New Mummy Blog: The Cut Throat World Of Children's Nursery Places

There's been great drama for the mums and dads of our quiet, leafy hamlet this week. The area's oldest, and largest, children's nursery is closing down.

The owner is retiring and has not been able to find a buyer, or so the rumour mill goes. And as a result, the nursery's fate is sealed: come mid July, it shall be no more, leaving more than 100 families without childcare. Mass panic has ensued.

We live in an area that has, until now, largely escaped the competitive nursery scene. With no rail link in the immediate vicinity and no major road link to the nearest large towns, we're just that little bit too remote to be a serious commuter location.

There are some die hard commuters, like me, who fell for the lure of the good life and signed up for the 90 minute London journey in order to enjoy the extra space and slower pace that suit family life. But on the whole, we are a rare breed.

This meant we were able to take our pick of the, admittedly limited, selection of local nurseries. And we were able to do so at leisure. We didn't even start looking until six weeks before I returned to work - I had dreaded it and put it off and off. It's a far cry from the situation in London, where we had lived before we had children and where it seems you have to sign your child up at birth (if not before) to stand any chance of getting into the nursery of your choice.

We didn't really know how lucky we were: here was a top notch, top performing nursery, small and intimate, that our daughter has loved since she stepped over the threshold at 12 months old. And we just waltzed right in there at the last minute before my maternity leave was over - no waiting list, no problem.

When our second baby was born in December, we dropped Honor's nursery attendance down from full time to just a few days a week. She so obviously thrived there, we decided it was worth the cost to keep her in nursery, even though I would be home again with the baby.

We took it for granted that when I return to the working world, we'd be able to increase her days again. Not only that, but that we'd also be able to sign up Henry with the same ease.

But now, our blasé attitude has come back to bite us. For although it is not our beloved nursery that is closing, thank goodness, it has suddenly been propelled overnight from small and intimate to the main childcare provider for miles around.

It's been 24 hours since the news of the closure broke and already they're oversubscribed. Suddenly our future plans, up until now taken as read, are in jeopardy. Full time places for both our children, indeed a place for Henry at all, are by no means certain.

We're by no means the worst off in this situation. At least we've got one foot in the door. What of the poor parents from the other nursery, who find their children out in the cold with just six weeks warning? Just as we love Honor's nursery, they chose the other one for their own reasons.

And now they're being forced to settle for second choice, which is not where you want to be when it comes to your child's formative years, and even then there's no guarantee they'll get a place there before it reaches capacity. And to top it all off, they're caught in a storm of backbiting and rivalry with others in the same situation.

But still we do find ourselves panicked by the news, and by the sudden change in the air. I will be going back to work in some capacity, some time soon, although we don't yet know when. But now we are having to register Henry and the change in Honor's hours pre-emptively, in order to secure their places. We've had to commit long before we're ready, or risk losing out.

If we didn't act now, we would at best be on a waiting list (what good is that when you've got a job to get to?), and more than likely we'd be having to find an alternative for Henry at least. We'll barely have time in the morning to drop the children off as it is, without having to drop them at two separate nurseries, one potentially miles away. But this, I know, something that many parents have no choice but to do.

It's only natural that every parent wants to give their child the best start in life and that the best nurseries will be in demand. But near possible to get in to?

Handing your very small child over to someone else to look after because you need or want to return to work is one of the hardest things a parent can do. It goes against every instinct as a mother (or father) who has spent almost every single minute with their baby since they were born.

At the very least you want, and should be able to demand, that that place is the very, very best. But for many, due to competition, or cost, or both, this just isn't the case.

We've had things relatively easy, bar this minor hiccup, yet I've still had more sleepless nights over my children's childcare than anything else since they were born.

Childcare and education are such fundamental requirements, it seems barmy that it's so near impossible to get what we so dearly want or need.

I dread to think how I will cope when it comes to getting them into the school of our choice. With ever changing catchment criteria, even fiercer competition and far less control, I had better start panicking now.

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