To send child to nursery?

[Anotherdayanothernewname]

Hi, I can't seem to make a decision and have gone round in cirlcles and over thought this now.

I have 3 DC: 2 primary, 1 nursery. Both DP and I have been furloughed, obviously primary closed, nursery child still able to attend but not needed for childcare reasons.

Do we send him in or keep him home? Not sure what to do for the best. Sending him would give us some structure to the day and allow us to focus on homeschooling other 2. But as he doesn't need to go, are we best keeping him home? He's quite happy to go, just don't know whether it's safer to keep him home, or better for his social interactions and development to go in.

Will nursery workers expect only key worker children to attend, even though it is still open to all children?

Nurseries are important for child development however I wouldn’t sent her in with 2 parents at home. If not for her and your safety but out of consideration for the nursery staff. The children might be low risk but the staff aren’t.

If you would like COVID in your home, send him to nursery.
Ours shut today after 1 child and 1 staff member tested positive. They were around the others all day Monday and the staff member has her 2 kids in our school as she is a key worker- so goodness knows how many are infected now!

It’s a lockdown for a reason, have you seen the news?!

If you've both been furloughed then no, don't.

One of you can entertain the little one whilst the other supports home learning.

Well we can’t go anywhere else (other than for a walk) because it’s been made a criminal offence. I’m not remotely concerned about the risk to us. I agree that nurseries are relatively high risk environments and can see why vulnerable staff wouldn’t want to be in at the moment but for other staff, unless you want nurseries to be shut for 6m+ , I’m not sure why going in now is much worse than going in in 2 months time. Children will still be getting covid and non vulnerable staff won’t have been vaccinated. I do agree that nursery staff have had very little recognition or voice compared to teachers etc despite working in a similarly risky environment.

Make a memory book? I’ve heard it all now.

And a quick question: where were all the parents of primary/secondary children going absolutely nuts about sending their kids to school when they were open?

Seems like they’ve only just come out of the woodwork since they closed. Even though schools, especially secondaries, have been proven to be key places of mass infection.

I know there were some that didn’t want to. But not to this level and insanity, I’m not personally to blame because nurseries are still open. Neither is any other parent of a nursery-aged child.

@Anotherdayanothernewname

I thought that, his nursery have said it's business as usual and they're happy to have children in. One minute I decide to keep him home and then go back to sending him in so things can be semi normal.

This last year has got me feeling unsure of every decision I've made when it comes to the DC

No I wouldn't. There is barely any research on the new varient regarding children. I would like to know the basis of their decision with regards to this. I doubt your child would be badly affected by it but it could spread to others in your house.

I work in a nursery and I say send him.

The government have cut the funding so we are only getting the 15 hours funding money for children who actually attend and not for those choosing to stay home.
So even though we won't give their place away because that's just not fair to you we're loosing all of the money.
In the first lockdown this money was still payed to us.
Many nurseries are going to go out of business and the staff will be unemployed.
Yes we're scared of the risks but personally for me they're no more than they were last week and I don't want us to close down.

My daughters nursery teacher told me in private she's not sending her child to nursery and she's petrified going in herself. I'm glad she was honest and I honestly feel sorry for the staff. She told me to send my daughter in when more vaccines have been rolled out and the cases are low. I'm worried about my daughter settling back in nursery when the time comes but she told me not to worry and they'll help with that.

I’m torn

I am at home alone with a 3 year old and a 7 month old and finding it so hard to divide my time to see to their needs

But I’m not working right now so it would feel wrong of me to send him in

It’s the selfish part of me that wants to send him in

I’m not sending mine in. I know how much she would love to go and I feel guilty for not sending her in. I’m still paying though.
I have 4 at home, 2 to homeschool, my 3 year old and a 2 year old as well.
But I know how much stress and worry the staff are under. 2 were off just before Christmas self isolating and another one has been this week. If I can take a tiny bit of risk away from them and ourselves then I will.

It’s hard. My husband is out for 13 hours of the day so the balance is difficult but I feed the younger ones early lunch and give them drawing/ a small puzzle or let them have 20 minutes on the iPad whilst helping the older 2 with their work.

@Ollie0123 by all means if the staff have told you they are stressed then that's nice you are still paying but not sending your child.

I spoke to my nursery and exact words were 'we are grateful to have a job' and 'we love having the kids in'

It is a v small nursery tho with lots of outside play.

I didn't send him in last week, however, his room leader at nursery video called us on Friday and said everyone was missing him and they'd love to have him back. I explained to them I was concious of the risk to the staff and they said whilst it was lovely we were being so considerate, they were missing him, his friends were missing him and they were looking forward to having him back.

Think we will keep him off this week and if it's still open to all children by next Monday, we will think about him going back.

I would do what suits you as a family and what suits your child. Nurseries for the moment remain open for all children. I haven't seen any guidelines saying don't send your child.