HELP - Experience of moving 2y/o from nursery to childminder? Advice please!

[ChunkyMonkeyMother]

My 2y/o DS has been at his current nursery for over 9 months now - He goes 3 days a week term time and 2 days a week in the school holidays - at first he would cry a lot when I took him in and then cry again when I picked him up, I was assured this would stop after a few weeks but lo and behold here we are 9 months down the line and he still does the same thing (infact I'd say its even worse now).

I thought that everything was ok once he had eaten his breakfast as that is what his keyworker has been telling me - however I was approached by a new member of the room-staff on Wednesday who told me that actually my DS has been crying on and off over the past 2 weeks all throughout the day, this has really annoyed and upset me - I've already arranged a meeting with his keyworker and the manager of the nursery to get to the bottom of why I haven't been told about his change in behaviour but I will definately be asking whether actually its not new behaviour but has been happening the whole time!

Anyway - Come September I will have a different time-table uni-wise and will to drop my DS off at around 6:45/7am to get where I need to be on time. His nursery only opens at 7:30 and the other local nurseries open either 7:30 or 8.

So I now turn to the issue of a child-minder - I have had a look around and arranged a meeting with a few local childminders but am just wondering if anybody else has had a similar issue and if so what did you do and how did it go?

The only issues I have is that my DS has come on an immeasurable amount since being in nursery and loves his little friends in the class - Am I being a bit dramatic? I just need a bit of advice please ...

Just be completely honest with the CMs when you see them. Ask if they do a daily diary, so you can see how he is settling in.

I have recently taken on a 1yr8mth little boy who had been at nursery (I am a CM). He spent about a week working out the routine and is now happy to get on with his day, with the rest of the children.

Some children are happier in nursery, others like the smaller environment of a CM.

I moved my ds2 from a nursery to a childminder just before he was 2. It had taken him a really long time to settle in the nursery but was happy to go to the cm without any hassle. I don't know if that's because we'd gone through the separation bit already or he just preferred the CM environment. I don't think he was bothered by leaving the nursery/other children - there's others at the cm too.
hth

HSMM - The nursery supposedly do a daily diary - all it ever consists of is 'has played with home corner, water play, music etc etc' and a list of the meals he has had - But it hasn't mentioned anything about being upset or unhappy - I'm hoping that childminder would be more honest and have more time to talk to me about him.

Runner - thanks for that, I'm hoping that will be the case here - I still want him to interact with other children, especially as he has very bad 'sharing' issues!

Tell the CM specifically that you want to know when he is happy, sad, etc. I try to be honest with my mindees parents, but I am also aware that I don't want them to feel bad about leaving their children, so if I write about 5 mins of tears and asking for Mummy/Daddy, then I also mention the good times.

Not all CMs will do diaries in the same amount of detail, so ask if you can see an example. Maybe just a few brief notes will be fine, with extra notes about emotions.

I moved DS from a nursery to a CM at 18 months. Best thing I ever did. He had been happy in the nursery but then his key worker left and the whole thing seemed to go downhill for him. My CM doesn't do a daily diary in the way nursery did (although like yours it was never big on detail) but as she had only one or two mindees around at any time she had the time to chat about things. He stayed with her for 2.5 years and has only now left because I am on maternity leave and he starts school in September.

He got far more interaction with other children and people than he did at nursery because CM took him to surestart, toddler groups, playdates with other CMs mindees and generally did everything I like to think I would have done if I had been at home with him.

There's nothing wrong with nurseries but I think it is really important to regularly have a stocktake and think about whether your current arrangements are still working.

Thanks for the tips HSMM, I will definately be asking about diaries/parent information when I speak to some minders on Tuesday!

Georgimama - thanks for your advise, I think after having him in there for over 9 months it is time for a review of whether or not it is still the best place for him to be - I see another long period of walking straight in and out of establishments like we did with the nurseries until we find the right one, here's hoping it goes smoothly!

I think that some nurseries do lie about stuff like this, and am 99% sure mine did, stuff just didn't add up. Didn't switch to a cm as I went on maternity leave, but just wanted to say that have been there and know hownhard it is. Hope you find a fab cm!