Is it really that weird?

[Brunetteshel]

That my 3.5 year old hasn’t been to nursery or had any other childcare apart from myself?

when you tell people it’s like they cannot believe it. Why? When I was a kid in 90’s most of us were at ‘home’ no? I only went to pre school maybe around 3.5 few mornings a week I think.

for context child has complex medical needs and has always been easier staying at home (we go out everyday but terminology) with them. Also cheaper me not working than paying childcare which is insane (central ldn)

will also probably home educate but that’s a whole other thread haha

Is your husband paying into a pension for you?

I think mine were in nursery 5 mornings at 3.5 which sounds a lot but it was only 9-11.30 and then we'd go to the park, home for lunch, play and maybe nap before going to pick the older ones up from school at 3.30. It was fun for them and gave a bit of structure to the day.

I think it's different if your child has complex needs though. Do you have a local special school or are you thinking mainstream? A lot of special schools take children from 3. If you're happy with how things are now, I wouldn't worry. I grew up in the 70s and most children stayed at home with mum till school aged 5 and we weren't socially disadvantaged - we usually played with our mum's friends kids when they got together in the day.

I grew up in the eighties, there was no playgroups but there was nursery at 3, for 3 hours a day.

My DDs born in 2000's went to preschool at 2 , twice a week for 3 hours and then nursery at 3.

Nowadays it's common for children to be in childcare from 9 months and there's much more childcare options to facilitate it.

My ds has asd I put him in nursery at two, mostly to see how he managed, to get some professional input into his development and also respite for me. I found it helped us prepare for what school might look like and staff put support in place that then continued into school.

It's unusual these days for a child to start school without having had any experience of childcare, even if that is pre school.

It's generally agreed that pre school is a good preparation for school.

In your case it sounds like there are medical needs that make this more complicated. Are you looking at special school at all? There are special needs pre schools and they can be very good.

i didn't send any of my children to nursery at all and yes people find it weird. they all started school in reception but never went to nursery or child minders despite being eligible for the hours i didn't care that they could go i decided not to send them