Why choose childminder over nursery?

[Bumblebee39]

Just the title really. What are the benefits?
I was thinking it would be better for DS as would have same adult or adults every day and hours might be more flexible. Also might be able to work more closely with me on dummy weaning, nap times, feeding issues and poor speech development than a busy nursery.
DS is very sociable and a happy little boy but also loves his home comforts and is a bit laid back on the old milestones. (He's advanced physically but verbally needs to catch up)
Is there anything I've got wrong or missed?
Tia xx

I chose nursery because I have no back up childcare and I didn’t have any way of covering either a childminders holidays or if the childminder was ill.

I chose nursery as I know they'll always be open, no illness etc and I liked the multi adult aspect. Also, I saw some local child minders about and didn't like what I saw. (Not all CMs obviously are like this)

I chose nursery because I've had a couple of friends who's childminders let them down a bit last minute. I realise that they can't help being ill but my work wouldn't have been able to accommodate it. Childminders are people with a degree of flexibility or other family support I think.

I am working from home mostly anyway and only looked at nurseries so far but was wondering if tha might work better.
DS will be babysat by one person at a time but struggles with being handed between adults. He loves other kids but gets overwhelmed easily. I want to find the right fit and haven't felt that with nurseries.

I had a cm for my son who wasn't in childcare til 2, but my daughter went at 9mo and I was more comfortable with the openness of a nursery, and the reliability (no sick days). My daughter has one of the same two adults with her every day and seems as happy, if not happier than my son was. Also, it was harder to broach particular methods I wanted the cm to use with my son because it felt like a personal dig at her parenting choices.

I am a childminder, cant really give advice on what you should chose, only you can make that descision but i know tje parents the i look after kids for chose me becaise they wanted their kids to be in a home environment. They can nap when tjey feel lile it, they can ask me to go somewhere and (obviously weather depending) we just go and do whatever they lile while we are there. All my kids become like extentex family members, they love my dp and my own kids. I love my minded kids and have a great relationship with them and their parents.

Childminders give a homelier environment, work more closely with the children (I believe I read they can't take more than 8 children at any time including their own children), and can be more flexible with times for feeds, naps, play times etc.
Nurseries offer more of a social aspect, I think nursery children are more school ready than childminder children as they've got into the routine and structure of a school usually, and they'll be more used to transitions as they'll move between rooms dependant in ages, and different staff on different days means they're used to different types of adults (eg there's usually the over enthusiastic adult, the education orientated one, the health and safety worrier, the one who only ever wants to do messy play, I could go on for ages 😂).
Each child reacts differently, and despite wanting to become a childminder in the near future, I recommend trying nurseries first. Some children just won't settle and need more one to one care, but at least you've tried it, and if it works out you've got more reliable care as childminders do get sick and need holidays and there's not usually someone who can take over on those days.

Sorry about all the typos, my phone is smashed 😫

I wanted a home from home environment for ds3 as I was having to go back 4 days when he was only 9 months old. When looking for childcare I wasn't looking for great ofsted reports or reams of info about how the provider met the EYFS requirements, I wanted someone warm who would be safe, affectionate and realistic. I met 5 well rated providers who didn't tick the boxes for me- all perfectly nice people, all highly recommended, clearly had high standards and were very professional, but just not what I was looking for. When we met ds3's cm I knew within minutes she was the right one. Her house is a bit smaller than most of the cms I saw, her last Ofsted was RI (used to be satisfactory until some eejit decided there is no such thing ), she doesn't come across as a polished professional... but she's looked after ds3 wonderfully for over 3 years. He loves her. Her house has been his second home for as long as he can remember. She treats him like part of her family, he's safe and secure and happy. He also attends nursery part time now so that school doesn't come as a huge shock to his system next autumn. The nursery is great, highly rated, lovely setting, really nice staff... but I'd still not have wanted to send ds3 there as a baby.

Pluses for nurseries of course are that parents are less affected by staff sickness and holidays and with a variety of staff around any safeguarding issues are harder to conceal. Every baby is different too. Ds1 loved nursery and hated the trial of c25k we did. There's no overall right choice.

*trial of cm. I promise I did not make ds1 do c25k as a toddler...

because I didn't want my dc in the pushchair all day long doing the various school runs.
because my employer paid part of the childcare, but only if it was a certified nursery.

Our childminder starts 745 and has loads of experience with kids. Would highly recommend a cm - sometimes sickness can be a pita but dd so happy and asks for them and kids all the time so 🤗

I chose a cm because my DD was only 6 mo when I went back to work. I wanted her to have one person looking after her all the time and a home environment. DD is incredibly shy (yes, even as a baby it was very clear she hated new people) so getting used to one family was significantly easier than getting used to all the adults and children in a nursery.

We're still with the same cm now, DD is 8. Our cm is talking about retiring though, she's not doing any small children just school run, and I'm just hoping she can wait another couple of years before she retires complete. It would devastate DD to lose her, she's like an extra grandma (cm is possibly not quite old enough to be her gm, but close)

I'm a childminder and children do not spend all day in a pushchair doing school runs!
I don't have any school age children, I might have nursery runs but in between these we go to toddler groups, parks, libraries and softplay, as well as doing activities at home.
With a childminder you are dealing with the person who is actually caring for your child, not a nursery manager or key worker. There is continuity of care, no moving rooms at different ages.
There are pros and cons for both nurseries and childminders, but please don't put us down for something that just doesn't happen.

@redsummershoes

I can assure you my kids dont spend all day in a pushchair doing school runs.

I know that a weird thing to say about the pushchairs - I love all the pictures that my cm sends me. Cheers me up no end at work.

He's nearly 18m
He had a trial at a nursery which was fairly successful but I just felt like it didn't fit and that the young women, although very well trained I'm sure, seemed ever so young. Even though they were enthusiastic and friendly I just felt like he might do better in a different setting.
He is very amenable so his needs sometimes get Missed and I didn't feel they had paid attention to what I had said regarding this.
I know CMs will be a mixed bag but just feels like I might be able to communicate his needs better (I'm pretty relaxed about parenting styles just there are things I'm concerned about for him which are sometimes missed)

My kid hated nursery. He was 1.5 when he started going and would cry for hours non stop. Personally think it was just overwhelming all the kids plus the adults, that's at least 15 people in the room. I moved him to a childminder and I kid you not from the second week onwards he would go in not even say bye and come home clearly happy and tired. It was a game changer. She has another two kids daily there same age as DS but total of four in the room.

My dcs are teens now and we're still very close friends with our old CM. My DD and her dd grew up together and are completely inseparable as teens. A real support to each other,

I chose I CM because my Dsis was one and it's what I was comfortable and 'knew'.

I looked at a couple which I didn't like, but then came across my eventual CM. She was newly registered.

I like the home environment.
She belonged to lots of groups and they often went out on fantastic day trips with a wider group.
Normal days out we're at the zoo, beach, Woods, Park, water parks etc. I would get texts and photos sent to my mobile while I worked.
There was a huge age range of children there and my children learned to get alongside children of all ages.
She was flexible to a certain degree.
In 9 years she was ill twice.
She informed us about holidays nearly 8 months in advance.

But on the whole she's was a lovely, smiley happy person who my teens still adore. I feel like I won the lottery!

Oh and she picked up from school after they were school age. Very handy fir me.

All 3 of my children went to a childminder (the same one). I liked the fact it was a home setting, it was a small group of children and they got to go out and about doing lots of different things. My older 2 are at school now and the youngest has just moved to a nursery as the childminder is now on maternity leave. All 3 of them adore the childminder and still see her regularly.

I didn't find the holidays a problem - we got enough advance warning and she only ever took holidays during the school holidays anyway, so we often just planned our own trips for the same time.

Worked really well for us.

I’m a childminder so maybe a bit biased! I offer a service to various families, so the children are part of a small group, with no more than 6 children under 8 years old (normally only 3 of them are under school age). We also join with other childminders frequently, so the children have chance to be part of a larger group and take part in activities at groups where other childminders might help them with what they are doing (especially with the preschool children), which helps them communicate with other trusted adults and make relationships within a larger group of children.

I haven’t had any days off for sickness at short notice for 5 years. I’ve had one day off for an operation and three days off for funerals. Each time I have helped find alternative care for the child required. But, I have helped parents out at very short notice on my days off when their family members have been seriously ill, had the children overnight when parents have been rushed into hospital, dropped everything when a mum went into labour to have the older child, had children on different days for family funerals, so it’s swings and roundabouts and a bit of give and take (I help them out in emergencies, often for free and in return, they are gracious when I need a day off for similar reasons).
All holiday dates for next year have been given out so parents can plan their leave and family holidays.

The children I look after get such a wide variety of activities, both here and when we are out. We do crafts, play dough, sensory activities,reading and all the activities you’d expect from a childcare setting as well as spending a lot of time out of the house, at the park, groups, in the woods, going to the farm, library and all the other places you’d expect a toddler/child to be taken. The children love being in a mixed age group. The older ones like playing with the babies and helping to feed them (I never expect this, but they want to do it) and the little ones love having the older ones to look up to and play with/follow around. They are really tolerant of each other and it’s lovely to watch them all together.

Different settings work for different children and families. Visit a few childminders and you will know when you find the right place. I look after children from 6 months to school and they are like a little family together. We go out and visit new places, as well as attending some local toddler groups, where they can mix and make friends with other children and adults. After they've gone to school they can come back in the holidays and see all their old friends (I don't do school runs). I have worked with speech and language therapists and other specialists where necessary. My mindees have all been confident when they've started school and their reception teachers have given me feedback about how quickly they've settled in. I give plenty of notice of holidays, so parents can plan around them.

Good luck with your search, you will find the right place sooner or later.

i just wanted to add that a quieter setting would be beneficial if you think your son has a speech delay. all the background noise of a nursery wont help whereas a home environment will help his delay.

There are some misconceptions of cm's. Many will have backup minders, assistants and co minders so they don't all work alone and not all will have school runs and random closures. Often it is possible for you to chat to previous and existing parents to get a feel from them on any issues etc.
Most children enter school better prepared than at nursery because they have had more support in self care, speech, venturing into new environments, early writing skills, table manners and cooking/serving they also tend to attend large group events for things like circle and story time and networking with other childminder's allows for a large social groups as well as separation from main carer. The children enter school with an established peer group and are then collected by familiar adults taking them to a familiar safe environment not another new large room.
A good childminder will see you through to your child no longer needing and care and ill support you through life crisis big and small.
The training is typically that of a nursery manager with an increasing number having early years degrees and early years teacher status, unlike in many nurseries where the main contact your child has is with an apprentice who may well be moving on to a new job after qualification, apprentices in there first year or under 21 only have to be paid £3 something an hour and many nurseries can not afford to pay them once qualified. So worth looking at the staff if you consider a nursery.
Children are allowed to grow and develop at a natural rate not held back by an age restriction so many are more advanced as they learn from older children, similar to a natural family unit. Age restricted rooms are about ease of staffing and supervising in large numbers not about child development.
You will find good and bad in all settings just like with everything else, see a selection talk to hem visit when they are free to talk to you but then go back to see them working and the children they care for.