DS has just turned one. He's my first.
He's been in nursery three mornings a week for just over a month since I started working part time. The nursery wasn't our first choice but was the only one who could fit around my hours. I've had niggly concerns since the beginning but thought I might be being precious. Today I was actually really uncomfortable leaving him there. My concerns, chronologically, are as follows:
They seem to rely quite heavily on volunteers (all be it long serving and capable ones) for staffing. This makes me think they're more concerned with cost saving than child welfare.
They're due to relocate to new, smaller premises soon. Upheaval for DS plus suggestive of declining numbers?
They do no 'activities' with the kids. No painting, crafts, music, outings. Just seem to stop them killing each other while playing with toys inside and in the (concrete) 'garden'.
DS is vegetarian and they've accidentally fed him meat twice. His book says he's also had sweet and sour rice, angel delight and chocolate biscuits as part of his lunch. Their kitchen facilities aren't great and I wonder about the standard of food in general.
My friend sends her child to the same nursery and I know she has stipulated dummy only at nap time. Whenever I've seen her there she ALWAYS has her dummy in.
Today when I dropped him off, it being half term, they had some older children there. There were three babies (between 8 and 12 months at a guess) two 3ish yr olds and four primary school aged children ( youngest about 5, oldest at least 10) all in the same room. There were only 2 members of staff.
When I picked him up it was chaos . He was sobbing and strapped into High chair with no food I front of him. When they saw me coming they rushed him out and said he needed his nappy changing. His nappy has obviously been dirty for some time (seepy, smushed around). He has nappy rash for the first time ever. The staff seemed obviously struggling and it took me a long time to calm him, he was so upset.
My employer has agreed to change my hours so I can do fewer longer days rather than five short ones. This means we can go to our first choice nursery (lovely staff, age appropriate rooms, big garden with animals, sensory rooms, great kitchen and brilliant local reputation).
Am I being precious to move him? Will he be happier in the long run? How do I help him cope with the change? Should I do anything else to report my concerns?
He is a sociable, out going, very smiley little boy . We had a couple of tearful moments when he first started but he's not a particularly clingy baby and makes friends easily.
Also, I'm going to have to take him out of existing nursery quite quickly to avoid paying another months fees up front. Do you have any experiences of nursery's coming down hard on these situations? I don't want them to take it out on him! What do I tell them?
Sorry for all the Qs and epic post. I don't know how best to handle this.