How far away from your child's school/nursery are you?

[Hulababy]

Just curious right now...

How far away are you, during the day, from your child's nursery or school?

Currently I am 50-60 minutes drive away from DD's (2y 11m) nursery. DH works in same city though and can get there in 20 minutes, walking.

Vis finding people to depend on in an emergency - for me, I needed to be backed into a corner before I could bring myself to ask someone (a neighbour and good friend) who then of course turned up trumps etc and I now know would always be there etc... My emergency was who would look after ds1 when I went into hospital with ds2. Lots of people could do the daytime, but what I feared, was what actually happened - I went in to hospital at about midnight. Neighbour came and slept over and then took ds to nursery the next day (and we picked him up from nursery and took him home with his new baby brother!)

Sorry, slight hi-jack - but given that emergency at nursery likely to be very rare (none for us in over three years) - are you sure there aren't people who could help?

We have had to leave work in the middle of the day to come and get ds1 when he's been poorly and not responding to calpol, but not an emergency as such - and not the time I'd want him poorly in the back of the car for an hour...

Same dilemma. New job would mean Dh earning a heck of a lot more money - his rise alone would far outstrip anything near I am eaning. But he wouldn't want me to not work, as he pays much more tex on his earning - so wouldn't be financially great for me not to work at all. I have considered seeing if I can change my hours to work a shorter afternoon - but not sure it'd be workable. And we would both still be an hour's drive away - which I don't like. We have to sit down this weekend and look at everything....

jamiesam - not really no.

DS's preschool is a 10 minute walk away but work for both DH and I is a good 45 minutes away by public transport. As mentioned earlier, it is usual in London to take up to an hour to get to work. I haven't really thought about it being so far because that's just how it is here. We haven't had an emergency contact until very recently. When DS was at nursery (around 30-40 minutes to work) I was called on a number of occasions to collect him early as he was unwell. The staff fully accepted that it took the time to get there. If a real emergency arose they would go to A&E without waiting for a parent. I don't think you should worry unnecessarily - it's not ideal, but things rarely are. As you say, your DH could get there in 20 mins walking - even less in a taxi, I suspect. Is the nursery close to home? Personally I prefer that than close to work.

Hula, won't you have to weigh up in the balance the risk associated with you being further away from dd, with the risk associated with driving her to a nursery near where you work? Given that emergency at nursery is very slight risk? And you'll have to go 'cold turkey' when she goes to school, which I know must be a few years away yet, but even so.

But Azure - this will not be the case if DH does go for the new job. It would be both us an hour away by car.

I gguess I already now what my feeling is and t won't go away, even if it isn't what DH wants to hear.

Oops sorry, missed that point.

jamiesam - things have to change when she goes to school anyway, as there will be no one to collect her so early, and it would mean a childminder hhaving her from school until about 6pm, which for me, is too long a day for her.

Aah, I'm afraid I've already resigned myself to that being the case for the ds's - at least it's not every day as only work part-time.

Well DS and DD are in nursery that is 1 min drive from home but 35-40 mins from my work. DH sometimes works at home, sometimes in the office (45-50 mins drive) and sometimes on the road. I have a colleague who lives in Sheffield (I work in Rotherham) who used a nursery just up the road from work. But I took the decision about the local one rather than that one for the following reasons:
a) DH sometimes at home anyway (less so now as his job as changed than when DS was a baby but now I have mummy friends who might be able to help out)
b) I wanted DS and DD to get to know local children at nursery.
c) I wanted to save them the 1.25-1.5 hours travelling a day that I do.
d) wasn't an issue at the time but if one is poorly the other can still go to nursery while I stay at home with the sick one.

And my worst nightmare did happen. DS (aged 11 months) had a granuloma on his face which started bleeding very heavily and nursery took the decision to phone for an ambulance. They also phoned me at work so of course I flew up the M1 at 100 mph and arrived at the same time as the ambulance. Unfortunately for us DH was in Newcastle (2 hours away) so it didn't work out on that occasion.

Also on the being late to pick up front. In 3.5 years we have never been late. Luckily on every occasion that I have not been able to do it due to traffic DH has been home on time. And now I have friends who would do it. Like I did for my friend (and neighbour) when she lost her car keys (LOL) luckily for her on my day off.

about 5 mins walk

Thanks for all your comments so far. Will chat with DH more this weekend.

hila about the same as you altho my mum is 5 mins away so that helps me feel better