Time / Distance from nursery

[RJBMRE]

Is 1 hour too far away from my LOs nursery? Perhaps 1.5 hours if there is any traffic? Im a first time mum and worried incase there is an emergency. I think deep down i already know the answer to this but interested to hear your thoughts.

I would be very uncomfortable with this.

Is it 1hr away from home or 1hr away from work?
In always think about a “worst case scenario” think
snow and ice
roadworks
etc etc

as a parent I wouldn’t want to be an hour or more away from my children nursery just in case here is an emergency.

as an early years worker if we have an unwell child or a child in an accident an hour is a very long time for that child to wait until their parent come and get them.

it’s always better to have an emergency contact who can be there within 20/30 minutes,

From work or home? If you have a long commute sometimes it’s impossible to avoid being some distance from nursery for one or the other but there is no way I’d sign up for a nursery that was over an hour from both.

Ease of the journey should be one of your top priorities in picking a nursery IMO. Obviously safety and kind, qualified staff are more important but all the nice to haves that some nurseries offer will make much less difference to you and your child than keeping your daily journey short and easy! And knowing you can be there quickly and reliably in an emergency is also really reassuring, if possible.

How far away is the baby’s father, if in the picture?

If you commute quite far (which I assume you do because I guess you haven’t chosen one 1hr from home?) you’re probably going to end up fairly far from the nursery, especially if you’re sharing drop offs and pick ups with a partner.

For me. Yes. Too far. 40 mins max. From home or work or both?

It is too far. Unless it is the only nursery I wouldn’t do it.

Sometimes parents just can’t pick up a child in an emergency and that just can’t be helped, everyone just has to manage. But it’s not nice for the child. It’s unpleasant in fact. It would be difficult for you too travelling sixty to ninety minutes knowing that your child was in need of you.

Far too far from home. It’s not fair to make a small child commute that much.

If you’re dropping them off and then commuting an hour to work, I think it’s fine. You’re not (hopefully) going to be called as a total emergency very often.

I would also say too far. It's not just emergencies, it's the variability of traffic on such a long commute. You can't always predict which will be the 1 hour days, and which the 2 hour days because you got stuck behind an accident 45 minutes away from nursery. As a standard commuter that's annoying. As a parent, that's a closed daycare and you having kept a member of staff behind after their shift.

Absolutely way too far. Unless it’s by your work (assume you mean an hour from home). You’ll barely see your kid with that drive. Also massively high risk for danger naps on the way home!! We chose nursery 99% because it was closest.

If that's your commute you can't do much about it but over an hour from home is madness. Even half and hour I think would be a headache in practice.

Yes that would be a nightmare- not just from an emergency point of view but getting them home after a day at nursery. Mine would have fallen asleep in the car and then not gone to bed until past 10pm... no thanks. Is it because work is an hour from home?

I was about an hour away when my DC were in nursery. I worked in Central london, nursery was near my home. It was a bit annoying because it closed at 6pm so if I got to the station at 5:15 and all the trains were down it was a bit of a 😬 situation. But overall fine and what many Londoners do.

Do you mean that nursery is close to home and then you work an hour away? Assuming you haven’t just chosen a nursery an hour away at random because that would mad, but rather its just the length or your commute, which is probably longer than usual but I don’t think totally unheard of. Is there another parent that could also do pick if there’s horrendous traffic and/or an unexpected sick call?