Nursery good or bad?

[diddybearsmum]

My son is 19 months old. At the moment my parents and my husbands parents look after him while I am at work. I was thinking about sending him to nursery for two days a week as I thought it may be good for his development. IS this the right thing or do you think he would be better being cared for by grandparents? Thoughts very welcome!

Personally I think it depends on the child, and also the care provided by the grandparents.
For my first two DSs they went to lots of parent and toddler groups to meet other children/played at friends houses but I don't think they would have thrived at nursery in the way that they did at home with 1:1 attention.

DS3 however, has been full time at nursery since he was 3 and it suits him completely - he would have been fine there from earlier. He has learnt loads - as much as the others have when they were at home e.g. they are helping him with letters and numbers as he is 'ready'.

www.nurseryworld.co.uk/news/rss/1125003/Grandparent-carers-offer-developmental-benefits-nursery/

If you don't need him to be in nursery for childcare reasons, why not put his name down at a playgroup for when he is 2.5/3 years then he can have the best of both worlds..... lovely times with GPs and social interaction with his age group....

Thanks for that. He would only be going for 2 half days and spend the other halves of the day with his grandparents. I really don't know what to do.

It also depends on the nursery. My ds1 thrived in a wonderful nursery from just 1 - almost 3, then he changed to a different one and it was so bad I have just removed him.

I'd leave him with grandparents until he's ready for pre-school. 2.5 is generally a great age to start mixing indpendently with other children. Grandparents have so much more time for their grandchild which helps them develop across all areas of the curriculum. I've worked as an advisor in over a hundred nurseries and pre-schools and I've never seen one which would be better for a 19 month old than two sets of supportive committed grandparents, particularly if they take him out regularly.

I agree, before 2.5, 1:1 is better, after that some time at nursery with their peers is beneficial.