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Nurseries

Find nursery advice from other Mumsnetters on our Nursery forum. For more guidance on early years development, sign up for Mumsnet Ages & Stages emails.

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Original poster

Nursery near home or near work

25 replies

laurielo · 03/03/2022 18:46

Me and my husband both work about 35/40 minutes away from home - we're torn for when I go back to work would it be more ideal for baby to go to nursery near to home or near to my work

The only thing that worries me is if something happened at nursery and we was both 40 mins away but then again as little one gets bigger he won't make connections with children around his own area?

What have other peoples experiences been?

Thank you!

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N4ish · 03/03/2022 18:49

Definitely near work! Let’s them make friends who live locally and you to get to know local parents if you want. Also means on a day you’re off work sick you can still drop your child to nursery.

Original poster

laurielo · 03/03/2022 18:52

@N4ish do you mean near to home? Yes this is what I love about this idea! Thank you

OP posts:

BorisBooster · 03/03/2022 18:54

Definitely near home. What happens to f you change job ? What happens if you fall pregnant again and then see the nursery for DC1 whilst on maternity leave ?

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 03/03/2022 18:55

Near home!! They’ll make friends locally, you can still get them to nursery when you are off sick, or have a sneaky child free day of leave.

RockAndRollerskate · 03/03/2022 18:56

We’ve recently moved from near work to near home. DC was overtired most nights and the 30min journey was hell. Also difficult if we were on leave or ill.

Nursery would understand your situation and wouldn’t expect you to be there in five minutes if they needed collection

Allthegoodnamesweretakenalread · 03/03/2022 18:57

Near work! If you are late leaving, it can be really stressful to get to pickup on time. They can make local friends when they start school. Mine went to a nursery in our city centre and oddly enough there were 4 other kids who all ended up in the same primary school. They are good friends now but never played together in nursery.

Christmas21 · 03/03/2022 18:57

We've gone for near home. She's making local friends, it's simple for drop offs when I'm WFH. Plus she doesn't have to spend all the extra time in the car, risking a danger nap on the way home!

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 03/03/2022 18:57

….. and the reasons given by @BorisBooster

And when your child becomes entitled to early years funding, I think they need to live in the sane local authority as the nursery.

rainbowzebra05 · 03/03/2022 18:58

We went for near my work. I'm currently on sick leave (so having to have someone else take him which is logistically difficult) and will be on maternity leave in the summer. It's going to be an absolute ball ache driving 25 mins each way daily with a newborn! I don't regret the choice as the nursery's amazing, but do wish it was closer to home.

drinkuplikeamum · 03/03/2022 19:08

When I had this dilemma I went for near work in the end - it meant if I was running late leaving work I had less stress getting there in time, and DD and me could have more 'us' time on the walk from nursery to home. It also meant on days I had to pick her up sick from nursery (not often but it did happen) I could get to her quicker.

I was in the same job for the entire time she was at nursery though so if you change jobs regularly it might be more of a problem. Friendships didn't even come into it, she had parties with nursery friends all over town, and has still done fine at primary school despite none of her nursery friends going with her to school.

BobMortimersTrout · 03/03/2022 19:12

Near home. For reasons PPs have said, and unless you and DH work in the same place, if it's near your work it's always on you to pick up if DC get sick, and you need to share that between you

MangoM · 03/03/2022 19:21

Near home, otherwise you could a really awkward nursery run on your hands if you're on annual leave, sick or change jobs.

Nursery will be aware that you won't be able to get there immediately if your child needs collecting.

TheOrigRights · 03/03/2022 19:29

Mine went to a subsidised on site nursery at my place of work so I didn't have to make this decision.
The advantages of being near work was that I could go over and breastfeed at lunch time, the journey there and back was time together (that sounds kind of sad but is the reality of working full time), his playmates were children of my colleagues and (especially true for my first child) my own social life was more with my colleagues than people in my village so play dates were easy to organise.

I did arrange to work from home one morning a week for a while before starting school so DSs could go to the local pre-school and get to know his school peers.

canary1 · 03/03/2022 19:31

Near home. Short journey for them, and what if work moves?

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 03/03/2022 19:36

Do you work near each other? Or in completely different places?

Near just one workplace will mean only you can drop off and pick up really. Near home, one could drop off, the other pick up.

BootsScootsAndToots · 03/03/2022 19:39

Near home of course

What do people do if they're sick or on leave and DC still are going to nursery? Or you get a chance to WFH?

tinytoucan · 03/03/2022 19:52

I’ve done both. When it was near work I felt reassured that I could get there quickly if I needed to, but actually they know you can’t pack up and get there immediately usually so this was never a problem. Also DS used to fall asleep in the car on the way home so bedtime became a nightmare!
The main problem was when I was ill DS had to stay home too (DH worked in the other direction so couldn’t take him) which was really not what I needed!!

Now it’s near home and very occasionally I’ve been worried about getting back in time for pick up, but in general it works a lot better this way for us.

Original poster

laurielo · 04/03/2022 09:24

Looking at all your replies I may opt for near to home

That way I can drop off but would be about 1hr before we start work - hubby could do this and pick up would mean there wasn't a long drive for them at the end of the day

Thank you all! Now it's just deciding which nursery and to get on waiting lists!

OP posts:

BobbleWobble1 · 05/03/2022 11:39

We had the same situation when I returned to work - 40 minute commute each in opposite directions. We chose a nursery close to home and it was 100% the right choice.

DS is car sick so commute with him would have been a nightmare as well as the danger nap before bedtime someone else mentioned.

Both DH can share drop offs and pick ups as well as collections if DS is sick.

If you are sick yourself or have annual leave (assuming year round nursery) you'd still have the commute to nursery or lose a day you've paid for. The odd child free day was bliss when I went back to work!

What if you change jobs? I did after a year so would have had to change nurseries when DS was happy and settled.

I'm now on maternity leave again so DS has just carried on as normal.

If LO does make any friends while at nursery they will likely be local.

Only advantage to a nursery close to work is that you can collect them quicker if unwell but as PPs have said, it's not really an issue and you would still have the drive home.

The only reason I would choose a nursery close to work would be if the opening times of a local one made it genuinely impossible to drop off and collect.

Simonjt · 05/03/2022 11:45

I did near work, it reduced nursery by an hour a day, we’re going to be using the same one for our little girl, its about a five minute walk from my husbands work, so perfectly placed.

JennyWI · 06/03/2022 17:23

Near home, you want them to have local friends. Its miserable when you dont. Nursery staff here, I know that we will call when symptoms are less severe when we know parents work further away.

WowStarsWow · 06/03/2022 17:44

I think the distance between work and home makes a difference. DH and I both worked about 20 min from home in different directions when we chose our nursery. We looked at 5 nurseries that were either on his route to work or mine, and chose the one we liked the best. It happens to be the one nearest my work, and that’s been great up until I went on maternity leave with my second, as now I have to do the drive twice in a day. We have cut down the days though, so it’s only 3 days a week now. DH’s work also relocated their office, so he works closer to home but in a different direction still, so it’s lucky we didn’t choose a nursery near his old office.

You could consider a nursery somewhere between work and home? Especially if you do both work in the same direction from home, so could both do pick ups easily. Depends if you WFH at all (we don’t).

voxnihili · 11/03/2022 22:46

I chose to send DD near my work and it’s worked out perfectly as I never have to worry about traffic making me late after drop off or being late to pick her up. It does mean I do all drop offs and pick ups but DP cooks dinner in the evening so it evens out.

IwaswhoIam · 16/03/2022 15:13

We’ve done both before and near home was better . Local friends , no commute to nursery for the kids & easier overall with pick up and drop off

elrider · 16/03/2022 15:43

I vote for near home. I had a similar debate and my dilemma was as follows. I worked 45 minutes to the south and DH worked 20 minutes west. I had the choice of a local nursery 6 minutes north (where we knew other people), 7 minutes south-west (pretty much on the way to work for both of us - just a couple of minutes' detour, but didn't have availability for all the days we wanted), 15 minutes west (on the way to DH's work and a very lovely nursery), or a few options on the way to my work, mostly approx 30 minutes south.

Whilst I knew I'd be doing all of the drop offs due to DH's early starts, I didn't want to be beholden to doing every single pick up, so I vetoed the ones near my work. Also vetoed the one near DH's work as it would add time to my commute and would still be half an hour of driving if I was ever ill/working from home, etc. Eventually decided to use the one slightly north (minor detour for both of us but close to home and we knew other families there), before miraculously getting a cancellation at the nursery 7 minutes south west - on the way for both of us so DH could easily do pick ups. We stayed there until DC at school.

The pros of being close to home were that on days I was sick as a dog with a migraine or similar, I could still manage to get DC to nursery before going back to bed in peace instead of being ill with a toddler to also look after because I couldn't manage a long journey. Also that I ended up working from home 2 days a week even before Covid, and then full time ever since, so a nursery near work would have been a nightmare. And on some very rare occasions, I'd be off work but still have DC in nursery (usually to do something boring like a hospital appointment or turn-the-house-upside-down decluttering) but very pleased to not have to do a big drive in and out.

The only downside was the once or twice they threw up and we had to collect early, and I felt bad that they had to wait about 45 minutes for me to get there, but they were fine getting cuddles from staff and it really probably only happened about twice ever.

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