This topic is a topic I go back and forth with numerous times a week.
When children turn three they get fifteen free hours from the government to go to a nursery, play scheme or child minder. However the way it works is that it's the term after you turn three unless you have circumstantial reasons for your child to go sooner.
| Child’s birthday | When you can claim |
| 1 January to 31 March | the beginning of term on or after 1 April |
| 1 April to 31 August | the beginning of term on or after 1 September |
| 1 September to 31 December | the beginning of term on or after 1 January |
This means that Lily will be a little over 3 and 2 months when she gets her free hours which I'll be honest feels like a long time to wait when I feel like she's ready now. We could of course pay nursery fees until January, and this is something we might still do, but nursery fees are expensive and I have my own reasons for wanting Lily in a Primary School based nursery and they generally don't accept children before they turn three.
Last night I sat down and made a list of all the reasons for and against having Lily go to nursery now.
Pros
- She is so incredibly ready. She is so confident and loves interacting with children and I have no worries about her not settling in or enjoying it.
- She already walks and talks like a three year old and is often mistaken for one
- I worry I'm not 'entertaining' enough for her. She's at the age where she needs constant stimulation that I'm struggling to give her
- She's never been left before and it would do her good to spend some time without me. I left her at the Ikea crèche for 45 minutes yesterday, it was the first time I've left her and she LOVED not having me around. Didn't miss me at all and kept telling me she was a grown up haha. This made me think again about how much she'd love nursery.
- There's so many things I could do with my spare time, like get my potential business up and running..and sleeeep! ;)
- Oh & I could keep on top of the housework for once!!
- I like the idea of her having people to play with and things to learn about
Cons
- Nursery costs money and we could really do with saving our pennies right now
- She's not yet potty trained
- She still needs a nap in the middle of the day and I'm not sure how that would work with a nursery set up as I'm certain she wouldn't nap at nursery. No nap Lily = Extremely grumpy Lily!
- All of the private nursery spaces I've seen so far have an over threes and an under threes room. Lily would have to be in the under threes room but the over three room is much more suited to her.
- I'm very lucky to be a SAHM and there's tons of working mums out there who would love to be in my position.
- She gets social interaction with other children on an almost daily basis as we go several play groups a week and spend time at my mums, who is a child minder and has several children around.
- There's no immediate rush when I sit and think about it. She's happy and thriving at home and January is just around the corner
So to be honest the jury's still out on this one. I'l probably um and ah about it all the way to January and next thing I know it will be time for her to go anyway!
Did you struggle with deciding when to put your child in nursery? When did he/she start?
I'd love to hear any experiences or advice!
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Im currently having this battle with myself, Lilly turns 3 next week but i still haven't decided x
ReplyDeleteIt's a hard decision to make isn't it xx
DeleteWhat a difficult decision....I think I would wait until she was potty trained or at least well on the way. My girl turned 3 on the 29th of August so started nursery a few days later. She wasn't potty trained and it was so stressful with her wetting herself 2 or 3 times a session.....Like you said she is thriving at home so I would not worry about it....January will be here before you know it ;)
ReplyDeleteWas it hard to get her potty trained when she was spending time between home and nursery? I think your right and it might be easier to wait especially as primary school nurseries will only accept children who are potty trained. I have a feeling January will come round really fast xx
DeleteWe started Ashton at nursery when he turned two. We have had to pay, but I honestly felt like it was so worth it (for us) we had our own reasons for wanting him to go, having another baby, worries, etc. But he has loved every day of it, he has benefitted so much, and now can't wait to go into the bigger class next week. But as you said, Lily is thriving at home, where as my boy wouldn't of done that. I do think when she is really ready, and you in turn are really ready then it will happen, until then enjoy every minute of your time together and look forward to January. xx
ReplyDeleteYes that's true! I'm so glad Ashtons enjoying it! Thanks xx
DeleteThomas turned 3 last october and I started him in a preschool the september before, so we had to pay for a few months but I felt it was a good idea to start him when a lot of other kids would be starting, but he at the timr wasn't having naps in the day anymore and was pretty much potty trained, in fact I think being at the preschool helped him along with that. I think its a tough decision in your situation if she is still having napsand if they are just going to move her to a different room anyway. maybe start her after christmas? or just get in touch with where you want to send her and take her to see what she thinks, are moving Tom to a different prechool after the summer holidays to one that feeds into his school a bit more. We are lucky in that our kids get to be nearly 5 when they start school so they have plenty of time. xx
ReplyDeleteYeah that makes sense. We're hoping to get her into a nursery that's attached to a primary school so that she can go off to primary school with all her friends, but we don't hear till September whether they'll have spaces for January or not. Lily will be nearly 5 when she starts too :) xx
DeleteIts a hard thing to ponder. My oldest never went to preschool or daycare, what we call it in the states and there aren't any government incentives to put your kids in pre-school, but my six year old is doing great in school and very social. My three year old ocassionally goes to a drop in center and loves it! He keeps asking me to go back all the time and we try to send him there a couple times a month. I think its great for both of us. I would say if you are worried about her socialization, find some mom groups in your area and do playdates until she's three. It sounds like you are doing an awesome job with her. I am visiting from the #letsbefriends hop. I blog over at: http://mommyonlyhas2hands.org/2015/07/the-minions-and-my-minions-on-wordlesswednesday/
ReplyDelete