I am delighted to share a blog post from Rachael from We3Three about finding a good nursery, and starting her little one there. Little Man also started nursery last September, and it was a big step, and I remember feeling the same with Big Girl too…
My boy started school nursery in September. He is a March baby so he was 3 and a half when he started. I had so many worries in the lead up to him starting nursery largely because I am not really a big fan of children being ‘away from home’ at such a young age. My son loves playing with other children but he isn’t overly self confident and can be a little bit reserved around new people so I thought/hoped being in a nursery environment would be good for him.
I think my main concerns were:
Would he like it? my son’s happiness, like for any mother, is of paramount importance to me. if he didn’t enjoy going to nursery he wouldn’t be going in my mind. we don’t ‘need’ nursery in the childcare sense so it’s purely for Z that he’s going. me and hubby agreed to review how we all felt about nursery after a month. I think viewing it as a trial made it feel a little less daunting (for me) somehow.
Would he be bullied or picked on? I’m sure this is a very common concern for parents but somehow i felt that with my Z having an ‘unusual’ name and being less ‘boisterous’ than boys are apparently supposed to be he may fall victim of teasing immediately.
Would he miss me and his familiar surroundings too much to enjoy being there? which sounds daft now but it was something which crossed my mind. Z, his dad and I are very close and we love each others company so it felt like nursery may get in the way of our relationship somehow.
Would he be able to express himself to his teacher and the other children? my Z doesn’t like being made a fuss of or having the spotlight of attention on him so I worried he may be shy to ask for things that he needed or to speak up if he wasn’t feeling well or if he hurt himself.
Would he be exposed to things that I didn’t want him to be exposed to? this was a major cause of concern for both me and hubby. I feel very much like we parent in quite a different way to lots of other parents and we quite strongly about certain things that we don’t want Z seeing/hearing. When your children are at home you control pretty much everything they see/hear/eat etc. but all that suddenly changes once they aren’t with you for a section of the day.
So now it is January and Z is absolutely loving his time at nursery. So far only one of my worries has come true, that he’d be exposed to things I wouldn’t necessary chose him to be exposed to but I have made peace with it. Unless I keep him locked in the house, he will always see/hear things I wouldn’t necessarily agree with him seeing/hearing.
He has become much more confident and he’s learned so much. He is so excited to get ready and go to nursery every morning and he tells me happily about what he’s been doing every time i pick him up. we’ve had zero tears (from him or me!) and I definitely think its been a positive experience for us all for him to go to nursery. He has never once said he didn’t want to go to nursery, not even for a fleeting moment. We have had a few occasions of him saying rude things/shouting/storming off which I’m sure he’s picked up from children at nursery but I’m sure these types of things are just part of growing up so I’m not overly concerned about them now I’ve had chance to get my head around the fact that my lil boy is growing up! As a natural born worrier I was going to be worried about every tiny scenario of him starting school but now I’m not worried at all, instead I’m just incredibly proud of how well my boy has taken to starting nursery…
Aww this is a lovely guest post. I think Rachael’s fears are very similar to most parents when it comes to kids starting nursery or school. It’s absolutely terrifying to think of our little ones going off into the big wide world. I’m so glad that it has been a positive experience for Z and I hope it will make the transition to reception class easier in September too xxx