Page 2 | To thinkmits a bit crazy thst 9 month old babies are in nursery for 30 hours when a parent is ionly working 16 hours

OrangeCatKitten · 2025-12-04T19:37:19+00:00

OK far enough the parents wants some free time, do I csn see why a bit of that can be good for all, but if your only working two days why would you want to be apart from a little baby that long? Just because its free I mean toddlers I can understand more wanting to get away from the unreasonable ways of toddlers, but I just find this so sad and worrying for the future I can see this inthe future.....baby's collected by the government after birth, geld in huge warehouses, they call nursery, next door is another warehouse where all the sick and disabled go then next-door to thst another warehouse for the elderly Just seems so sad

AffableApple · 04/12/2025 20:17

OrangeCatKitten · 04/12/2025 19:43

Don't you think it's sad though?

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I think the existence of this thread is pretty tragic, yes.

toomuchchocolate1 · 04/12/2025 20:21

Mayflower282 · 04/12/2025 19:48

I knew a mum who got 30 hours free childcare and didn’t even work. So sad for the kid.

How? I thought 30 hrs is for working parents?

TheMorgenmuffel · 04/12/2025 20:23

Oh behave. You cannot "see that".

TangoWhiskeyAlphaTango123 · 04/12/2025 20:23

ToKittyornottoKitty · 04/12/2025 19:46

What’s with the weird warehouse babble?

I think this one has been on the wacky backy.

Bloopbloopbleep · 04/12/2025 20:25

Mayflower282 · 04/12/2025 19:48

I knew a mum who got 30 hours free childcare and didn’t even work. So sad for the kid.

No you don't, because you physically can't get 30 hours if you don't work. Stop shit stirring.

ShesTheAlbatross · 04/12/2025 20:25

OrangeCatKitten · 04/12/2025 19:47

Yes I get that you need more childcare to cover the getting them there and back, but this person is doing it for just free time, which I get you want some but that much?

Just feel like the world is getting rougher towards babies, young children, sick, elderly, it's also more racist and homophobic and just less understanding then ot was even 5/10 years ago, and yes I get that it's due to lack of funds and people struggling to survive but its really gone downhill imo

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“This person”? So you’re talking about one person you know, and extrapolating out to governments taking all children at birth? Seems a bit extreme.

QuirkyHorse · 04/12/2025 20:28

Eh?
What are these warehouses you're on about?
Don't you think that is all a little fat fetched? 🤔

SarahAndQuack · 04/12/2025 20:31

toomuchchocolate1 · 04/12/2025 20:21

How? I thought 30 hrs is for working parents?

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It's probably because they were asylum-seeking lesbians. That's where the racism comes in, too.

Kevinbaconsrealwife · 04/12/2025 20:32

BobbyShaftoWentToSeeSilverBucklesOnHisKnee · 04/12/2025 19:43

Yes, babies going to nurseries will inevitably lead to baby warehouses and the government snatching kids.

I've been saying this for years.

😂

Kevinbaconsrealwife · 04/12/2025 20:33

SarahAndQuack · 04/12/2025 20:31

It's probably because they were asylum-seeking lesbians. That's where the racism comes in, too.

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😂

margegunderson · 04/12/2025 20:34

Are you on glue? A Russian bot? Or just trying to undermine working women?

cobrakaieaglefang · 04/12/2025 20:37

User214263 · 04/12/2025 20:13

Is there a warehouse for primary age children? Asking for a friend.

It's me, I'm the friend.

Boarding schools until they became unfashionable 😉

Lmnop22 · 04/12/2025 20:39

Since the hours are stretched over the year to account for them only being available during term time it’s like 20 hours per week. So if you work 16 hours and spend 1 hour getting to and from work per day that’s 18 hours.

That means these horrific mothers are using free hours to have a whole two hours of free time 😱

What would you think of me who put both my kids into full time nursery from 6 months to go back to work full time and occasionally booked annual leave and still put them in nursery (even as babies) so I could nap, tidy the house, do laundry, drink a coffee whilst it was still warm….

GagMeWithASpoon · 04/12/2025 20:39

OrangeCatKitten · 04/12/2025 19:47

Yes I get that you need more childcare to cover the getting them there and back, but this person is doing it for just free time, which I get you want some but that much?

Just feel like the world is getting rougher towards babies, young children, sick, elderly, it's also more racist and homophobic and just less understanding then ot was even 5/10 years ago, and yes I get that it's due to lack of funds and people struggling to survive but its really gone downhill imo

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What’s it to do with you? Get off mumsnet and be a mumsy mum all you want to make up for all those poor, sad, neglected babies because their mums work. Or enjoy some free time. The horror of it all!!

justasking111 · 04/12/2025 20:46

Bloopbloopbleep · 04/12/2025 20:25

No you don't, because you physically can't get 30 hours if you don't work. Stop shit stirring.

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In Wales you have to produce a pay slip or proof that you're in education (one of the mums was doing a degree course). Minimum 16 hrs per week. Household income under 100k.

You cannot get it if you're unemployed.

littleorangefox · 04/12/2025 20:48

Lmnop22 · 04/12/2025 20:39

Since the hours are stretched over the year to account for them only being available during term time it’s like 20 hours per week. So if you work 16 hours and spend 1 hour getting to and from work per day that’s 18 hours.

That means these horrific mothers are using free hours to have a whole two hours of free time 😱

What would you think of me who put both my kids into full time nursery from 6 months to go back to work full time and occasionally booked annual leave and still put them in nursery (even as babies) so I could nap, tidy the house, do laundry, drink a coffee whilst it was still warm….

Sounds quite selfish to me. You're supposed to put your children above your own needs every time.

Says the mum (without a job no less) whose four kids have all started attending nursery for 2-3 days a week at various ages ranging from 10 months to just under 2 because she can. Because she very much needs and enjoys that time. Because she can use it to get shit done. Or y'know, do nothing. Tis quite lovely.

Velveletteslonleylonelygirlami · 04/12/2025 20:57

Amazon warehouse babies.
Pick em up drop em off.👶

Lmnop22 · 04/12/2025 20:59

littleorangefox · 04/12/2025 20:48

Sounds quite selfish to me. You're supposed to put your children above your own needs every time.

Says the mum (without a job no less) whose four kids have all started attending nursery for 2-3 days a week at various ages ranging from 10 months to just under 2 because she can. Because she very much needs and enjoys that time. Because she can use it to get shit done. Or y'know, do nothing. Tis quite lovely.

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Good for you! The thought you have to come last every time just because you had kids is insane - happy mummy, happy baby after all!

Lookingforwardtothatchill · 04/12/2025 20:59

2 main reasons I do

I work 2 days a week 9-5 so need childcare 8-6 to include commuting time, the stretched hours offers equates to 22 hours a week i.e 2 days plus 2 hours
The nursery don’t so a 2 hour session but we pay for the full extra 5 hour session (discounted due to remaining 2 hours) and would pay for more if available as our toddler does not nap at all, likes to climb, is into everything etc, I also have older children so a busy house to run and I am not going to apologise for dropping a very happy toddler off at nursery to have fun while I do the jobs which are very difficult/dangerous while she’s around. We have the other 141 hours of the week together ☺️ where yes she loves to help with things such as sorting the laundry, putting clothes away, going to the supermarket with me etc

Goldbar31 · 04/12/2025 21:02

phantomofthepopera · 04/12/2025 19:57

Mine were all in full time childcare from very young, and like all mothers I was eaten up with guilt. I had a conversation recently with my DCs (now in their 20s) about how guilty I felt, and still feel for having worked such long hours and how much they missed out on because of that.

They both literally laughed in my face. They said that when they look back they remember all the good things, the Christmases, the holidays, the days out, and us spending time together in the evenings and weekends. They didn’t consider themselves hard done by because all their friends’ parents worked too, and they didn’t know any different.

They also appreciate that it was that same work that paid for all the good stuff, and gave them a deposit to buy their own homes which they are exceptionally grateful for.

It was an eye opener for me. I’d spent decades beating myself up. Women don’t need other women sticking the boot in and making them feel even worse.

Sounds like you did a really good job and your children have such lovely, fond memories.

Lookingforwardtothatchill · 04/12/2025 21:26

IsntItDarkOut · 04/12/2025 19:55

One of DDs friends in primary had a younger sister. Their grandma paid for her nursery to help mum out, full time. So mum put her in FT. She worked very part time, and was off 4 days in the school holidays.
In the school holidays she would drive youngest to nursery (sobbing) and then spend each day with older DD.
She was not a nice person though and there was a lot of examples of her not really being bothered/caring for DDs.

Well if she really was not a nice person then wasn’t the baby better off in nursery?? What good would have come out of forcing a mum who perhaps was struggling to cope to care for the child all day? Sounds like a very wise grandmother. Would the same judgement go to the mum if the dad or grandma had been the ones providing the childcare?

CurlyhairedAssassin · 04/12/2025 21:29

I'm going to be the lone voice. I really don't like the idea of young babies in nursery and people who only work 16 hours a week getting 30 hours of funding but not actually needing the childcare. It makes little sense to me for most children whose competent parents are in that position. There are so many reasons and yes, one of them is parents actively choosing to spend the minimum amount of time with their babies despite not being at work. OP is right, that IS bloody sad.

It's one thing a child growing up knowing they went to nursery so their parents could work for a better life for them, and grow up benefitting for the extra financial security it brings the family, as some people have described here It's quite another a child growing up knowing their parents put them in nursery so they could deliberately have more time without them. Are we going to end up with some sectors of society becoming parents just because they get funding for this, funding for that, the nursery will raise them most of the time and the rest of the time they are ignored at home and treated as a nuisance?

Secondly, more and more parents are expecting schools to teach their children skills which they should have already taught them themselves. It's as if some parents are not properly aware of the different stages of child development and what the average child is expected to be able to do at each stage, and what skills they as parents should be teaching them. Some parents have completely unrealistic expectations of a school and the purpose of it. I just think expanding nursery childcare is just going to exacerbate this, with parents seeing the nursery or school as more responsible for their child than they themselves are.

The other is that the nursery sector can't afford it. Funding is not intended to cover meals, nappies and things like trips, and nurseries can only ask for a voluntary contribution from parents which is absobloodylutely nuts. Potentially you'll just end up with situations where someone is working only 16 hours a week, but putting their baby in free nursery on their days off, just because they can, and refusing to pay the voluntary contribution for nappies and meals. How exactly are nurseries going to cover these costs when they can barely cover the cost of a funded child's place?

Lookingforwardtothatchill · 04/12/2025 21:30

Mayflower282 · 04/12/2025 19:48

I knew a mum who got 30 hours free childcare and didn’t even work. So sad for the kid.

Why sad for the kid, my toddler loves nursery and even if I wasn’t working for whatever reason would still send her if I could afford it.

NewGoldFox · 04/12/2025 21:37

I think it is sad that a lot of parents both have to go to work to support the family. Cost of living is just so high now.

Lookingforwardtothatchill · 04/12/2025 21:40

CurlyhairedAssassin · 04/12/2025 21:29

I'm going to be the lone voice. I really don't like the idea of young babies in nursery and people who only work 16 hours a week getting 30 hours of funding but not actually needing the childcare. It makes little sense to me for most children whose competent parents are in that position. There are so many reasons and yes, one of them is parents actively choosing to spend the minimum amount of time with their babies despite not being at work. OP is right, that IS bloody sad.

It's one thing a child growing up knowing they went to nursery so their parents could work for a better life for them, and grow up benefitting for the extra financial security it brings the family, as some people have described here It's quite another a child growing up knowing their parents put them in nursery so they could deliberately have more time without them. Are we going to end up with some sectors of society becoming parents just because they get funding for this, funding for that, the nursery will raise them most of the time and the rest of the time they are ignored at home and treated as a nuisance?

Secondly, more and more parents are expecting schools to teach their children skills which they should have already taught them themselves. It's as if some parents are not properly aware of the different stages of child development and what the average child is expected to be able to do at each stage, and what skills they as parents should be teaching them. Some parents have completely unrealistic expectations of a school and the purpose of it. I just think expanding nursery childcare is just going to exacerbate this, with parents seeing the nursery or school as more responsible for their child than they themselves are.

The other is that the nursery sector can't afford it. Funding is not intended to cover meals, nappies and things like trips, and nurseries can only ask for a voluntary contribution from parents which is absobloodylutely nuts. Potentially you'll just end up with situations where someone is working only 16 hours a week, but putting their baby in free nursery on their days off, just because they can, and refusing to pay the voluntary contribution for nappies and meals. How exactly are nurseries going to cover these costs when they can barely cover the cost of a funded child's place?

They’re not going to be young babies are they when they are not even entitled to the funding until the term after 9 months (so in our case not until 14 months) I would of hated to spend any time away from my ‘young baby’ but now she’s a toddler I work, have a bit of time to do batch cooking without worrying she’s going to get splashed by boiling water, clean the bathrooms without her risking coming into contact with dangerous chemicals or leaving her alone to worry I’ll come back and she’s choked etc, vacumn the stairs without risking her trying to climb up them and fall down at the same time, wrap presents without a 16 month old trying to grab the scissors etc, She absolutely beams when she goes into her lovely nursery and loves all the activities they do. We still have 140 hours a week together, I love my time with her but I also like not to live in filth, one to one time with my older children, my work etc, obviously if she wasn’t happy at nursery then I wouldn’t send her

edit - to add re funding, we pay the £15 per a day top up quite happily, I don’t think the nursery would accept a child whose parents didn’t pay the top up, I’m not sure how the funding structure is relevant to what a parents does during those hours, it’s not as if the nursery is getting more or less either way. I mean I could work those extra 2 hours and spend it on wine to console myself with never having a few hours to keep my house clean