Child care dilemma

[midnightisaplace]

Hi, I will be going back to work full time in September. My DS will have just turned three. Whilst I have done various part time posts since he was born this will be my first 'career' job since his birth.
Unfortunately the post will involve a long commute. My DH already does the same commute and he leaves the house at 7:15 and returns at 18:30. I need to sort out childcare but am not sure what the best option is. It will be hard to find a nursery or childminder for these long hours. Does anyone have any experience of commuting with their child and then having them in a nursery close to work? What are the pros / cons of this?

I am a CM and have had children who commute with their parent to place of work and are wiith me for the shorter day:

Advantages: probably a little cheaper, if needed you can get to your child quicker (eg if they are ill, or CM has an emergency), you get to see DC for a little longer and can stop off to eat/visit on the way home if you want, you can start weekend away from work end rather than having to go all the way home

Disadvantages...you don't get the journey time to yourself, if you are ill you may not want to commute to put DC in childcare (although your partner could maybe help)

If you wanted to limit your DC time in childcare and there is flexibility in your and DP's working hours one of you could drop off DC slightly later and the other could pick up slightly earlier in pm having gone in to work earlier then DP.

I don't know why more people don't use childcare near to work rather than home...if it were me I would!

Can you afford a nanny?

If you could find a nursery that is open for the hours that you need then I'd go for that. I say that having had too many problems with childminders over the past 3 1/2 years since we stopped using a nursery for dc1.

Where you look for that nursery is another dilemma altogether. There are pros and cons of near home and near work, only you and your DH can decide what would work best for you.

The nursery I use is open 7 till 7, as are quite a few in my area of London. Luckily I don't need to use the full day (DS is usually there 8-5.30ish), but a lot do.

Personally I would always choose childcare close to home. I would hate the idea of commuting with a child, although I do know some people that do it. It's also very handy to be able to access the nursery easily on days that I'm not working, or am going on training etc. I'm on mat leave at the moment and DS still does his three days. That wouldn't have been possible if his nursery had been 45 mins away from home.

Thanks very much for all the advice. As always, it is a difficult decision. I think my preference would be to put him in a nursery close to home, however as I am based in rural Northern Ireland there aren't very many nurseries around. I will have to talk to those that do exist and see what hours they offer.

My 4yo DS has been at nursery near my work since he was a baby. This worked for me as no nurseries near home stayed open late enough and it meant even if traffic was horrendous he was still only a mile away. Commuting has been fine most of the time when he was young he slept now we have a constant stream of chatter about things outside the window or what's on the radio, which takes some skill to drive with but you get used to it. Still occasionally drop off to sleep on the way home.
DH has done the drop off / pick up a few times despite it being near my work because it's near to motorway junction so he can get there if planned or was a complete emergency ( not had one of these).
Keep various treats secreted in car for particularly difficult or long days.
Means DS & I talk about our day which is really nice.