co.uk for childminders x

stephyt23

grey_lady wrote: »

Do you happen to know if the poorly run nurseries had an accurate ofsted rating/report? Just wondering how useful these reports are.

The one nursery hasn't had an Ofsted done since 2007 which showed it to be good. However I happened to be there on a day Ofsted turned up. It turned out a few parents had complained which is why they were there, it wasn't just to do a normal inspection. It was a complete farce as they were suddenly trying to act all different and pretend the nursery was run properly. It was only my 3rd time on supply there and I was told to sit with the whole room of children and read to them. I was given names of children to pretend I was their keyworker for them for the day in case I was spoken to. (The Nursery had a board outside the room showing key worker groups, however I never once saw activities being done as the board suggested, the children were just allowed to run around all day with no structure what so ever). I felt the worst bit for me was when a child had a toilet accident and rather than the staff help me I was told to deal with it on my own. (all of this was while the Ofsted officers were still in the room) I do wish I'd actually gone and spoken to one of the Ofsted officers and told them about my day there.

As for another one I used to work for I wasn't there when they had an Ofsted done, it was carried out the year after I left, which again showed it to be good. I certainly won't go into my thoughts about this one as I could honestly be here all day, but lets just say that how it's still open is beyond me!

So personally they are not always great. To my mind Ofsted shouldn't tell anyone when they are planning to turn up as it's amazing how everything changes when they know they are going to be inspected. Suddenly everyone wants to follow the rules and try and make it look like things are being done correctly. As soon as the inspections over everything goes back to normal. Again I'm not saying all Nurseries are like this but I could definitely write a book about the bad practice I've seen.

go_cat

I went back to work in a November when DS was just 6 months old and opted for nursery because at that age I didn't want him spending half his day doing the school run in the cold / wind / snow.