early morning child care

Yes , but it isn't really a new thing. I can remember in 1989, when I was still working, one young mum in particular used to get her little boy out of bed, wrap him in a blanket and bundle him in the car still asleep, to take him too her mums. He wasn't even school age.
Suppose you go on about do they really need to go to work etc but it's all been said before han't it.

I wouldn't worry too much about the little boy. He probably enjoys meeting his friends at the preschool club or spending time with the childminder. Is 6.45 that early? Not really if he goes to bed early enough.

Totally agree. My DD1 is mum to a 22 month-old and he has to attend full-time nursery. She and her DH both have to work full-time to make ends meet - his job was very uncertain (trying to establish a business) when GS was born so she stayed with teaching full-time.

Little one is up and out every day in all weathers - a walk to nursery. He always seems to have a nasty croupy cough / cold going on and they have to walk along heavily traffic polluted roads at peak rush hour times.

The pace of life is just so fast and furious. DD often worlks through the night on a Sunday so she can have daytime with him - as a department head she has 4 free periods out of class on a Monday morning and flakes then!

A modest little family with a modest home, who waited until 30+ yo afford to have a child, pay their taxes and work conscientiously. But they do all have it hard and stress is a constant factor. DD is hoping to have a.n.other baby in the year ahead and is busy working on ideas to then run a business herself from home.

We were very hard up when my children were little, but at least I had enough time with them and they were not being pulled from pillar to post.

I get vet cross when this generation are criticised - they need support.

That was me and my little son many years ago travelsafar without the luxury of the car . When I look back at how I dragged my poor little boy through the streets to the bus stop every morning and dumped him in nursery for the day I could weep. I had no other choice. No husband/partner/father to keep us. These days, I can honestly say (if I had my time again) I would have gone onto benefits.

as grandparents we have had to get up at 5.30 am every week for the last 7 years in order to get to dd house by 7 am latest, in order to look after 2 lively gc, for up to 12 hours. !

Particularly horrible in winter! Those dark mornings....
Happy to say youngest just started school so its just an afternoon pick up. feeling happy.

My friend has told me that back in " the bad old days" her SiL used to get her , by then school aged children, up at 5.30am, dress them, give them some breakfast and then put them back to bed with an alarm clock to wake them when it was time to go to school.
My own GC was delivered to us , on three days a week,by 7.30 ,in her pyjamas and we would give her breakfast, get her ready and take her to school until she was 11.

My daughter used to bring her baby to our house at around 7.30 am. It wasn't so hard on the baby, but we found it exhausting being up and showered by that time. Her "baby" is now five and at school. Fortunately my daughter has a 4 month old now and is taking a year off work. the children are enjoying having a lovely relaxed start to their days. It will be so hard for them when mum has to go back to work.

I leave the house at 6.30 every morning to collect 18 month old GS and bring him back here for the day. I then drive an hour round trip to take him back at 5pm. Dd meets me in a car park for hand over at 7am on her way to work. It's exhausting for all concerned but he spends his days with his Nanny (me) who loves him almost as much as his own mummy.

This isn't something new. I'm 61 and remember my mum getting me and my brother (15months younger) up dressed and out to walk to nursery by 7.15 so she could catch 2 buses to work. We stayed at nursery until mum or dad collected us at tea time, the nursery was full of children who were up and in nursery for the same reason.

My son and his wife also both work to afford a modest ex local authority house . They live a modest lifestyle. Wife works 3 days and as they both have to leave early I stay over for 2 days and the children go to a nursery on the other day. If I didn’t help out they wouldn’t manage as child care is so expensive. Life is not easy for families now unless they are very high earners

This thread is a real eye-opener. The flipside could be a stay-at-home mum and an over-protected child.

I know what you mean though, travelsafar my neighbour is a young mum who went back to work very quickly, and I used to feel for her and her little boy too, leaving early on a cold dark morning. Often she would come home late with him asleep over her shoulder (by now a heavy toddler) and struggle with bags etc. He is now a bright, friendly, bouncy 4 year old and jumps out of the car and runs to his front door.

But it isn't new. I remember working when my children were little, picking them up from the creche (as it was called then) and on one particular evening in the cold and dark they were both crying for some reason, I had one in the pushchair and another by the hand and after a long day - I started crying too. So there we were the three of us in tears walking along the street.

I do think nursery has been really good for my GS and he is very at home and sociable in large gatherings. He is a confident little boy and is positive about going. I think it is his mum in particular that has missed out on time with him.

I went back to work when my first was 9 months old, worked 20 hours a week until number 2 came along and felt that I had the best of both worlds really... But I would never have wanted to work full-time.

I find it odd that people talk about 'overbearing' parenting if parents do stay at home and the child only spends a little time at nursery. This was the norm in my peer group - I did little jobs on and off. children started nursery aged 2 1/2 and definitely potty trained and went for 2 mornings only per week and then 3 when they were 3, leading up to 4 or 5 before school started. They had the afternoons at home and I played with them and enjoyed them. It all seems so fast and furious for most families now.

not a new thing ,my neighbour 40 years ago worked as a postwoman ,her baby who was about 8 months at the time was wrapped up and handed into me on her way out just before 6am ,his dad came off nightshift about 8.30 and would pick him up on the way home .Her family were too far away to help and I was happy to help out .And no I didn't get paid for it .

I would have never wanted to work full time either Imperfect27 . But the benefits for single parents weren't quite so generous as they are now and with no father on the scene (he literally left me holding the baby) I had no choice.

As I said earlier I wouldn't do it these days. I would go onto benefits and work part time. It seems so cruel looking back.

I worked full time in 1970s ..... thank god for my mum and dad who took of my baby boy for me. Today's children won't know any different, it is us that see the difference.

My son, who lives in the USA, leaves the house around 7am to take the children to school. The school hours are 7.30 to 2.30. I don't see how they have the time to wake up and eat a proper breakfast at that time. No breakfast at school there.

It is not the being a young mum that is difficult per se but the need for so many families to have two earners that drives the child care/school need.

Travelsafar
Being a mum these days is hard ?Spare me
My DH in the late 60's had to be at work by 7am.He used his bike We had no car Couldn't afford one
My two year old I would put in the child seat on my bike and my eldest who was five would walk alongside me as we walked the mile to school. Come rain or snow
Would this hard done by lady even contemplated being in my shoes.?













We were not on a bus route either
The woman you refer to has a car and you call her life hard?
Doubt she would have wanted or even contemplated
walking in my shoes.mto walk in my shoes.
?

I didn't work when my children were small - we did without holidays and treats and had no car till eldest was 4. I walked everywhere with pram, toddler seat and shopping in all weathers. I was lucky - I had a husband in work and we could eat and pay the mortgage and manage without my wage. I loved every penny pinching minute of it and feel very sad for those who had no choice then and for my DG and DiL who have to return to work to help pay the bills.

You'll all be pleased to know I was on benefits..

I help as much as possible.

Today is very difficult for young families, much worse than my years to raise a family.

I think the difficulties are different today to what they were. The world is a much different place.

This thread is very interesting to me as it shows how much depends on our own or cultural expectations.

Although it is decades ago now - my children went to nursery in Sweden and in Sweden there is no such thing as too cold or too dark. The Swedes expected that their children would be outside for at least 5 hours a day whatever the weather (and we had to provide snowsuits, stout boots and waterproof dungarees). In winter they went out in all weathers - I can think of only a handful of days where they didn't go out at all - usually because it was colder than minus 30C. The under 2s might stay in or just do a short trip out for a forest walk when it was colder than minus 22C. The 1 and 2 year olds used to sleep outside in prams these cold temperatures wrapped up with big blankets whereas the older children skated on the frozen lake and built fires with the staff to grill sausages. In winter we would pick them up playing out in the dark

It was decades ago but my DD still has fond memories of the early mornings as it meant "nursery breakfast" and especially a variety of porridge types - oat, rice, rye, wheat. Also eating "mesost" a (to my mind disgusting) cheese made from caramelized goat milk (it's like Sweden's version marmite - you either love it or hate it).

By contrast a Swedish friend living in Italy was totally shocked that Italian nurseries keep children inside in the autumn and winter - not allowed out until the temp reached plus 15C.

Well said Gillybob.

I was a lone parent when my husband left me with two children under two. My parents were long dead, my brother was in the USA and sister lived 400 miles away.

For some mad reason ( probably shame) I decided to go back to work. This meant dragging two tiny children out of their warm beds and taking them to a child minder then catching two buses to work.

At the only Gingerbread meeting I attended I asked the girl next to me what she did. She looked at me in astonishment and said "Do, what do you mean DO. I'm raising two children alone that's enough for me"

She was right. Wish I had never gone back until they were older. It was downright cruel.