DD is 21 months old. I work part time and my Mum looks after her on the days I work but DH and I have decided that we want her to start going to the Nursery attached to our local Primary school for a couple of sessions a week.
The main reason for this is that DD is behind in her speech. She only has 6 words that she says consistently and probably another five that she has said once or twice then hasn't said again. I took her to the Speech and Language clinic and they weren't concerned as her understanding and non-verbal communication is very good but they said that attending Nursery might encourage her to speak more. The second reason is that I think it will help to gradually prepare her for starting school as she is very used to one to one attention at the moment. As an added bonus it that it will give me a couple of hours to get some housework done in peace!
We mentioned to PIL's that DD would be starting Nursery and they assumed this was because I was increasing my work hours, when we explained that i wasnt and what the reasons actually were they seemed flabbergasted. They said they couldn't understand why anyone would "farm their child out to strangers" when they didn't need actually need to and that it was "odd". MIL made some snide comments about how in her day Mum's "didn't think we were entitled to me time" etc. DH had stern words with them and they started back tracking pretty quickly then but it has sort of stuck with me.
DH says just ignore them but they really push my buttons and I already feel guilty for leaving her to go out to work so I am quite sensitive to this sort of thing. I can't be the only Mum whose child does a couple of sessions at Nursery even though we don't technically need the childcare, can I? I know I shouldnt care what people think but I don't like the idea that people who don't know our reasons will think I just want DD out the way so I can sit around eating bon bons and watching daytime TV.