To not be sending my child to nursery?

[redheart23]

Hello,

We are lucky enough to be in a position whereby I only work around 6 days in the month, and my parents / in laws help out on those days where we need childcare.

Therefore, I have not and will not be putting my baby in nursery; as she's with me most of the time! A few of my friends have made comments about how 'it's good for babies' to be in a nursery and how she's going to 'miss out on social skills'.

I just don't see the point in spending so much money when we don't need to? I take her to classes in the week; and of course when she's around 3 I will look into a nursery. She's not even interested in other babies at this age (9 months).

My siblings and I did not go to nursery - and we've turned out okay!!

Would be interesting to see other people's opinions?

Maybe not now but when they are around 2-3 I think it does help enormously with their social interaction with other children and being without you even if it is only for a few hours each day

As someone who didn’t go to nursery I know my initial start to school was a huge shock and I had to learn what others had already learned in nursery so I was even at 4/5 very aware of how everyone seemed to know what to do or say to each other.

I felt mine would have benefited from a nursery environment from about 2 1/2.
Before then, I did the same as you; classes, library, swimming etc.

Choosing nursery or not choosing to send to nursery are both equally good decisions imo.

Dont feel bad if you think thats the right decision for you!

My kids went to nursery aged 19 months and while they thrived at nursery, i did wish I didn't have to but I had to.

Also if you are bilingual family, going to nursery proved a disadvantage to me aa DCs both learnt english fast and fluently but missed out on our mother tongue.

So weigh your pros and cons- its not the end of the world, your baby is fine either way.

My twins are the most sociable people you'll meet 🤣 and I sent them when they were two.. I'm freelance so I did what you described before, got grandparents/a babysitter when I had a massive project on, invoicing during naps and took them to classes/the park/whatever the rest of the time. Worked great for us so if you're in a position to do this, do it!!! From 2 I think they loved it 👍