Full time nursery or mix with childminder?

[Thewalker75]

I have 2 ds (nearly 3 and 18 mths) who are both currently at nursery 3 days a week and with Grandma 2 days a week in our house.

From January, Grandma daycare is over - she's helped us for a year and she's 72 soon and I've said that's more than enough go and enjoy retirement thank you very much!

My dilemma is whether I extend the days they are at nursery, which they both love but are absolutely exhausted when they get home, or look at getting a childminder to cover those two days so it's a bit more of a relaxed/home environment which is what they are used to?

Would a mix confuse them? Am I being precious at the thought of full time at nursery? Any ideas appreciated!

bump for lunchtime crowd?

I’m a childminder and most of my children do a mix of me and another setting/carer. They are all fine and enjoy the mix of pace at each place.

They are used to being at their own home two days, so how about a nanny? For two children that will be more cost than a childminder but they get the 1:2 ratio which they are used to when with grandma.

Lots of children do a combination of different types of childcare. A child I nanny does nursery a couple of days a week, has me one day and has mum the rest of the time.

I think a mix is a good idea :)

I just remembered that our nursery does tapered fees so the more hours they do, the cheaper it is, so to do anything different on those last two days will bump the cost up massively which we can't afford to do.

Gutted as I was really liking the idea of them going to a childminder (or yes, was considering a nanny too, although I got a bit stressed at the thought of being an employer!).

I’d have thought if they are settled at nursery full time there would be less disruptive than mixing in a childminder- plus nursery has the benefits of cover when sick etc. I’d bump them up to f/t!

I think go the nursery route. In our north London neighbourhood, the nurseries seem high quality, though the ratio goes a skewiff sometimes, especially at pick up. The childminders, on the other hand, are a real mixed bag, depending on who it is. I have one day off a week with my daughter and am absolutely aghast at most of the childminders I come across in the park, library, etc. My daughter is with a lovely childminder and her husband, and I feel so so lucky to have found them, as the quality of childminders can really vary, and is usually worse than nursery.

@AriadneO....
How can you say the quality of nurseries is better based on what exactly? A few you see out who you think are childminders? Are they being abusive? Are they stepping back allowing children to separate from them explore and make decisions for an hour out of the up to 11 they maybe with their charges? The amount of 1 to 1 support in a nursery is far less with most only getting any at nappy change

Goodness me, calm down @jannier are you a childminder or something? I know these people are childminders as I've either interviewed them for my own daughter or spoken to them. I definitely wouldn't be happy with them providing that level of care to my daughter - impatience, raised voices, letting children run riot while they text, etc.

Is your eldest due to start school nursery next year? If so how are you going to manage wrap around care from then until age 11? If your thinking you may find a childminder now would be a good time to settle them in so shes not coping with school and a new childcare. Dont forget childminders are often cheaper and take funding. I've had lots of families start with me for wrap around care for school go on to move their younger children to me as they find the children get more with me. Most never go to school nursery the 2 who did stayed a term before coming back to me.

@AriadneO.
Yes I am a childminder and an assessor so go to lots of settings nursery and childminders. Lots of things happen in nursery that is not visable becouse its behind closed doors. There are good and bad of all settings ....including staff busy observing using iPads and devices like phones and not relating to children....childminders use phones nursery ipad ....I'd rather they didn't and the latest ofsted changes will hopefully change that.
Bad things happen in both types of setting as do amazingly good which is why you have to visit a few of each not make sweeping judgements.

I’d do a mix; my 2 year old does one day at nursery and the others at childminder and she’s knackered after nursery compared to childminder. When she’s 3 I’ll increase her nursery days but only to 3.the two settings doesn’t unsettle her and when she was a year she had 2 childminders and didn’t find it confusing

This is an interesting thread. I’m a childminder & have noticed a rise in parents doing a mix. When I had a conversation with one parent to ask why they were doing a mix she said cost & also they had read that children get more 1-1 care with childminders. I know lots of children happy in both types of settings & both have pros & cons so I’d go with whichever you think will work best for you & your child.

Of course id always choose a childminder though 😉

Part of me is tempted to go full time childminder if I can find a good one but my eldest particularly has done so well at nursery- hes very shy and it's really made him much more confident and he now has a little group of friends.

Interesting point about starting school, ge wont go to school nursery they have a pre school in the nursery hes in. His 30 free hours kick in in april so maybe that's the time to mix things up when it should be more affordable.

As a general rule, I advise a mix of childminder and nursery. There are many ways in which it can help a child’s development, as they will enjoy a wider range of experiences and resources. They benefit from more sets of eyes making observations. On a practical level, you’ll also have each covering for the other if/when you need emergency cover.

In my experience, children have thrived and developed best when they experience such a mix.

@AriadneO

About your "mixed bag". The Office for National Statistics published annual figures on the quality of childcare/education providers. These are based data provided by Ofsted, covering every setting in England and Wales, rather than just the odd visit to the park. The findings are consistent, Year on Year.

94% of nurseries are rated 'good' or 'outstanding' , with 6% rated 'inadequate' or 'requires improvement'.

In contrast, only 94% of childminders are rated 'good' or 'outstanding' with 6% rated 'inadequate' or 'requires improvement'.

Oh, hang on...... they’re exactly the same.

Can some posters please stop frothing at me and tagging me. I qualified my view with 'in my north London neighbourhood'. And the VAST majority of childcare providers receive 'good' (as long as you don't neglect the children), so really, they need to separate out 'outstanding' and 'good' to give a meaningful statistic.

What do you mean good as long as you dont neglect the children? Do you know the inspection criteria? Which is the same for nurseries and childminders ...and actually means most settings are good with a few that offer care that truely stands out from the average....outstanding.....

@AriadneO

You couldn’t possibly have made that last comment if you knew the first thing about the childcare/education inspection framework.

When you set out to traduce the reputation of an entire profession based on something you might have seen in a North London Park, you can hardly come over all personally outraged when people defend themselves with facts, even if those facts are somewhat inconvenient to you.

I'm going to politely disengage myself now. I've clearly hit a nerve with some childminders. I'm not saying all childminders are bad, as clearly the one we use is absolutely amazing. But sadly she's in the minority, and that's just a fact based on my observations.

Sorry OP for derailing. Cheers all

I honestly think the mix would be a bit confusing for them. I'd either go full nursery (my preference) or full childminder

Sounds like you’ve already decided but just to add another voice.
I also had to make a similar decision recently. I was worried that two separate settings would make it doubly hard for my dcs to settle. Decided to do two days nursery and two days nanny, due to the benefits of both (nursery cheaper, safer in terms of the ‘risk’ of a bad carer being reduced as there’s more than one of them, don’t have to worry about the carer becoming sick and unable to work; vs nanny providing one on two care, being in our home, extra help with house work, occasional extra weekend/night work for us to have a date as we have no relatives near us).

They’ve settled really well with both. Glad I didn’t do nursery full time as they both are exhausted by the time i get them home (which makes it extra tiring for me doing dinner and bedtime), and little one doesn’t take bottle properly so is more likely to wake at night for extra feeds. He takes a bottle much better with the nanny for some reason.

Oh and I’ll add that our nursery is excellent. Ofsted outstanding, staff seem to genuinely want to get to know the dc, pay attention to detail etc.

Another benefit of nanny is I don’t have to pack nursery bags, which I find onerous...

And it was very hard to find a good nanny; I almost gave up! Depends on your location I think tho...

Certainly not made up my mind - still like the idea of childminder but worry they have to settle into another environment. If I could get a nanny at home I think that would be preferable but worried about the employment aspect and dont you have to provide them with a car? Just think it's a bit out of our league and maybe it's more straightforward to keep them in nursery that they know but then it's so much stimulation for them.

Yes still very confused!