SandyY2k normally your posts are relatively reasonable even if I don't always agree but your post approx 30 mins ago is frankly so ill informed and fucking insulting!
For starters there are pros AND cons to ALL childcare options not just childminders and nannies.
A child being cared for by a childminder is being cared for by a trained and qualified professional who is ALSO regulated by ofsted (in England and Wales. A similar set up in Scotland not sure about Northern Ireland though I imagine similar there too).
I will say I agree nannies need to be far better regulated but there are many excellent nannies available.
Childminders and nannies can and will also provide opportunities for socialisation with other children, language development and acquisition, other early years education including various types of wet and messy play.
As someone who has been a sahm, nanny and childminder I certainly structured their days - my own child craved structure and routine despite my wistful desire to be a relaxed non routine led mum.
As a sahm if your friends from before you had your children were all back at work there's no reason at all not to make new friends with other sahm and to make use of toddler groups etc indeed you'd have to be pretty determined NOT to do this for it not to happen at all.
Childminders also usually have other charges from a variety of backgrounds for your children to interact with and who they are fluctuates with the natural changes in who the childminder has under their care and most mix with other childminders, nannies and sahm and baby and toddler activities outside their home which add to this.
I also have a considerable number of family and friends who are teachers. They do say that children that come straight from a sahm situation where mum hasn't prepared the child for entering school can experience difficulties but generally speaking most children settle fairly quickly with those coming from nannies, nurseries and childminders finding it marginally easier.
You've mentioned NONE of the cons of nurseries -
sensory overload
lower adult - child ratios
lack of flexibility with hours (strict opening and closing times often not open bank holidays)
exposure to many other children also means exposure to many other pathogens
but equally strict rules on not accepting children when mildly poorly
less focused care
many nurseries to keep costs low tend to employ very young barely qualified and less experienced and therefore less confident staff...
They are far from perfect - and I say that as someone who also chose nursery care for my child for her last year before starting school (I needed reliable care in term time but not an issue non term time, at the time it was easier to arrange payment to a nursery via tax credits than to childminders - this has since been improved, dd has always had a pretty robust immune system so this wasn't an issue, the nursery concerned also ran the after school club attached to the school dd was going into and while it's not supposed to work like this it was known locally that children already known to them were more likely to get a place - this was true for most of the Asc where I was living at the time)
So please don't make out childminders and nannies are inferior and nurseries superior especially when you clearly don't know what you're talking about.
"I went to toddler groups while on maternity leave and the mums there were not ppl I would have as friends outside of that setting." Wow! Can you hear yourself? Do you even get how that makes you sound?!