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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

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Original poster

Childminder V Nursery

10 replies

runikka · 15/10/2006 19:32

Hi there

I dont know whether you can help me at all. Our little boy currently goes to nursery but is very unsettled there at times, getting upset when we leave him and sometimes continuing to be very clingy to the minders there. We feel that he might fare better with a childminder as he'd have a constant in who cares for him but would still gain independence from us and meet other children. Has anyone changed from a nursery for similar reasons and did a childminder help? Or has anyone used both types of childcare and found one to be better than the other?

Many thanks

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EnidVorhees · 15/10/2006 19:34

I love childminders until they are about 2.5 then nursery

Judy1234 · 15/10/2006 19:34

I think a child minder (or we had a daily nanny) is better, more like a home environment. There are also the studies showing under 1s benefit from one to one care not a nursery environment not that I think that should make anyone feel guilty or wrong but it's a relevant factor. I just don't like institutionalised care. We also found with 3 under 5 it was cheaper to pay someone to come to our house to look after them and you don't have problem if they're sick either.

amphion · 15/10/2006 20:00

Go and at least visit some childminders - good ones welcome visits and won't mind that you're undecided as yet. You have nothing to lose from doing this and much to gain possibly - I often think that if parents only knew what a great service we offer they would never send their child to a nursery. Reminds me of a time me and a friend were in the swingpark with our mindees all having a great time, and we saw the nursery children walking in pairs with their staff along the path - I thought they were coming into the swing park bit, but they walked straight past, and my friend said they never came in. It was such a contrast.

hoolagirl · 15/10/2006 21:08

I thought a nursery would be better for my ds until I visited it and thought he wouldn't get enough attention, he was just over 1 year at the time.
I chose a childminder and he loves it, a lot of the time its just him and her and then she picks up kids after school so he gets to mix with them and he loves that too.
In fact he runs around shouting her name when he's not there!!
She's like a 2nd mummy and she's great!

dmo · 15/10/2006 21:36

i worked in a nursery for 13yrs b4 becoming a cm 3yrs ago

amp was talking about the park outing, which as a cm i can go anytime i like (we go out everyday somewhere) as a nursery nurse i was in the pre-school room and it was 8 children to 1 worker, so 2 staff had 16 children.
if we wanted to go out for a walk we needed 1 staff to 4 children so could only go out if we had work experience kids in and then we were unable to go on the playpark as we counldnt leave the work experance kids with the children so we just walked
i am loads happier as a cm and the children grow up with us i know their ways and their likes/dislikes
children seem happier as they only have one carer as when i worked in nursery you did diff shifts so saw diff children and parents

flis · 18/10/2006 18:30

I think it really depends what you have in your area and what you feel comfortable with- we visited a few nurseries but really didn't like them, but we've been really pleased with our childminder. My sister lives on the other side of the country and has a fantastic nursery for her little boy.

mandieg · 19/10/2006 10:01

I am a Childminder, Children who come to me are given the guidance and love they need along with the development education. I have planned activities along with the freedom to join in local activities, toddler groups, parks, farms, swimming,play in the garden, interact with pets etc etc I think that nurserys offer a very sterile environment for children and parents with not enough support to both parents and child throughout their childhood. Children are able to go to a childminder from birth to whatever age depending on the particular childminder. Nurserys only offer places upto 5 years. A child and their family have a sense of belonging when they use a childminder.
have a look at this

kslatts · 19/10/2006 10:57

my mum is a childminder and my sister worked in a private nursery. i would always choose a childminder as it is more like a home environment.

franyfroo · 19/10/2006 13:02

mandieq, i cant get your link to open?

scotlou · 19/10/2006 13:14

It depends on the nursery, the childminder and the child! Ds went to a fantastic childminder until he was around 14 months - when she beacame pregnant and could no longer take him. I looked for another cm as I was really against day nurseries - but the established cms with vacancies all looked after several other children - with more after school. So he went to a new cm who had just started minding. He started to scream when left with her - and his knowledge of nick juniir tv programs increased tremendously! She in the end decided she couldn't cope with him so I looked at nurseries - and found an excellent one where staff turnover is good and they genuinely love the children in their care. ds and then dd were / are very happy there.

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