Nanny or Nursery school?

Hi Widget,

I agree with Kerry, its about finding what is right for you, although if you are going to go the creche route, I would recommend finding a similar creche to Kerry's were there is a favorable ratio of children to child minders

I am in JHB north and used Edu Babe ( in Blairgowrie , Randburg) they were great, your placement includes full Childminder training and a CPR course for the nanny before she starts.

Good luck finding what works for you

Thank you very much Kerry.

I am in JHB North unfortunately and moving to midstream at the end of the year, but I am already researching agencies as well as nursery schools and day cares close by.

It sure does... i think its more about the teacher or daymom or nanny than about whether its creche a day mom or a nanny. you will know whats right for you, don't give up.

If you happen to be in JHB south then you are more than welcome to her details. She really treats the kids like her own, and when they are off sick or going to the doc she checks up on you and them periodically...

i hope you find your right place, but my main point to you is not to stress try out what feels right, and if after a few weeks it doesn't sit right, you can change, nothing is set in stone and making the wrong choice isn't going to do permament damage (provided you take steps to correct it) Thats what being a mum is all about!

No more sleepless nights!

Thanks so much everyone.

Yes luckily I am starting early. We are moving within the next two months hopefully so I would like to know what we are going to do by January when we settle into our new house...

KerryA by the sounds of your post finding the right créche/ day mom makes the world of a difference to baby - someone with a more personal approach. One nursery school that I was looking at said that babies will be potty trained at a certain age regardless of their maturity/ readiness this upset me very much so I definitely won't even be considering them an option!

I am definitely weighing up all the options still with what I have available here in my area.

Shame man widget its a tough decision I can only sympathise.

Initially my dh's mom was looking after K, but that was not working as she had the strangest ideas on how to raise a child... and the day we got there and my 6 month old was playing with DH's old matchbox cars in the lounge while granny was in the kitchen cooking... well was the day i realised it wasn't remotely safe.

We found a creche that a woman runs from home.. she is registered and has goverment visits...

We have more or less the best of both, we found a creche that has a teacher, her daughter and a maid, and Kaelyn goes there. She takes on a maximum of 15 kiddies at any time (at the moment she only has maybe ten, three are babies and sleep most of the day, about four Kaelyns age and three maybe 4 ish).

The children get one on one time with the teacher, if they get sick she will give you a call to ask what she can give (keeps panado, demazin, nurofen and a few othets at hand, and will send the maid to get if they need things like valoid or such) and only if the child is destperate for mommy or daddy will you have to fetch. She does then keep them out away from the other kids in her house instead of the granny flat where the creche is.

This year Kaelyn managed to get bells palsy (a temporary loss of use of one side of her face that took a month to heal). In this time the teacher took it upon herself to sit with Kaelyn for an hour every day and massage her face. I was eternally grateful for this.

They have "school" every day where the little ones can join if they like, they bake on fridays (icing marie biscuits, making marshmallow clowns and stuff) and have tots in teams once a week (a PT type class teaching ball skills and activity nursery rhymes and such).

The potty training thing isn't forced the potties are there and the children are encouraged to go only when they start showing interest, if they sit on it great if they dont... oh well, maybe next week huh. If they actually go they get a superstar (a sticker, one on their head / hand and one in your book... so you know about it.) Kaelyn is fully trained in the day now, to the point she goes herself... though i am told occasionally neglects to pull her pants down far enough.

Kaelyn is now 2 and 2 months, she can tell every colour and delights in walking up to people and telling them what colours they are wearing, (IE red top, green pants, brown skirt...) she can also sing most nursery rhymes, loooves drawing, can count to ten... though occasionally its 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 10.

It has worked for us! But as i say in the beginning we did make the totally wrong choice and suffered six months of constant fighting with granny.

Personally i think it doesn't matter what choice you make so long as you make it work for you and your little one, and if your instincts tell you it isn't working, take steps to change it. Kiddies are fairly resillient.

Good luck with your choice!!!... Oh and creche costs us only R1450 per month. Its R1400 until your child is old enough to participate in the PE classes... (depending on when they start walking / wanting to join)

Widget, she does clean for us, but we are pretty tidy so she doesn't have too much work - we load the washing machine over weekends, and dishwasher and keep the house tidy.

I always made it clear that Paige is number one priority, if the ironing doesn't get done then so be it. She spends the morning with Paige, then does some cleaning and ironing while Paige has her nap ( ussually 2 hours) and then I ussualy finish working around 2, so it gives her another hour to wrap up some ironing or cleaning, while I play with Paige or take her swimming.

Try not to worry too much, you have started your research early so it gives you time to interview creches and Nanny's if it takes you 3 months , then that's fine.

I am sure it will all work out in the end

Widget, I just noticed know that you also have a 1.5 year old. Is she at daycare and what age did she start?