Jump to content

Recommended Posts

My almost 4yo has been at the same childminder since he was 8 months. Since September he's had 2.5 days a week at school nursery and 2 days at the childminder and I was planning on that arrangement lasting until he starts reception in September. Unfortunately, I think he's outgrowing the childminder now - really complaining about going every morning (but fine when I pick him up). Has anyone else had the same problem and what did you do?
You could approach the Nursery and ask if any of his friends have nannies or au pairs that he could potentially go and hang out with as a nanny share. We do this for one morning a week, the two girls have a great time playing together in the morning and then go off to nursery in the afternoon. We were not sure how to work it out in the beginning but now it is set up the girls seem to really benefit from the friendship.
I would suggest going with your gut. If it's niggling away at you that he would be happier elsewhere, then maybe go through the motions to change things. The easy option is to leave things as they are. I did this for too long with my daughter. I moved her to a school nursery in September and she is so so much happier that I'm sorry I didn't change things sooner. It's hard to know where to go, but maybe a change will be enough stimulation to keep him going until September? Best of luck whatever you decide...
Thank you for all the replies. Although he loves the babies at the childminder's and he's been with her so long I think the contrast with mixing with his peers at nursery is causing an issue. It doesn't help that he's one of the oldest in the year and is a 2nd child! I can't really decide what to do, the longer we leave it the harder it will be to make a change but having 2 different settings is always going to be tricky for him so there's a chance that different won't actually be better! Maybe the nanny share idea would avoid that though?

newtoedf, I agree with esme and think you should wait it out until your son starts big school. Don't worry now while he is still so young.


shaunag's comment about 'maybe a change of stimulation will be enough to keep him going until September'?


It's a shame you think your son is outgrowing his childminder. Why don't you have a chat with him/her to see what's going on as son could just be tired first thing in the morning? Would probably be the same with a nannyshare but even so childminders and nannies go out to lots of places every week.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • It’s about chains, and the ethos of family run business versus unhealthy competition 
    • 'Tom Lehrer, acclaimed musical satirist of cold war era, dies aged 97' https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jul/28/tom-lehrer-dies-aged-97-dead-musical-satirist  
    • But all those examples sell a wide variety of things,  and mostly they are well spread out along Lordship Lane. These two shops both sell one very specific thing, albeit in different flavours, and are just across the road from each other. I don't think you can compare the distribution of shops in Roman times to the distribution of shops in Lordship Lane in the twenty first century. Well, you can, but it doesn't feel very appropriate. Haa anybody asked the first shop how they feel? Are they happy about the "healthy competition" ?
    • ED is included in the 17 August closure set (or just possibly 15 August, depending on which part of the page you trust more) listed at https://metro.co.uk/2025/07/25/full-list-25-poundland-stores-confirmed-close-august-23753048/. Here incidentally are some snippets from their annual reports, at https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02495645/filing-history. 2022: " during the period we opened 41 stores and closed 43 loss-making/under-performing stores.  At the period-end we were trading from 821 stores in the UK, IoM and ROI. ... "We renogotiated 82 leases in the year, saving on average 45% versus the prior lease agreement..." 2023: "We also continued to improve our market footprint through sourcing better store locations, opening 53 and closing 51 stores during the year." 2024:  "The ex-Wilco stores acquired in the prior year have formed a core part of this strategy to expand our store network.  We favour quality over quantity and during the period we opened 84 stores and closed 71 loss-making/under-performing ones."
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...