So this week, Boo has started going to nursery each morning. She was three in January so, after the Easter term, she got her free Early Years Entitlement.
I have mixed emotions about it really.
On one hand, she needs to go. She needs to interact with other children, learn routine and to listen.
On the other hand, I am bereft. My baby is being looked after by someone who isn’t me or our family.
When I went back to work after six months maternity leave, Boo hadn’t been cared for by anyone else but me. Fair enough Hubster had been there some of the time but it was me who wiped her tears, changed her nappies etc.
When I first went back to work, I did three days (I have since reduced that to two) and the first day when my Dad picked her up to take her to my parents’ house, I’m not going to lie, I sobbed.
I’ve never found it easy leaving Boo. I was 31 when I had her and I felt I had done all my partying by then. She was a lovely surprise and I felt like I owed it to her to care for her the best way I knew how.
Any mother will tell you, it’s not easy.
Those first few months when you have sick down you for most of the day and don;t make it out of the door but I wouldn’t change it for anything.
So at her last toddler music class, which I have blogged about before, I sobbed too. My baby is growing up.
Nursery is like the bridge to school. It will prepare her for discipline and learning.
While many children have been in childcare for years before school, Boo has not.
I paid for her to attend a couple of sessions before the free Early Years so that it wouldn’t be so much of a shock to her and she has come on leaps and bounds and enjoys it.
I took this week off to enable me to take her and collect her every day for the first week and, up to now, we have had tears each day.
The teachers say she is fine once I’ve left but has worked out the amount of time she is there and often looks to the door when I am about to arrive.
It breaks my heart to leave her crying.
Even though it is in her best interests, I would like to keep Boo under my wings forever. To shield her from the world-the nastiness, the danger, the meanness.
I can’t do that though.
Goodness knows what I’ll be like when she goes to school.
I might need counselling.
That girl is my life. She is the most amazing thing to have ever happened to me.
I’ve just got to learn to lift my wings a bit and let that little chick fly.
Oh hon it’s such a huge step when they start nursery!! They all cry at first when you drop them off, and in my eldests case pick up too. I used to watch her through the glass hole in the door and realised the tears were all for my benefit 😉 #ShareWithMe
my now 4 year old still has times where she cries when I leave her at playschool but once I am out of sight she is fine, I think it is more for our benefit to let us know that we will be missed. it is all a learning curve not only for our children but for us too!! #sharewithme
It’s sad when our kids reach another phase & we have to move on, but it’s also essential that we learn to let go & encourage independence.
My 2 are both at uni now & I miss them a lot!
Oh hunny I feel you on this one. MM starts in Sept one day a week and I am so nervous and Buba starts two days. And I don’t know what I will do without my team!! I feel like I go into panic mode just thinking about it but I know it’s needed for all of us. It’s hard to let them grow up and start doing more without us. I can’t imagine when my two start school. I will be a mess. We can be messes together. lol Thank you so much for linking up to Share With Me. #sharewithme
The idea of my son being close to someone else made me a bit jealous. I feel like I need to be the only person close to him. When he started of course he needs me and he would always cry and now that hes been in prechool for half a year he is a wee bit independent and is close not only to the teachers but his classmate as well.
I have learned that he is happy when he is playing with other people and is happy when I am picking him up and he would tell me things he need. I saw a vast improvement in his being so I let him go and grow.
This is a nice post. Made me remember the feelings I had before -)
#MadMidWeekBlogHop
Awww i remember those first days at nursery.. I use to stand at the gates for ages just *incase* hey decided there didnt want to stay… Of course they did stay and often the teacher would say oh there were fine after you went! Kids dont half know how to make you feel rubbish for leaving them! 😉 #ShareWithMe
Oh, sending huge hugs. Bella recently started nursery and at first she was distraught at being left, but now she has so much fun! I know its hard to hand over the care but it really does do them so much good to have indpendent time away from us. Hope you’re ok!
x x x
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Starting nursery is such a milestone for them! I was an emotional WRECK when my youngest son started nursery! But there was no tears, just a kiss and a wave and he was off! Not giving me a second thought! I’ll be just as much of an emotional wreck when Annabelle starts too haha!
Fab post hun and thanks so much for linking up to #MMWBH xx
Leaving our children at nursery is always hard but it does get better, I have been on both ends as a nursery worker and a parent, they are always fine once the parent has left and they start playing. My daughter went to nursery when I worked and having that experience definitely helped her in going to preschool, she just walked through the doors and waved goodbye, I am hoping she is as happy to go to school in september. #sharewithme