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Nursery success stories please!

2 replies

Janedoelondon · 18/04/2023 21:24

Hi mumsnetters

Looking for some success stories please! My little boy will be starting nursery at 13 months.

For those of you whose little ones are in nursery, I would love to hear how they are finding it, and how you transitioned from spending all day with your little one during maternity leave to them starting nursery, how it has affected you as a parent etc and your outlook. Also keen to hear advantages for your little ones!

Thanks so much!

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
belladonna22 · 19/04/2023 16:08

My eldest started nursery at 10 months, going full time five days a week, and my youngest is due to start next month, also at 10 months. My daughter settled amazingly - not a single tear was shed, but I feel like that's as much down to her personality as to anything we did or didn't do. But for what it's worth...

Starting a few weeks before, we'd walk by the nursery most days and we'd stop in front of it and I'd tell her what nursery was, what she'd be doing there, and all the reasons it would be fun. Sometimes we went in the morning and I'd narrate the drop off process, sometimes in the afternoon and I'd show her the parents picking up the kids, and sometimes just in the middle of the day. I wanted her to get familiar with the location so on her first day she'd have a sense of where she was!

We didn't make a big deal talking about going to nursery a lot as we didn't want her to feel like it was a huge thing looming in the future, but when we did talk about it it was all framed positively, e.g. "You're going to meet new kids and grown ups to play with, there will be new toys, you can make art!" etc, as opposed to "You might be a bit sad and miss mummy and daddy, but don't worry, we'll be back before you know it..." We just didn't even let the idea of it being sad/scary enter her head.

This was helped by the fact that we were genuinely excited for her to go to nursery. We knew she'd love it so we didn't feel sad or stressed or anxious or upset. We were definitely a bit emotional as it was a milestone for our first baby, but at drop off there was no stress or tears from us, just a smile and a wave.

The nursery also had a great settling in programme stretched over two weeks, starting with a 20-minute session and then building up to the full day. As it was still Covid era we had to just drop her off at the door from day one, but frankly I feel like it worked better that way - no time to hang about! In fact, when my son starts settling in next month I'm now able to attend the first sessions, but I'm tempted not to since everything seemed to work fine when I wasn't there!

Whatever happens, best of luck! Even if the settling period is a bit of a challenge, most kids go on to enjoy it :)

MrsMiagi · 06/05/2023 10:26

My 8 year old LOVED nursery. At first he got upset as expected but he settled in so quickly. He ended up at 3 different nurseries due to my work and each time he was so quick to settle. I do think it has helped him to cope with change and interact with other children well (only child). He was in full time. The nursery were great with prepping him for school. In fact i have to admit i didnt really toilet train because he just started using the toilet because the nursery had been encouraging it. I am expecting again and have no concerns using nursery again.

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