A goodbye to nursery

Today marks the end of an era, another big stage in my daughter growing up, her last day at nursery

Now I guess for people without kids, nursery may be seen as just a babysitting service, somewhere to leave the kids whilst you go to work, or the shops or wherever

This is not my experience of nursery, and certainly not of The Aviary in Eastleigh 

There's personal information that I won't go into but when Amelia started nursery it was at a time of great difficulty and they welcomed her like their own child

Amelia started at The Aviary when she was 6 months old, her mum was returning to work and whilst we had great family support we needed some additional help with childcare, I work shifts so don't have set days off each week

Amelia loves her nursery, she loves the staff, she loves the building and loves the garden. Above all she loves the friends that she has made. Now if you've ever had a child at school or nursery you'll know there's always a child that cries when their parent leaves, maybe its your child, but Amelia has never cried when dropped off there

The last several months have been hard for Amelia, big changes have happened at home, she's turned 4, and next week she starts school, Big School as we've been calling it for the last few months.  Throughout all of this, one constant that she has had in her life has been nursery 

Today is the end of that. 

44 months of twice or thrice weekly visits there. A goodbye to the staff and helpers. It's not a goodbye to her friends but of course she won't see as much of them, they won't have the days of the week when they always see each other

Maybe it is effecting me more than it's effecting her, she'll start her new school and she'll love it. She'll make new friends, have new teachers and have so much fun. But I know it's made her sad

She didn't want to leave when her mum collected her yesterday and I know for sure she won't want to leave today. I'll be at work this afternoon so I won't get to be there for the end of her last day, but to be honest that's probably not a bad thing, it will be an emotional time and I think tears will be shed, by her mum if no one else

And so we look forward to the next adventure, Big School, starting next Friday. Next week is my last chance to spend time with Amelia before she's a proper school pupil. And as I dropped her off yesterday I told her, as I thought it would be, that this would be the last time I dropped her at nursery and what she said really effected me.  She said 'maybe you could pick me up from big school sometimes daddy'. Half statement but half question. Looking for reassurance that I would still be there for her

Psychologists will tell you that a child will behave better for the parent that doesn't live with them, as though they have to behave because otherwise that parent may just give up and stop seeing them.  I desperately hope that's not how Amelia feels and I have, and will continue to, reassure her that I will always be there for her

I can't be there every morning, I can't be there every evening. She'll have experiences without me and I'll miss some milestones. But I'll be there as much as I can, and she'll know that I'm only ever a phone call away 

And most importantly I'll be there at the gates as she joins her new school and there when she finishes her first day. To take pictures in her new uniform and to cherish every moment of her new learning experience

I have no doubt that my daughter, along with the love and support of me and especially her mum, will go on to achieve great things in life, and this is only the closing of one door as another one flies open

I love you Amelia