Milli,
Can I ask why you went Nursery rather then Childminder, Au-pair, live in nanny?
I have gone down the childminder route, still have to pay for days of non attendance etc but the costs were so much cheaper (I appreciate cost is a little skewed for me as I live in the arse end of nowhere and nursery places are at a premium) but a full time live in Nanny would have been cheaper then a full time nursery place in this neck of the woods.
Just curious as its a decision I agonised over for a long time.
Good question tbf and it wasn't a decision we took lightly.
Au-pair / live in nanny; I actually proposed this idea at the beginning but the missus wouldn't have it, obv doesn't trust me.. although her counter offer was to get a male nanny but I just thought that would be weird. A large part of her going to nursery is to get interaction with other children which she wouldn't get with a nanny or au-pair. So that's why the nanny / au-pair option got binned.
Childminders; Often they have their own children and they will always put their own first no matter what imo. Plus they sometimes have pets, smoke, their houses aren't great etc. When a childminder is ill they just say they can't look after your child and leave you in the shit.. that wouldn't happen at a nursery.
Nursery; Apart from cost it won in every regard. Our nursery is really good, it's not the closest nursery but it is certainly the best. Has everything we could ask for, get a daily report, nutritious meals, has a blog where they upload photos, all members of staff have higher than the required quals, it's not too big which I like and their ofsted report is very good. They just seem more accountable than any other option and the main thing is she gets to interact with other kids and you know they are not ill as they would be straight out the door..
One of us bring her up; Means cutting back on holidays, cars etc but this is something I would love to do. My dad was never around really as he was constantly away with the Army and this is not how I want to be. jjandellis posted a link to people's regrets on their death bed. One of which was worked too much and another was not spend enough time with family. I don't want either of these to be one of my regrets.
Why do I always seem to get so deep these days?
To lighten the mood here is a joke I ready today:
"Mummy, Mummy! Where have all your scabs gone?"
"Shut up and eat your corn flakes."
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