Starting in September at Marmalade Caterpillar Post Reply

[Nightingale4]

My daughter is starting at Marmalade Caterpillar in September. She has an afternoon place and I'm wondering whether she should do 3 or 5 afternoons a week. She will only have recently turned 2 so I'm worried about how she might get on with 5 afternoons from a nap perspective although I'm guessing she would get more out of being there every day? She is currently at a daycare nursery three days a week and is pretty confident so I'm hopeful there won't be too much of an issue with her settling in. Has anyone had to make a similar decision or got any advice? Thanks very much.

[hjm]

Hi, I don't have any advice but am following as we are in exactly the same situation. Any advice from people who've been in the same situation would bd great

[Nightingale4]

Hi Hjm, I'll let you know if I find out anything useful. Does your child have a summer birthday too? Am not sure when toddlers generally drop their lunchtime nap, I'd heard from around 2.5? but obviously they're all different.

[hjm]

Yes, he's mid-August so will be the baby of the class. I will PM you

[bel35]

my summer child did 3 days pw in the afternoons in this nursery group, rising to 5 pw the following year, and that was a good balance. 4 days of lunchtime naps, 3 without (albeit with the option of afternoon nap) works very well at that age.

[Nightingale4]

Thanks bel35, that's really useful.

[Esille]

I am in the same situation. Summer child starting in September.

My oldest started at 2.5 years and did 3 mornings for the first two terms, which I thought worked well. They are still very young, and the nursery at this stage is mainly for socialising them, getting them used to group/school environment etc. The more 'hard core' learning comes closer to 3 years old so I feel 3 afternoons are more than enough to start with.

I guess it depends on your situation too, I already have a full time nanny and am doubling up by having my child in pre-school anyway.

I think it's easier to increase over time, than to start out with lots of days and find out that it doesn't work for some reason. My plan is to keep the three afternoons for the first two terms, then do 5 mornings (if I get mornings by then) and an afternoon and the following year start with 5 mornings and 3 afternoons, and the last two terms I will probably go full time.

[sarahm]

Hello
I can share my experience if it's any use? My son goes to Marmalade Cat three afternoons a week. He is a July baby and was due to start in September 2013. For a variety of reasons, one of which was the nap issue, we were a bit worried about how he would cope (his sister had been born earlier in the summer, he'd gone into a different room at nursery a month or so after that, and then we were about to load another massive change on him again by starting at Marmalade Cat) and he still really needed that nap at the time.

Miss Rozzy could not have been more sympathetic or thoughtful about my concerns when I rang to ask her advice. In the end she recommended delaying his start date until January and it was absolutely the right advice as he settled in straight away and being just that bit older meant that he dealt with not having an afternoon nap 3 days a week a bit better. He still gets a nap in on the other days and half term/school holidays help him catch up and talking to the other mums who started their children in September, they do all adjust and cope. You can also put them down late morning to get some shut eye before lunch as that's worked for some of the younger children.

He's very happy there and we think the school and the staff are absolutely fantastic so I'm sure your children will be really happy there.