Childminder & Nursery is this a good idea?

[TellHimDirectlyInDetail]

I'm not overly pleased with my 2 year olds nursery, it's just so busy and chaotic. The fees keep going up and are above what other nurserys in the area charge. So I'm thinking to use a childminder for half of the time. I don't want to take him out of nursery altogther as I do think him being around lots of kids is good prep for school.

Are there any disadvantages of him going to a childminder and nursery? I can't think of any.

Does anyone do this? How does your little one find it?

I had to do this because my childminder stopped working certain days. It has been a headache with the 30 free hours. In theory you can split them, in practice it's caused issues and confusion on both sides which led me to me losing some hours for one term (apparently the fact they are in different Local Authorities has contributed to this though).

Apart from that, the only problem I've had is that my 3.5 yr old is now able to express a preference and no longer likes going to the childminder and asks to go to nursery instead as she has friends there. Unfortunately the days aren't available at the nursery so we're stuck with the arrangement. So if your LO is nearly 3 that might be something to consider.

Thanks for this.

Well my plan is to use nursery for 2 full days and claim the full 30 hours there. And then 1.5 days at Childminder and not use any. I think this may mean I miss out on on a couple of the funded hours but childminder is so much cheaper than nursery it's still well below what I'd be paying if he just went to nursery.

Well of you want negatives it’s twice the germ pool, less consistent routine, you’ll have to go through settling again and there’s a risk they might not enjoy the childminder if they are used to having lots of friends their age (more a thing if they’re closer to 3 than 2). But lots of kids do it and are fine, but typically out if necessity as one setting can’t do all the hours they need. Another idea might to be to do school nursery once he’s 3 with the childminder to provide wrap around.

@TellHimDirectlyInDetail check your nursery will allow you to bundle the hours up like that as mine doesn't, you can only use the proportion of the hours per day that you would get if they were full time i.e. 30 divided by 5 = 6 hours per day max. So if they went 2 full days you could only claim 12 hours per week.

Gosh I can't actually think of any positives here! You do know childminders look after multiple kids right?? Your child needs stability amd routine, not utter confusion in multiple settings

Can't you just find a different, less chaotic nursery?

I think 2 settings is unnecessarily disruptive for a young child.

@maryberryslayers Hmm...you see I feel like it will be less disruptive for him to remain at his nursery and just not have to go there all the time. As there's consistency in him still going to nursery.

I'll mull over what you have said. Thanks for your reply.

@MissMaple82 yes that's I've been to see a few childminders and some seemed like they were just doing it for the money and collected loads of school kids and it was basically a babysitting service. I won't be sending him to one like that.

But I found one that has max 3 under 5. And has a lovely garden and pets and loads of toys and told me about all the pay groups and parks they go to. It sounded and looked lovely.

@Jeannieofthelamp I'll double check thanks.

I've done this for both kids...first was due to SEN issues (and a long story) and second time because DD was happy with childminder so wanted to keep some stability but also put her in pre-school room for getting ready for school...not saying it's always been easy but overall I think it's being a good choice for our family and the kids..:I think it depends on how happy you are with caregivers...I know the pre-school room really well due to DS going there and the support they gave him and childminder is an absolute dream (for what we were looking for - home from home, loving and caring less busy environment), my DD who is still doing this gets completely different things from both settings. We have no family nearby so I see the childminder as a quasi aunties rather than a more formal learning/activities based place. Only you know the provisions available and what would suit your child though.

Thank you @annieannietomjoe

Mine (3yo) is in 2 settings though they are both nurseries and he gets on well with it. In the school hols he just goes to one and I wouldn't say he has a preference. He enjoys having friends in both places :) he was at a childminder only before but that didn't work out.

I think it definately can work it just depends on the child and settings

Im a childminder and lots of parents do this. Both type of settings have pros & cons. If you think it will work for you go for it x

I would ultimately do what works best for you and your lo. Having 2 settings if not absolutely necessary will imo be a pain long term. It's worth checking with the nursery regarding how many funded hours you can use in one day. I say this because at our nursery we can only use 8 funded hours a day so if you sent lo there 2 days you would only be able to use 16 hours. There is an option to top up for the full day (paid fees)

Tbh I can't see there is a huge advantage for a two year old being in a 'busy and chaotic' environment at all. Contrary to popular opinion small children don't need to be 'prepped' for school by being in a less than ideal environment from a young age. School nursery and reception are the prep for proper school starting at 5, they don't need need to pre-prepped for nursery and reception!

Give it a try and if you're happy with the childminder take him out of the nursery. He'll see plenty of other children on playdates and at playgroup etc.

Nothing wrong with using two settings, but don't leave him at a nursery you're not happy with.

This....
And research shows under 3 are better in securely attached care not passed around.

I did it the other way round. My daughter went to a childminder from age of 1 and I then introduced nursery at age 2.5. She did 4 days at nursery and one day at the childminders for a “break” from the business of nursery. She absolutely loved it and it worked well but I was lucky in that both the nursery and the childminder were exceptional.

Obviously this will depend on the way the hours work in that particular Nursery, and what space there is both at Nursery and the CMer, but have you considered 5 x 1/2 day at Nursery and 5 x 1/2 day at CMer? So each day, the CMer collects them from Nursery (or they start there and she takes them to Nursery).

However, it might be that a different Nursery works better for him?

Some dc cope fine with different childcare on different days - for others it can be confusing / overwhelming.

I'm a childminder of many years.
Lots of my little ones have mix of either couple of days nursery/ grandparents and couple with me, or 1 or 2 days at preschool to get them used to school environment. Then some stay predominantly with me until full time school. Most are very happy and settled. I only see a problem when there's more than 2 settings. Ie childminder, nursery and grandparents.