I have a two and a half year old who has been going to nursery since she was 7 months old. Initially settling in was traumatic and she took a couple of weeks to settle in, but has loved it since and is very active/social. She's had a best friend since she is one who she spends most of her time with and is really close to.
I'm currently on maternity leave with a three month old baby and initially planned for her to start the nursery at a similar time and I would go back to work (it's very volatile at the workplace with restructuring etc. and a new contractor boss who isn't sympathetic to family life).
However, we are now planning to move this year to a new area to be close to good primary and secondary schools as my two and a half year old is an August baby so will be starting school next year. We've found a nursery nearby which only has availability from September so I would appreciate any thoughts on what would be best:
- Keeping my older child where she is and then moving her straight into a new nursery in September (we don't know yet when exactly we will be moving so this might be before or after) and settling in my youngest at this nursery at 7 months before moving her at 12 months to the new nursery. I use holiday days on Mondays to keep them at 4 days a week full time so I wouldn't be able to take additional time off to support the settling in transition.
- Extending my maternity leave to use the full year which would take me up to when they have availability for 3 days a week and a few weeks off the 4 days a week we need. My eldest would then be taken out of nursery entirely for the 4 months as we wouldn't be able to afford it and then start afresh in the new nursery and my youngest would be settling in at 1 years old. People have mentioned before that they are more clingy at this age for settling in to nursery, but I would then get the time with the two of them over the summer.
I'm not sure which option would be better for both of them so any thoughts appreciated.