Making new nursery friends – partners in crime

Since January when N’s nursery school moved location it’s been a bit of a change for N.  Of course, he’s taken everything in his stride and it’s been a fairly minor change in terms of who’s been involved.  The nursery is now on its own site, and opens longer hours, so he now has tea there on a Thursday, and comes home at preschool time as usual on a Friday.  It’s a lot less stress for me, and means yippee, I get away with not cooking in a rush on a Thursday.

N loved the nursery before, but now it’s got its own garden area, he’s in his element.  He seems to have made himself totally at home as well.  No worries wandering in, leaving his stuff strewn all over the place etc.  Hopefully that’s not just N, but that they’re all like that!

At first, N was the only one staying for tea on the Thursday.  It didn’t seem to worry him, but now the after school club happens at the nursery too, so his friend I who lives across from us, arrives after all the other children leave.  She used to be at his day nursery but because she was in the school year above him, they didn’t really move in the same friendship circle.  But now they have tea together and then get on with playing.

Although the difference in age is less than a year, I did wonder how they’d get on.  There’s the girl factor.  Although N does go to nursery where there are girls, it’s rare girls get a mention even if prompted.  But they seem to get on really well.

When I turn up to pick N up, they’re usually outside concocting muddy, twiggy messes, or racing each other on scooters and ride on vehicles.   I was talking with the nursery staff, and they mentioned that the relationship went the other way to what we’d expect, with N being the one leading and suggesting what they’d play, even though he’s the youngest.  It’s probably because he’s really bossy, and maybe feels more like he owns the place given he’s there all day.

Sometimes they do come up with the most interesting (revolting) games…one week they were mixing leaves and twigs up, and informed us it was a bird poo nest, for birds to use as a toilet, presumably.  Delightful.

They’ve also used tyres to make a ‘car’ to drive, and just generally hoon around chasing each other, or copying what the other is doing.  It takes me ages to get him to leave when they’re absorbed playing.  It’s lovely to see, and hopefully we should be able to organise a couple of play dates.  I can see the two of them using the gate down at the bottom of the paddock behind us, to then cross the road to visit each other’s houses when they’re older.

It’s funny how children just seem to connect and enjoy a specific friend’s company.  While N would never put I at the top of his friends list (they’re still all boys), and his nursery school boy friends are the ones that are talked about, it’s not the boys he asks about in the morning before we leave for nursery.  It’s always ‘will I be there for tea with me?’.  It’s like they have their own personal date night, supervised by the nursery teachers!

It’s lovely to see N making new nursery friends.

Do your children have particular friends they look out for each day, or like N do they swap and change depending on the location?