To ask how far would you travel for the right nursery?

[esho]

Having worked in early years myself during uni, I’m really selective when it comes to the kind of setting we would like our daughter to be cared for in. My profession now means I visit lots of early years settings (not Ofsted) but as such can be a bit of a fly on the wall.

There is a perfect nursery who I would trust over and over, but they’re 6 miles (20 min drive) away from home. That’s too far isn’t it? That being said, it is only a 10 minute drive away from my main office which is where I’d be for part of the week.

Is it too far? We’d be needing them for 2 days a week, I’ll be returning to work 3 days which will probably look like WFH one day and community/office for the other two.

Thank you

We are doing a 20 minute drive for two days at nursery. It’s very, very specific type of nursery. I wouldn’t travel that far for an average nursery though.

I would definitely travel 20 mins for a nursery I was happy with

0-10minutes max

My nursery is 7 miles away.

10 minutes away from the workplace is ideal. Speed is needed for sickness pick up, going straight on somewhere etc, is it 30 minutes in total? What's the liklihood of traffic delays/accident hotspots etc? I used to drive a bit further on a certain route because on the supposed quicker route there seemed to be permanent roadworks.

Is it convenient for work or out if the way? The only nursery near us is a 15 minute drive away(wfh) and when my eldest was little he went to a nursery 45 minutes away but 5 minutes from work.

Would they stay there until school? Worth bearing in mind if they won’t be heading off to school with their group of friends although they will make friends easily in reception.

I wouldn't mind that for a nursery you know is good. Only thing to bear in mind is your child will likely fall asleep on the way home some days, which is a bit of a nightmare. But mine did it on a seven minute drive, so...

I absolutely would travel 20mins. Its really not far and worth it for the sake of your children, if it's somewhere you trust!

If it's only 10 mins from your office, where you will be based, I think that's an entirely reasonable distance. I mean ideally, the nursery you choose is walking distance from your home, but since you have the insight you do and know that nearer nurseries aren't ones you'd be happy using, I would use the one you're happy with.

That sounds doable to me.

Things to ask yourself though are...

What about days when you are unwell and want to drop child at nursery then go back home to bed?

What about dropping child when you are on a future maternity leave with baby number 2?

Is it convenient for your DP to do drop-off when needed too?

Think about whether it'll feel too far in those instances. Although you could in theory change nursery in future if your circumstances change, in practice not many do.

20mins really equates to an hour round trip, 20min there, 15 mins getting parked, them out the car into nursery remove coat cuddles, chat with staff and then your return journey 20min.
Then take into account traffic, accidents, diversions, road works. Stress at pick up when your caught in traffic and the clocks ticking.

Also 20mins means when they are moving on they are very unlikely to have any kids going to the same school which is a biggy.

Unless your rural with little choice I'd find one closer.

I would use that one but work from the office on those days.

Our journey for DS1 was 25-30 min drive away - amazing forest school and I was a SAHM so didn’t mind taking the time out of my day to get him there. I’ve been so so many nurseries over the years and this one is still the best I’ve ever seen.

Couldn't warrant that for DC2 once DC1 was at school - didn’t work around the school run, and by then forest school movement had grown and they were popping up everywhere.

DC3 is at nursery and now I work so she goes to the one opposite the kids’ school.

That was the drive to our closest nursery at our old house. It’s fine. Nursery don’t kick them out after 20 minutes of them being ill. As long as you’re on your way. Some days you’re going to feel like shit because they’ve given you a nursery bug but you’ll do it because that’s just where you go and it’s the norm. You might stop at a costa drive through on your way home as a treat for making it to nursery. Occasionally they might fall asleep on the way home, which depending on the kid can impact bedtimes but the way round this is singing nursery rhymes or look for lorries and tractors. It doesn’t work 100% but you’re talking about a 5 minute cat nap rather than a 20 minute nap if it doesn’t work.

How long does it take to get to the alternative nurseries from home/work? Some people are saying 20 minutes is too long, but if it's 20 minutes rather than 10 minutes (so 10 minutes extra) that's not the same as 20 mins drive vs. 2 mins walk. Also, do you have a partner and how far is it from their work?

I work in a town 20 minutes from home, and DCs' nursery is near work rather than home. So on WFH days or while on maternity leave with DC2, someone has had to do the drive there and back. But to be honest, that's really normal for people who live here, as it's a rural village and the nursery is in the closest proper town, so no-one local would think twice about doing that drive (see also: swimming pool, supermarket, banks, etc.). I think 20 minutes feels like a lot for people in bigger towns who are used to most amenities being close. But it's totally doable when you're used to it.

We sent DS to a nursery 15-20 min drive away - in the opposite direction from work! It was absolutely worth it though. When I visited I just knew it was where I wanted him to go. It's still very well regarded 12 years later, has been consistently rated outstanding by ofsted, has a strong forest school ethos etc. The only down side was that he didn't know anyone locally when he started school - a high proportion of his class had all been to the village pre-school.

Given that the one you are looking at is close to work it sounds perfect.

We used to walk 40 mins with my 2 kids. Well I walked and they were in the pram.

to me given them a home away from home and somewhere I can trust was much more important than my personal convenience. We didnt own a car at the time so we walk. I remember the snow in 2011. I had biceps of steel 🤣🤣

I would absolutely travel that far. When DD started nursery, I found the perfect nursery about 5km from home. We didn't drive so DH cycled 5km to drop her off with her in a little seat on the back, then another 5km to get to work from there.

Having said that, when we moved house, I looked around about 5 different nurseries. There was one that was absolutely gorgeous, on a farm, with piglets, ponies and ducks, about half an hour drive away. I also found one about two miles away which was Outstanding Ofsted, DD was immediately calm and happy when we went to look around and straight away joined in an activity that was happening whilst we chatted to the manager. In the end, we decided that whilst Nursery A had the edge in terms of outdoor learning, DD would be very happy at Nursery B and it would be much more practical to get to.