nursery opening hours

[scottishgal09]

I need to go back to work so will soon be putting my 9 month old in nursery, only thing is that the earliest I can find any nursery open is 7 am to 7 pm. The 7 pm closing time is fine but I really find I need a opening time of 6 pm. I also work Saturday mornings so need something that is open 6 days. Start time should be at least 6:00 pm but I struggle to find this. Do these type of nursery’s exist? What are the opening and closing hours for your nursery’s? Why don’t nursery’s take into account that some parents need to work 6 days 🤨?

Op you may need to read a little more widely on nurseries and child development.

Pretty much all studies show that for babies up to about age 2, being at home with a loving family member beats pretty much any childcare setting.

Nurseries can lead to better educational outcomes when compared with children from deprived homes - not all homes.
Bear in mind that in the uk, childcare work is poorly paid with a low educational requirement for staff. The focus is on care not education, and the reason is that care is more important than academic outcomes at such young ages. A great nursery nurse might be pretty terrible at maths but great at occupying and chatting to two year olds. This is why childminders are often just as good for babies and toddlers, and the same for being at home with mum/dad/nan. Each of these has the advantage of being a primary caregiver with whom the child bonds - which is essential.

Its great that you are hardworking but do not kid yourself. Doctors do not put their kids in nursery for 11 hours a day plus a weekend morning.

Most parents will try to have a work pattern that minimises childcare. Eg dad starts work 7am. Mum drops kids at nursery at 9 & starts at 9.30. Dad finishes at 4 & collects kids at 4.30, mum arrives home at 6.30pm. Both parents work full day but child only in nursery 7.5 hours. Plus in many families one parent condenses hours or drops to 4 days a week, so child may only do 7.5 or 8 hours a day, 4 days a week.

Or maybe dad works mon - fri 9- 6, mum works weds - sat, grandma has baby on Thursdays and they just use 2 days childcare.

I know no-one who used childcare 11 hours a day 5 days a week, let alone saturdays too.

But why is it bad? It's just an earlier start to the day, can go to bed earlier so no sleep is lost. 8am is normal dayshift starting time in my country, it's not too early at all (even if it is to me personally, because I'm a night owl)
Society relies on people working these shifts, so someone has to do it, even if they have young children.

Brilliantly put. 👏👏

@SouthLondonMum22 @Didimum

Its in the OP, needs childcare for 12 hours a day and half a day on Saturday.

I have a science background. Many of my peers from college have a Masters or PhD and worked really hard to get where they are. They can all well afford childcare but many choose to take a career break or reduce hours when they have children. Some have accused a couple of them of throwing away their education but careers don’t always feel as important once kids come along. Sometimes this is the elephant in the room when people complain about gender balance in senior roles. There is a significant percentage of women who aren’t as career minded post children.

Unfortunately industry I am in refuses to accommodate reduced hours so I am full time. My husband and I arrange the drop off/collection so that the kids spend as little time as possible in childcare.

How can the topic trigger me when my children aren’t and have never been in full time childcare? But yeah, I suppose you could say a woman being treated like dirt continuously across a full day is rather upsetting, and I don’t take kindly to BS like that. Call that triggering if you like – whatever makes you happy.

It’s 11hrs and Saturday morning. She has not given Saturday hours.

Is it? She specified 7-7 which is 12 hours. A half shift is half their working day normally

No, she’s looking for 6am-5pm.

@Didimum you said earlier your DC, aged 2-4 was in childcare for 40 hours, but you've just said they have never been in full time child care? How many hours do you class as full time?

Thanks @LittleTiger007 😊
It's fascinating that there is a believe that attachment disorder could be miss diagnosed as ASD.
Except nobody is going to want to hear the choices they made (or were forced into) is what damaged their child. Eek!

In the USA lots of mums are back at work within 6 weeks of having their babies, like the UK was in the 1970s and 80s

I wonder what people will think of late 20th early 21st century parenting in 100 years time.
I do believe the government's need to up the age for social media, parental controls etc to 16. I don't know which law it comes under but 13 is far far too young.

It is so difficult when you have invested so heavily into your career for so many years to take a step back and accept it will stall. Even more so when the job doesn't lend itself to PT/compressed hours. I very strongly believe it should not have to be the woman that makes these sacrifices but they need to be made as a family and before having a baby, the couple need to carefully consider who will step back for childcare and when.

I took a step back during the nursery years so my progression stalled but having a school with excellent wraparound care and flexible working for DH has allowed me to step up my hours in the primary years. DH is now getting busier and aiming for a promotion so I will be stepping down my hours in a couple of years to be around for the secondary years.

As an adult I would struggle to be out of the house that much. 66 hours is almost double a full time job.

My DD finishes nursery at 1 on her nursery days and she’s shattered by the time I pick her up. It’s not like home, they can’t snuggle with you on the sofa for downtime or sleep very well. I cant imagine her having to be there every single day of the week including weekends.

Ifs not what’s best for your child. You can try and sugarcoat it but the evidence suggests that a primary caregiver in the early years is the most important thing. Nothing is more important than your child’s development, they are small for such a tiny amount of time! For the sake of a couple of years I would rethink. Work will always be there, you’re replaceable in a heartbeat to a business but not to your family.

I imagine all this this thread has done for OP is make her regret starting it in the first place.

Or perhaps regret thinking that she can continue with her childless working pattern now she has a child to prioritise?

This

Was going to write the same

Think seen 3 times now get an au pair

Au pairs are not meant to look after under 3's

Let alone under 1's sole charge

Now when your baby is 5 at school an au pair will be fab. They are meant to do 5:6hrs a day so 7/9 and 3/6

@Natsku Am I reading that correctly you mean people are finishing at 2pm or 3pm? Early afternoon having done a normal 8hr shift.

So not the way I read it at first people aren't doing 14 or 15 hour long shifts?

Please, please don't blame childcare for autism. Just please don't do that.
My DD only did the free hours at nursery and she has high functioning autism. DS has shown autistic traits since before starting childcare.
Perhaps I'm misunderstanding you but I do find this a highly sensitive subject and as a nursery nurse I also find it slightly offensive.

I would class full time childcare as the nursery’s full time opening hours for 5 days a week. My children attended 8-6 4 days a week for 2 years. No, I don’t class that as full time.

I never blamed childcare for autism. Ever.

But yes those who were shoved in daycare all hours from early on … it’s part of the reason there’s a huge growth in autistic spectrum disorders.

Umm ….

One thing to remember the focus is rightly on care in UK nurseries.
Children start school quiet young in the UK so really nursery doesn't need to focus on education the way it would if children were in nursery until 6 or 7 years old

Why are people still pulling 66 hours out of the sky? She doesn’t want 66 hours.

@Didimum I guess everyone's opinion on full time is different, if I worked 40 hours over 4 days I'd be classed as full time at my work.

Misquoting. I said it’s part of the reason for rise due to misdiagnosis and it’s something more and more are becoming aware of. Obviously not in severe cases and also obviously many other factors need to be taken into consideration. But if a child has certain issues AND they were in all day childcare from babyhood then some are now realising that for some children this was part of the issue all along. If a child was never in all day all week nursery from under a year then that’s not an issue.

Not what has been discussed here. I’m an expert in attachment disorders not autism. There are many many reasons for the rise in autism diagnoses.