What the fucking fuck am I supposed to do now?!

[BluPeony]

DS has been on a waiting list for a full time nursery space since before I gave birth. About 18 months at this point I think. It's not a special/fancy nursery before anyone blames me for wanting a forest Montessori day camp or whatever. But we are in London and we did want a nursery for the stability.

We spoke to the manager in March and it seemed that everything was fine and we were on schedule to start 3 days at the end of May. I thought it was odd we hadn't heard about the admin/settling sessions etc so chased up only to be told that they can only offer 2 days from mid June. This puts us in an extremely sticky situation.

I'm already using a large chunk of annual leave to stay home with him in May and then work 4 days per week until the end of the year. My partner has wrangled his contract to also amend his work schedule to allow him to do the childcare one day per week. Everything was ready.

We don't have family nearby, my mum lives 2 hours away but works FT so while she could take some emergency annual leave for a short while it won't help us in the long run.

My partner and I need to respond to the manager but my head is spinning, I am in shock and panicking about what to do. I don't understand how this has happened. The casual 2 line email has thrown everything into a tailspin.

Can you afford a nanny? Either temporarily or permanently? That's probably the only real option at this short notice.

The government’s new partially funded hours have screwed over so many people I know! Loads of them were expecting massive savings on their monthly bill, but several have found their bill has gone up due to the nursery being forced to change extras to stay afloat, two friends have had their nurseries close completely and another one has had theirs reduce hours so she can no longer drop off before 8am!

OK, first things first. Do you want to accept and just worry about the 3rd day / 2 week delay?

Or would you prefer to find a new setting for all three days?

I'm a childminder and have shared care with lots of other settings over the years, it can work very well.

Good luck.

Yes this did cross my mind.

I really wanted him in nursery to socialise him all it would have to be a temporary set up.

I think I'd rather he have a settled routine. He will spend one day with me and one day with his dad, to then add 2 days in one nursery and one day in another I think would be a bit much.

I'm having second thoughts about this nursery now after how the manager has behaved but I don't think we have much time to find elsewhere.

I'd look for a childminder.
They would take him to Stay and Play/Rhyme Time etc so would get plenty of socialising.

Look at alternatives including childminders we work to exactly the same standards and are inspected by the same Ofsted inspectors with lots of social activities. My mindees meet with the same group of 15 children 4 times a week. Forest school, library story time, toddler group and a childminder music/messy lunch club.

Check all childminders in your area/near the area of your work which could work. It can work really well especially between ages of 1-3 with a minder. They do toddler groups which gives a bit of time en mass with children - but have a home setting and get out for picnics etc with the children in the house. Quite often yours will end up with a friend in the year above/year below and keep good friends with them.