Is it more beneficial to send Children to a nursery or a childminder rather than pay £1K a month nursery fees? **Title Edited by MNHQ**

[asnugglysnerd]

Hello,

Just weighing up potential childcare options... nursery or childminder.... Nursery costs are so expensive... £1200 a month it seems in my area... What is the point in going back to work!?!? I earn more than that but it is just so much! I know that they are looking after our kids and 99% of the nursery workers deserve more than they are paid, but taking everything else away aside the cost, that is a lot of expenditure...

Of course I will, I love my job, but can anyone give me a run down on pros and cons of nursery v childminder?

Thank you!

Why would you never be able to work again?

There is a lot of point in going back to work. This is for a few years only, your work is till age 67 at least.

Yes it’s expensive and yes it’s totally fine to use a childminder. A great childminder can be miles better than a good nursery. A great nursery can be miles better than a good childminder. A good either can be more than enough for a happy child. It’s your choice and only you can weight up what you want vs your budget.

OP get your hard hat on this thread will turn into a bun fight

I prefer nursery personally; while I know that there are some very good childminders I feel that with nursery the children are far more visible and have a richer learning experience
I know of some childminders who will happily put on a cracking show for Ofsted but day to day are dossing about with the telly on

The costs are astronomical....but it's for a short period in the grand scheme of things...look ahead 3-5 years-do you really want to be struggling to get back in to the workplace? As a female I feel that financial independence is so so important

I go to work because I'd be a shit SAMP. I also love my job.

DS loves nursery. I chose a nursery over CM for several reasons - holidays and sickness being the main ones but also safeguarding issues, but that's possibly because I worked in children's services so saw lots of safeguarding issues!

Just to clarify, I WILL go back to work... that was a tongue in cheek comment about the price of childcare...

Thank you for the opinions so far... I have previously worked as a nanny and I came across many fantastic nannies, and others who were questionable... I have also seen and experienced good/not so good nurseries...

I just wanted to know if there were benefits of either...

:)

I know :/ haha pretty exciting!

There are so many reasons to go back to work, developing yourself, ambition, keeping your financial independence. I went back to work after a year of mat leave after my ex husband left. I made £1550 pm and the nursery fee was £1500. I used credit cards and worked my ass off to get promoted. My DD is now 6 I pay no nursery fees and earn £4000 pm. I made the right choice, worked hard and I am damn proud and so is my daughter.

it's for a short period in the grand scheme of things...look ahead 3-5 years-do you really want to be struggling to get back in to the workplace?

Exactly this.

I’ll be facing just about breaking even when I got back to work after dc2 arrives after paying for childcare for 2-under-2.

But it’s a temporary situation- I’d rather take the hit now and in two years have it over and done with but still have the experience on my cv, a potential promotion, pension and National Insurance contributions to show for it.

Oh dear, it seems my tongue in cheek comment about never working has been taking rather literally... I was being dramatic...

I will reword my question...

Does anyone have any reasons why nurseries or childminders are 'better' than the other?

I didn't work again and no regrets. Even if it was only for a few years I couldn't justify paying somebody else to care for my kids when I can do it for nothing, and they're my kids.
We are all different though, some women just aren't capable of being sahm's and readily admit it.
For their children it's better they work.

Personally i think you should do what suits your family best and all agree to.

Personally I went back full time. Glad I did. Especially now I am single parent and able to support my kids myself. I didn't feel trapped in my marriage.

My career didn't suffer. Though it was hard. I always wanted to know I was in a good place financially.

It depends on your child. Some children thrive in a nursery environment and love it there, others hate it and become distressed.
Some children love the family atmosphere of a childminders, the same person all the time and the same children build stronger family like experiences, others prefer the variety of different carers and more children.
I'm a childminder now, but when my b eldest was small I was a student and he went to nursery and loved it. My daughter went to an amazing childminder and thrived, and encouraged me to behind a childminder.
The majority of children I now care for came to me after failing to settle at a nursery but that's just their little personalities. They are doing amazingly well now and love ask the outings and activities and groups we do.

Horses for courses.

“What is the point in going back to work!?!” Financial independence, pension, ability to get a good job in the labour market.

On your follow up Q you probably know what the pros/cons of a nanny are, having been one. Unaffordable for most.

We used four nurseries for DC1 and had mainly bad experiences, this was in London. Very high staff turnover, crappy managers, hygiene was poor, DC1 was constantly sick. Had a fab CM for DC2, outside London (childcare issues was one of the reasons we moved out).

“some women just aren't capable of being sahm's and readily admit it.
For their children it's better they work”.

Or they may decide against being a SAHM because it is a massive financial risk.

Bear in mind that if you use a nursery you will have to start all over again finding wraparound and holiday care once your child is 4 whereas with a CM they will just continue to care for them

Are your children going to be under 5s forever and never go to school?... Sounds like you don’t want to work. If that’s the case, why dress it up as being about childcare? It’s totally fine to be a SAHM.

I worked and I regret it wholeheartedly! I can’t get that time back with my daughter it’s heartbreaking There’s nothing that can be done about having to earn money and I hope that she would understand one day. It’s a cruel world isn’t it, can never seem to find the right balance!

@RomanyRoots what a silly thing to say, of course all women are 'capable' of being a SAHM but many make a choice not to be for all sorts of reasons 🙄

Again, I will clarify that I AM going back to work... Which I did say in my first post...We have already worked out how and all that jazz with shared parental leave... I was merely being dramatic, which I now know was a mistake...

A nanny is in no way affordable for us. I just wanted some opinions on childminders or nurseries...

(Note to self, check the title... if it could be misconstrued, change it.)

I had DD abroad where maternity leave is six weeks in total and paid by your employer. After that, you have to stay for a year or pay back your maternity leave on a pro rate basis. Pretty much every baby of three months and over is in nursery or has a nanny - I found a nursery with good carer/child ratio, which I trusted, and it was all fine. My reservations with a childminder/nanny would be that you are reliant on one person.

“worked and I regret it wholeheartedly! I can’t get that time back with my daughter it’s heartbreaking”.

Fathers who work FT almost never day this.

Yeah, don't mention never working again on MN, you'll get huge paragraphs and rants and it'll turn into one massive fuckoff debate about women's rights and protecting yourself etc etc etc etc etc, lol.

I think the nursery vs nanny thing depends on several factors. Cost, how time rich/poor you are, what is available in your area etc. As you mentioned, you risk bad nannies and nurseries, but at least you can see reviews/get references for both. Depends on how it'll best fit in when you go back.

Sorry, xpost, just saw your bit about nanny cost. What about aupairing? If you have the space, of course.

Unfinishedkitchen No, no... that really isn't it at all... Merely weighing up options. But thank you for your input.