Nursery hunt.

Today marks an important day of my life. After ten and the half months of maternity period, I am finally settling my baby girl in a nursery. This should be a relieve with the never-ending motherhood chores. Shredding half load off my shoulders, I should feel good. Instead, I feel guilty and totally the opposite with heavy heart. Letting go is by far the most difficult because of guilts and emotions. Learning to let go requires certainty and trust that our child will be at good hands. That’s why my nursery hunt experience has been one of the most daunting one.

Searching for the right nursery has not been easy. For my partner and I, it started like six months ago when we wanted a bi-lingual nursery mainly because of my Malaysian-Chinese root. There were other non-exhaustive list of criteria in choosing the right nursery for our child.

• Location being the first
• Costs
• Overall impression and other parents reviews
• Child safety
• Child’s first reaction (children usually have good instincts)
• Number of children
• Hygiene and cleanliness
• System and organisation
• Carer’s background
• Carer-to-child ratio
• Food options
• Learning content
• Indoor and outdoor activities
• Flexibility

General Ofsted rating is a good reference, but not all nurseries have the latest and comprehensive report to share. There was also a need to rank the criteria by importance. Our first choice ticked most of our criteria boxes with bilingual bonus. However, we were put on a never-ending waiting list. There was no correspondence for over three months until we decided to write in. Of course, the nursery has no availability to accommodate new babies. Hence, we compromised.

I did my homework, researched and eventually shortlisted three other nurseries around us. Despite one of them has good reviews from other parents, the space was quite confined. I just couldn’t visualise how my child could get sufficient naps with other six children within a small space, plus transiting from cot to floor sleeping would be challenging. Bad sleeps at nursery means bad nights for us. I suppose the limited space has also deters the type of indoor activities offered, another key factor to stimulating children imagination and development.

There were many thoughts through the decision making process, balancing our child’s needs with nurseries’ offerings. Child care in London is not cheap, the last thing we want is to pay so much for short services. Everything counts. Then, I came across the second option which met most of our criteria including location convenience. However, there was just no availability for my baby, a consequence of wasting time on a waiting list while other good nurseries were taken up.

By luck, this nursery recommended one of their other branches which was a good proximity to us as well. We planned for a visit within the week itself and fell in love with the setting straight away. A good nursery wait for no one. It is brand new with latest security system, great organisation system, spacious, outstanding Ofsted and more importantly, all the babies there seemed so happy.

I am not sure how next months are going to be, but seeing how happy my baby is when picking her up today, it’s only a matter of time before she runs off from me without saying goodbye. Trust my baby will be at good hands, it is time for me to gradually let go.