To wish nursery opened earlier

[Alarice]

And before anyone says that we need to find a new nursery - they all open at 8.

It's a pain. I really need to be in work before 8, ideally, but as it is, I get in at 8:25 looking and feeling disorganised as hell.

Can you ask any of the staff at nursery if they can come to yours or you drop your child at theirs for 730
And they take to nursery

Obv for payment

but I'm yet to give schools real thought, with her only being 5 months old.

This is why I say people are short sighted. This will come round in the blink of an eye trust me.

Well presumably in the OPs case holiday cover won't be a problem as she will be off in the holidays with her children. Perhaps DH can take annual leave to cover any term overlaps.

OP I sympathise. I'm a teacher and can arrive at 7.30 as DP drops off. I have time to set up in the morning but I do then need to leave by 5 otherwise I'm late to collect. I often end up rushing out the door with work to complete at home.

What time do you leave school? I think as pp suggested, perhaps you need to have everything set and ready to go the night before (as if you were leaving work for supply) then you may feel less stressed walking in at the last minute.

You say DPs job is not flexible. Has he approached work? Could he do a late start/late finish one or two days a week to ease the pressure on you?

Yes, you need to plan for school soon.

Have you asked any of the nurseries, not just taken their official hours? My dc1 went to a nursery that officially opened at 8, but for an additional fee would allow drop off from 7:30.

I'd also start looking for childminders who do the run to the primary you want your dc to go to. Those who open early get booked up quickly.

You need to accept that you’re now getting in for 8.25am. Having a child changes things and you need to accept that.

I had my DD when I was working all hours for a crazy company. When I returned to work, I explained i’d be starting earlier but leaving earlier to be on time to pick up at 6.00pm. I was really worried. But everything fell into place. People knew that if they wanted something done, they should ask early on and not wait until 16.55.

This only worked because DH did mornings.

Longer opening times for nurseries is not the answer. The world of work needs to adapt and so do parents.

There are too many jobs which demand your soul and there does need to be more of a healthy medium.

Well of course I've thought about and done some initial research into the 3 schools in the village and yes, I do appreciate it comes in the blink of an eye (as have the last 5 months) but I'm not about to give up my hard earned job in the public sector and most importantly, my pension, for something that doesn't happen for another 4 years.

Anyway, this thread really wasn't about working vs SAH parenting. It was that the OP needs options for dropping her child off earlier at school, so she can then go and teach other children.

I feel your pain- I’m in exactly the same position.
My husband starts at 7.30 and finishes at 6 ao can not help with the pick ups and drop offs.
I have one child at school and one at nursery.
I drop oldest off at breakfast club at 7.50 and then (literally sprint) to the car and take youngest to nursery for 8 I then sprint again and get to work for 8.20
The children start at 8.40 so exactly the same as you. It’s hard and I feel stressed in the morning when I get stuck at a red light etc but it’s such a quick turnaround to fit everything in I don’t have time to think about it.
The only way I survive is by planning and prepping massively in advance. I’ve already planned and resourced including photocopying and chopping up til the end of the third week of spring 1. I will make sure I have the whole half term sorted for before the Christmas break. Obviously I adapt for the children and things can change but knowing something is there as a back up for the whole half term ensures I’m not stressed at all work.
I leave work between 4 and half 4 after I’ve marked and set up the classroom for the morning.
It took me a while to get into this routine and it means I don’t stop for a break the whole time I’m at work but means I’m there for club runs afterschool and that I can spend time with the children before bed. I do work a lot in the evenings as well.
I am however worried about the effect it all has on my health I don’t really eat for the whole day until I get home and don’t have any time really where I’m not doing something, it’s the only way I can feel on top of things but I realise it’s not for everyone. It’s the only way I survive without feeling resentful as I get good quality time with my own children and also feel that without the resentment I feel like I am a much better teacher for my children in the class.

Can you get a childminder to come to your house? Thats what most people i know do, its more expensive if you only have one child though. Good luck.

You mean a nanny 3luckystars, childminders work from their own home.

Employing a nanny is more expensive, and also you need to consider employment law, holiday pay, maternity leave etc.

Yes i know, and give them 4 weeks holiday pay a year, and pay tax etc. still with 2 or 3 small children it is cheaper than a creche.

Yes i know, and give them 4 weeks holiday pay a year, and pay tax etc. still with 2 or 3 small children it is cheaper than a creche.
Possibly. Say you pay your nanny £26k, plus about £2.5k employers NI I think? Then food, activities, mileage, heating the house during the day, payroll, insurance, pension contributions. Covering absences. If they go on maternity leave you need to budget for recruiting cover and paying 5.6 weeks holiday pay. So 30-something thousand. It might still work out cheaper if you have multiple children in an expensive nursery though.

tryinganewname - It does feel 'forever away' when they are little, but remember you'll be applying for school places in 3 years, which will fly by, and if you need to think carefully about fitting in a house move beforehand, best start planning it.

Sadly I know 2 families that had to move out of villages to more town locations or face the DW giving up work when the DCs got to school age!

OMG are you people trying to kill us nursery workers? Is the fact that we have to leave our houses at half 5 in the morning to travel in and take care of your brats from 7:30 to 6 pm not enough? 7:30 is early enough; jeez we may as well adopt your children considering how much more time we spend with them than you do...

"im not worthycoola"

Was the sarcasm really necessary? Don't be so facetious. You are clearly stressed by a childcare start time you cannot change, and I took time out of my day to explain how I manage the same issue without stress because I, stupidly, thought it might help. If you have restricted time at the beginning of the day surely the answer is to work later when the nursery hours ARE available?

What time do you leave school for the day. If I leave before 5pm the morning will be more stressful. I usually leave at 5.30pm, occasionally 6 or 6.30pm. Whatever is necessary to avoid feeling stressed in the morning because it throws my day. Pre child I started earlier and left earlier, but I had to change the shape of my working day to fit my dd's childcare hours.

Behindthescenes - I check my emails on my phone at 7.30am before we leave the house and when I get to work. I flick through them all, reply to anything urgent (most don't require an immediate response) and flag the rest for later.

It works for me. I hate feeling stressed so I have routines in place to minimise it.

@Goth237, don't nurseries with long opening hours have an early shift and a late shift?

Childminders don’t! And nurseries might do but they’ll just extend the current shifts, not take on more staff.

Obviously wouldn't expect it from a childminder but that's a bit poor of nurseries. Just another example of employers getting crapper I guess.

My nursery (which DS spends 8.30-5, 2 days a week in before I’m accused of being neglectful) opens 7-6.30. They have two shifts, I can’t see how they could operate otherwise.

Well I hope my baby doesn't go to your nursery @Goth237 no one made you work in a nursery with brats our nursery opens at 7.15, they wouldn't do it if they didn't have to or couldn't manage it.

We won't be moving house before she starts school, we're in our 'forever' home 2 of the schools are 'Outstanding' so I hope they stay that way. Also considering the local private school, however, we're hoping to only do that for high school rather than both.

I'm not sure Goth237 is in the right profession.

Not sure Goth works at the right nursery if it takes them 2 hours to get there.

When I worked in a nursery we either worked 7-4 or 9.30-6.30 or did a 4 day week 7.30-6.30.
I'll admit part of the reason I left was I didn't enjoy the early start times!

DSs nursery standard opening times are 8-6 but you can pay extra and drop the dc off at 7 or pick up at 6.30. When I drop off DS at 8 its still fairly quiet though. It's right by a train station though so I imagine people pay for the extra leeway when there's engineering works!

Our nursery is 730 to 630. But we pay handsomely for it £997 a month for ds to go three days a week. 😱😳 how we’re going to manage when dc2 comes along next year I don’t know.

I wanted and needed to go back to work so Nursery (and the other 2 days covered by dparents) was the only option. Nursery is close to work, and open all year round. The cheaper ones here are only open term time. Which wouldn’t help us as we couldn’t cover the school holidays with our annual leave.

It is a pain op. I get it. We aim to drop ds off for around 830 every morning. We both start at 9. Some days it’s both of us. Some days just dh. Some just me. I do all the pick ups once I leave at 5. But traffic dependant there are days when we are just scraping into work.