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 🤨?

I'm baffled as to why you have a child to be honest. I worked part time after maternity leave and then went full time when they were a little older and whilst nursery was great, there is nothing like being with your parents, for them and you. Leaving a child for these hours is going to create a very disconnected child. Frankly, it's just a terrible idea and that's why nurseries don't offer those hours. A job is a job, you will never get this time back with your beautiful child.

OP I sympathise with the fact that you can't find nursery hours to fit round your work hours but the reality is that too few families need those early morning hours so it doesn't make financial sense for nurseries to offer those hours. I googled "nurseries my town" and almost every one of the nurseries in my locality (taking in a population of around 200,000 people) didn't open until 8am; the one based in the local NHS hospital operates 08.00-17.30.

Please don't dismiss childminders. My DDs both went to different childminders and didn't spend their time in front of the tv or on the school run (the only time I ever did a pick up when the tv was on was 9/11). They went to toddler groups, they interacted with the other minded children and the childminders' own children (all of different ages so it was like a family), they went to the supermarket, they had fun in the garden, they played with many toys, one had a trip to the garage for a quick car repair and raved about the balloons she had seen.
I worked full time plus evening meetings when my DD1 was a baby (DH was a PhD student so I had no choice) back in the day when SMP ended after 16 weeks but we combined DH, childminder and grandparents for childcare; after 10 months I quit because I| couldn't cope with the hours any more and I had been working so many hours that I hadn't had time to spend money other than bills so we had enough in the bank to cover the essentials plus I knew I could pick up temp work. Shortly before my notice period finished DH secured a job.

OP Your wee one is only a baby for a short time; don't miss out on that time.

@scottishgal09 Im sorry but you and your partner both work two jobs.. I’m the last person to say “should have thought about this before having children etc” because things happen understandably.. however, in this situation did neither of you honestly expect that one of you would kind of have to drop the hours initially for little one?

it’s massively unfair to put little one in nursery 6 days a week, neither of you would be seeing/bonding with baby, people may jump on me for this.. but surely you look at what your priorities are right now, this should be your child.. I would be either looking for a new job to work better around my child OR I would cut one of the jobs loose to make more time for my child until they are a tad older.

to answer your question, no in my area it’s all 7.30am to 6pm times.. you would probably need a nanny for the 6am part.. depending on what time you actually finish work and if you can make it for the 6pm pick up you may need one for that aswell if you work later times.

my opinion would be though to look for a new job or do less hours, I understand there’s cost of living atm but both of you working two jobs? Is that really necessary if we’re being honest? This should have definitely been thought about when you found out you was having little one, my opinion and a few others on here have said it would be completely unfair to practically barely see your child 6days a week.

also you haven’t thought about spaces in other nursery settings.. I can tell you this now as someone who has tried for the last two years just to get my daughter in for an extra day in her nursery they still haven’t got any space for her.. because all the nursery settings are jam packed atm.. I can’t see any nursery having that sort of space you’re wanting.