Nursery. How do you cope

Following this, dreading my son starting in 4 weeks, only 1 day a week though x

My little one starts this week, twice a week. The settling in sessions really helped and made me feel at ease leaving him as he had so much fun and I trust the staff there. If he hadn’t of liked it or I didn’t feel comfortable I wouldn’t have been going back to work. Hope you’re ok

My LB has been going for a month and now enjoys it after initially being unsure. He is only in for 2 days a week which has helped my anxiety (I am part time my partner is full time). We basically focus on all the social and emotional benefits LB will get from being with other kids as we don't have any other kids atm. He will learn to share, communicate and play with others etc. As for feeling safe, we checked out a few places before deciding on one and went for one where the best way to describe the vibe is home away from home. We looked at some that were very professional and some that were obviously a bit worn out, but we decided we didn't want LB in somewhere that felt like it was a job for the staff to be there, we went for the place where it genuinely felt like the staff enjoyed their time with the kids and would look after them like their own. Its kind of hard to describe fully, but thats the best way I can describe the vibe of the nursery we chose.

@Sophie thank you so much for your reply. Its helping me get my head around it. I applied for 2.5 days but maybe i should just do the 2 to start with while i rebuild my business

My little one started back in April at 7 months old and just loves it! His development has come on so much, he gets excited when we walk in to nursery in the morning and is always shattered at the end of the day. He does 2.5 days a week! The first few weeks are tough, so find some time to do something for yourself, or start with shorter days if you can, but I promise you it gets so much easier and you’ll soon look forward to nursery days as much as your little one! I’ve started a working parents community on insta, TikTok, Slack and LinkedIn for people going through similar to this! Check it out allinthejuggle.com

My little girl has been going for 5 weeks now, she only goes 2 days a week, but she definitely has picked so much up from being there! When she went she had just started to figure out crawling, now she's crawling around easily, pulling herself up and cruising around furniture. I'm convinced it's because she has been watching other kids and wants to copy them. The first 3 sessions I was really worried about her and kept checking my phone all the time to see if they had called, but once I realised she was enjoying it and getting a lot out of it, it was then exciting to take her and to find out how her day has been. Not gonna lie, she's been poorly with colds, viruses and an ear infection since she started, but I figure she's building her immune system

The comments and this post have helped me too ❤️ my boy starts 2nd September. He has 6 settling in sessions for the last two of weeks of August which I hope will help him as well as ease my anxiety. I want to cry everytime I think about it but I know it will be good for both of us xx

My little girl goes twice a week and has been for around 6 weeks now. She loves it and is really thriving. The nursery staff are really good with her and the room she is in has so much for her to explore. I was super stressed thinking about her going but she gets really excited now when she's waiting to go in and comes out in such a good mood.

My boy goes to nursery 3 full days a week and absolutely lives it. His development has come on so much. He genuinely loves it. It was super hard at first, but we're teaching our little ones a very important lesson and good values, that we have to work to earn money. I personally believe that's a good value to instil in them. We get a wonderful update every day as to what he's been up to, when he eats, sleeps, has a nappy change etc. X

@Hattie this is so helpful. Thanks for your reply. Definitely need to feel out the staffs vibes xx

Thank you everyone. I am half gettung excited about looking around some nurserys for him now. My little girl starts in September age 3. Which im way more comfortable with. She can tell me everything and go to the loo on her own. Unfortunately its a 'pre school' so my baby wouldny be able to join until he turns 2 next September. I was hoping to wait it out and have him start then as I would have had a whole year of feeling out the place and staff with my daughter telling m3 about her days. Now they will have to go to seperate places and ill have to play guessing games 😐

@Hattie I totally get what you mean. We looked at 2 and the first one was lovely but a bit clinical if that makes sense. The second one had a warmer feel to it and the all the staff were super engaging with my little girl as we looked around. We went with the 2nd nursery.