My 2 year old (2yr 3m) is currently at nursery 2 days a week 9-3.
There’s no tears at drop off but she’s never eager to go in and at pick up she’s always very happy to see us. She waves goodbye to everyone after running up to us for a hug first and often doesn’t want to be put down.
She never really talks fondly of nursery and if we bring it up she says that she misses us and on nursery mornings she wants to ‘stay at home’ but equally gets in the car to go with minimal fuss.
At pick up they just say she’s had a good day but never really elaborate on what she’s done or who her ‘friends’ are. She doesn’t eat much when she’s there, she has a long nap which fucks up bedtime because at home she’s largely dropped a daytime nap now.
In terms of at home, I have noticed an improvement in her speech and language skills, plus her imaginative play but also references to people being ‘naughty’ or shouting ‘don’t touch me’, ‘leave me alone’, ‘go away’ and an increase in behaviours like snatching and hitting. I’m aware these are all normal things for a toddler but she get’s very upset if she thinks she’s been ‘naughty’ for example. We are careful with the language we use as she can be quite sensitive to it. I’m aware that point might be totally pfb and I want to clarify it’s NOT that I think the other kids are a bad influence on my perfect angel and that the nursery have multiple children to look after.
I’m a sahm and she has a 3 month old little brother. It’s costing us £400 a month to send her to nursery. Without the ‘need’ to send her in and as a family on a budget I’m just wondering if it’s worth it or if I should pocket the money and spend some of it on groups and days out.
She will be eligible for free hours in September 2022 in case that makes a difference?
I feel very meh about it all, especially when it’s eating into the budget every month.