Almost 3yo DS started back to nursery / daycare at the start of September. His pre-lockdown nursery closed permanently so we moved him to another branch of the same chain. He attends 2 days per week (Monday and Friday) - the same as the old one. The new one is much larger (twice the size). We call it "big boy NAME OF CHAIN" as he has moved to a big boy bed and now wearing big boy pants so we thought that would be good.
He seemed excited about the idea of it but he is just not setting at all. He is so sad when we talk about it and he is crying the night before saying he doesn't want to go, he doesn't like it and it's not fun. We ask why it's not fun but he doesn't say anything specific. We have told the staff this and they say he has a good time and joins in and he chats away with them and the other children so they are a bit dismissive when we say this.
Drop offs have improved very slightly each time - clinging to me screaming the first day and had to be peeled off me but last week he cried but he did walk through the door himself. Drop offs were never amazing at the old nursery (he never skipped in and sometimes was clingy) but he did love it there.
I asked him why he cried when I dropped him off and he said it was because he wanted mummy to stay. I know being at home with us for 6 months has spoiled him and he really has become very attached to us but don't know what to do about it!
In the new nursery they moved him up to the preschool room straight away as he was almost 2yrs 10mths - there are 24 children in this room v the 12 that would have been in his room at the old nursery. He'll also be the youngest in the room. I don't know if this is overwhelming for him?
He was potty trained over lockdown and maybe only has one accident a week with us but he is having accidents every day he is at nursery sometimes more than once.
This post is longer than I had planned and probably quite disjointed - sorry! We just don't know what to do. There are other nurseries we could move him to but I don't think it would be any different. Has / is anyone experiencing the same thing? All advice welcome!