Grandparents caring for your Dcs any advice/tips

[lizardqueenie]

Hello
Wounding if anyone can give me any advice/tips re gps looking after your children once uve returned to work.

I'm prob going to be returning 3 days pw once DD is 12/13 months old & my mum has said that she will happily look after DD at my house which is what i would prefer. I am really grateful but like to hear about your experiences- what works/doesn't? What should I keep in mind? Also do u pay your folks?
A girl from my Nct is doing the same but has also enrolled her ds in nursery 2 mornings a week so that her ds can get some playtime & interaction with other children, so her mum gets a break & so that her mum doesn't have to do all the playgroups etc. Cant make up my mind about this whether it would be good or not but if it's worthwhile DH & I need to pull our finger out & find a nursery.
Also (layers and layers of questions here!) if I enrol DD in a nursery is it best to keep this as her pre-school & would it prob be too much disruption for a 2.5 year old to move to a pre-school.

Phew! If u made it through that thanks! :)

hi, if your mum is happy then id personally enrol dd in a nursery when she gets to 2+ as they dont interact much with others before then, just tend to play alongside, also this is a very diffcult age to settle

Thanks Serious that's helpful to know.
Bumping this for any other advice re grandparent care?? :) ta

My pils minded my dd1 for 2 half days a week when I went back to work (from 6 months old - 2.5 years) I also had her in a creche for a half day each week. She went to their house, its what they preferred. They didn't do playgroups, swimming or any activities along those lines but they took her shopping, to the doctor/dentist with them. During the summer months they would go away for the day. She also spent quite a substantial amount of time at the bookies with her grandad although she's almost 6 now and is fab at maths . They had so much time and patience with her it was really lovely, her nana taught her to do jigsaws, play cards things that I don't like haven't got as much time to do.

I'll be honest I felt she got a lot out of the nursery even though it was just for a few hours once a week, she mixed with other kids, she was my eldest and we don't have a lot of kids in our extended family. She was painting, taking part in water/sand activities, hanging up her own coat etc from no age which I then felt stood her in great stead for when she started nursery school (we're in NI so I think our nursery school is Reception, anyway she started primary school when she was 4) She also went to a different nursery school from the creche and then to a different primary school and she had no problems settling in.

Re - grandparents, I loved the fact that she spent so much time with her grandparents but I didn't issue lists of instructions - I sent her lunch down with her but they gave her whatever snacks/treats they had, if they wanted to cuddle up on the sofa and watch cartoons all day so be it. I didn't pay them but every once in a while would buy flowers, things they had mentioned in passing they liked and would give them "spending money" when they went on holiday

Hey Wiggles

Thanks thats helpful to know about what worked for your DD1. :o at her spending time at the bookies!

I know that my mum is very much looking forward to doing lots of activities at home with her, reading, watching cartoons etc and I am sure that she would probably err on the side of caution with asking me what my DD should eat etc but I don't plan to give her a list of instructions :)

Like you I feel that a short time in a nursery each week might help her to enjoy being around other kids and nice for her to take part in activities too. When she goes to pre-school etc i want her to feel confident and ok about it so would enrol her in a nursery if i could feel that that might help.

Nice idea about the thank you treats you gave your folks too, things like that show appreciation.

Hi -I would say if you are taking your DD to a toddler group or play dates when you are off I wouldn't worry over much - if your mum could find a toddler group etc she liked say one morning a week it might be nice too - quite a few have grannies going a onlong - community pre schools - often start from 2 and that might be quite good at that age -and normally cheaper than nursery - at least it was for my DS - not a grannies but at CM and ready for some thing at bit more at 2 ish - so I would have a look into them - and get on the waiting list one a few - personally I think nursery at 12 months isn't necessary unless your mum is feeling its a bit much -not a problem to move setting at 3 ish it works for you all -

Thanks M&S. I think that this is acutally the conclusion I came to today after giving it lots and lots of thought over the last few days. There is a really nice playgroup at the top of my parents road which my mum would be happy to go to and I am always happy to take DD to different groups. I have already registered her for a really nice pre-school in our road (you have to be quick off of the mark around here I have noticed) and that starts aged 2 which is kind of back to my orginal plan. I think this is my first experience of seeing how you can absolutely wind yourself up and tie yourself in knots trying to do what's best for your kids.