Nursery experiences - days/hours

[Gratefulsmile]

Hi ladies,
I will be returning to work in a few months and would really appreciate if you could share your experiences in terms of sending 2/3/4 year olds to nursery.
How many days and hours did you send your 2/3/4 year old to nursery? How did they find it, were they too tired when they got home? Did it help transition them to attending school?

Also, has anyone combined settings, so sending your child to two different nurseries in the week (some nurseries only accept 15 hours), what was your experience with this, please? How did the child get on?
Thanks very much for sharing!

I work with 2-4 year olds. A couple of kids go to 2 settings and I think friendships are a bit more difficult but not impossible. I would definitely recommend bunching days together in order for the child to settle more easily. Monday all day and Friday all day is horrible for a small child. Better to do Mon, Tue, Wed or even Mon, Tue, Thur as not so much gap between days.

Generally younger children are more upset initially but settle more quickly than 3-4 year olds who can take a very long time, especially if they haven't been out much or spent time away from parents often.

I think it definitely helps transition to school: socially (making friends, playing, sorting out conflicts), following routines/ rules (eg. Turn taking, learning to sit and listen in a group), resilience to tiredness.

Mine were both in nursery 5 days a week 8-5 ish, so that I could work. They absolutely loved it and it really was like a second home. They had loads of friends and were well prepared for school. Both settled into school without any issues, despite going to schools where none of their nursery friends went.

My DD is nearly 2 and a half - she's been going 3 day a week since she was 1. She absolutely loves it but hasn't been napping at nursery for the past few months so by the time bedtime comes on nursery days she's shattered because despite her FOMO, she does still need a nap!! She has a wonderful time and asks if it's nursery day all the time.