The Nursery Debate

Most of my Mum friends who had a baby around the same time as me are all slowly beginning to return to work and their little ones are being sent to Nursery. It’s a subject that has been discussed in our house over and over again.

I made the decision not to return to work after my Maternity Leave and so for now there is no need for Little A to go to Nursery but I do worry about whether or not this will hold him back developmentally. I wonder if I’m being selfish for giving up work and wanting to be with him everyday when in fact he should be socialising with other little people on his own.

One of the biggest reasons that we decided not to send Little A to Nursery yet is the cost. Childcare in general is extortionate but especially the Nurseries in our local area. You are looking at around £75 a day on average and for only a few days a week that’s a lot of money a month especially when I’m not earning. It is definitely in our plans to send Little A to Nursery at some point in the near future and once he is walking I think he’ll get a lot more out of it. Covid-19 hasn’t helped matters. Our local Soft Play has only just reopened but you need to be quick to get a booking and none of the baby and toddler groups have started up again yet. I want Little A to get used to other children and so I have been making a real effort since the lockdown began to ease to meet up with my friends who have little ones.

I also think that sending Little A to Nursery at the moment even if we could afford it whilst I’m not working would be in all honesty a bit lazy of me. When we do decide to send him it’ll be lovely to have some time to myself and get stuff done but for now I want to make up for lost time. I want to make up for all the days when we stayed at home because I was too low to even get dressed. I want to create lots of memories to replace the horrible ones from the very beginning when I desperately wished I could turn back time. I want to make it up to Little A and show him how much fun we can have together and how much I love him. We are so lucky that there is no urgent need for me to return to work and I need to make the most of this opportunity that some of my friends don’t have.

The debate on whether or not little ones should be sent to Nursery is just another thing for me to stress over. It’s another conversation that I cannot get involved in when I meet some of my Mum friends. It feels like I move further and further away from people even more as the babies get older. I guess life is just like that in general.

I need to make sure that I bridge the gap so that Little A doesn’t miss out. As I can slowly begin to see my Black Balloon loosening its hold on my wrist, I will spend every day giving Little A the best experiences ever. He has lost out because of my battle with PND and I have to make it up to him.