Childcare

Nursery for me, children are with their own age groups, sickness is covered and if you pick a private nursery they're open all year round, usually just closed a week at Christmas

Personally I would say nursery as a second time mum and a reception teacher. My child was really well socialised and the jump from nursery to preschool at my school wasn’t a shock to her. As a teacher, we often see a big difference in children who have been with a childminder compared to children who have been at a nursery. They tend to be more confident and find the transitions easier to cope with. The noise and hustle and bustle of a school isn’t quite as scary when they have been in a nursery and it is a more structured routine focused on a particular age group.

That being said a childminder can offer more one to one time in a smaller more homely environment which will suit some children. I think it also depends on if there are other children of a similar age at the childminders too. There are some amazing childminders and some amazing nurseries but there are also some bad ones.

I’ve used both and I’m surprised that I prefer a nursery setting.

Nursery pros:
Nursery’s are more flexible
They seem to be more stimulating
They’re more organised and seem better regulated because of multiple staff being present.

Nursery cons:
Quiet children can get lost/ignored
Staff don’t seem to care as much about your kid.


Childminder pros:
More attentive to the child
Less intense setting which is better for more sensitive kids.

Childminder cons:
Inflexible
Unprofessional
Under-stimulating

My child goes to a childminder and she absolutely loves it there.

It’s my preferred choice as it’s smaller environment, more homely and children get a lot more attention. A good childminder can be a good level of stimulation especially if your baby is under 2. You can find childminders who work all year around. But there is no back up for sickness or when they want to take holidays. Also it can be tricky if you want to change the days or hours as they might not available or there are already enough children on the day. These are the only downsides I experienced so far. But if you only looking for 1 or 2 days they often can do that whereas in a nursery your baby need to go at least 3 days a week. It depends what’s your preference and needs. We have a very positive experience with our childminder so far. So I would recommend

Childminder without any shadow of a doubt

I’ve done both and nursery. I like taking holidays off when I want to and not around the childminder and not worrying if she or her child goes off sick. Also we had a cm who became pregnant and then her replacement also became pregnant although by then we wanted our son to have more socialisation as wasn’t talking. The first cm also didn’t take him out which was fine when he was little but put more pressure on me on my days off to do that.

My daughter has been in nursery since she turned one she’s now 20 months. She only goes for a couple of days a week but she absolutely loves it. She’s really coming on with her talking and she has learnt so much from nursery, she isn’t shy and outside of nursery wants to play with other children which I think is thanks to her being well socialised. Her nursery is private so she goes all year round and keeps her in a routine. The nursery is lovely and the staff are really nice.