Nurseries creating unruly children?

[Pearls18]

I saw the front page of the Daily Fail today talking about unruly children from nurseries, I of course do not read it so did a google and found something from The Guardian:

https://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2013/apr/22/childcare-minister-elizabeth-truss-nurseries

DS goes to nursery 2 days a week and has done since he was a year old, he is with a childminder for the rest of the week, and won't be going to a pre-school because the structure doesn't work well with my working hours. I wasn't too concerned as the 3-5s room is designed to be more like pre school, with tables and chairs. I'm not sure if I should be concerned or not? DS doesn't have a terrible attention span but it's not great either....but he's 2, how does everyone else feel about the article? Does anyone have experience of pre schools and nurseries?

 

[Piper84]

I just laughed when I saw this headline and read some of what the woman had to say.

It's just one of many things politicians try and make schools responsible for, when in fact it's the parents' job to be instilling respect/good manners/a sense of purpose (!) in their children.

LO goes to creche five days a week, five hours a day. I'm grateful for the routine it's got him in, but he's 20 months old. All he needs to be doing is playing. The same goes for 2-4 year olds in my opinion!

 

[tinytabby]

I thought it was ridiculous what she said - 2 year olds 'without a sense of purpose' indeed.

Every 2 year old I've ever known has been extremely busy exploring the world!

Nursery and preschool should be for playing. Little kids are made to do too much school work too soon IMO and shouldn't be under so much pressure.

I also think it's parents' jobs to teach manners and so forth. I think people rely too heavily on teachers to bring up their children for them.

 

[NellyLou]

I thought it was ridiculous what she said - 2 year olds 'without a sense of purpose' indeed.

Every 2 year old I've ever known has been extremely busy exploring the world!

Nursery and preschool should be for playing. Little kids are made to do too much school work too soon IMO and shouldn't be under so much pressure.

I also think it's parents' jobs to teach manners and so forth. I think people rely too heavily on teachers to bring up their children for them.

Well said!

 

[smokey]

Its another case of how this country seems give conflicting views on being a parent.
"you should be working rather then being a stay at home mum yet you should be raising your own children not leaving them in childcare"
Its a very dammed if you do, dammed if you dont society.

 

[CeeDee]

Its another case of how this country seems give conflicting views on being a parent.
"you should be working rather then being a stay at home mum yet you should be raising your own children not leaving them in childcare"
Its a very dammed if you do, dammed if you dont society.

The article isn't about SAHM vs WAHM, it's about structure at nurseries and preschool.

I think it's perfectly normal for children to run around and play. That's what they do. They can learn to sit still later.

 

[smokey]

Its another case of how this country seems give conflicting views on being a parent.
"you should be working rather then being a stay at home mum yet you should be raising your own children not leaving them in childcare"
Its a very dammed if you do, dammed if you dont society.

The article isn't about SAHM vs WAHM, it's about structure at nurseries and preschool.

I think it's perfectly normal for children to run around and play. That's what they do. They can learn to sit still later.

What I ment was if you stay at home and dont send your kids to nursery your labeled as a lazy mother on benafits, if you do work and send them then if they act up your labled as a lazy parent that cant instill rules in your child because your not there with them.
Society does it and the media does it.

 

[Piper84]

Its another case of how this country seems give conflicting views on being a parent.
"you should be working rather then being a stay at home mum yet you should be raising your own children not leaving them in childcare"
Its a very dammed if you do, dammed if you dont society.

The article isn't about SAHM vs WAHM, it's about structure at nurseries and preschool.

I think it's perfectly normal for children to run around and play. That's what they do. They can learn to sit still later.

In fact the Conservative party does have a recently very vocal group advocating SAHMs and saying grants for 0-3 childcare discriminate against SAHM, so the debate is unfortunately quite relevant here.

 

[CeeDee]

I'm not saying the argument is irrevelant, it just doesn't apply to this article. The article was specifically addressing nurseries that are chaotic and don't prepare children for school.

 

[tinytabby]

I'm not saying the argument is irrevelant, it just doesn't apply to this article. The article was specifically addressing nurseries that are chaotic and don't prepare children for school.

So the question to debate here would be - should nurseries be stricter with kids or just let them play?

 

[Foogirl]

Haven't read the article, I'm keeping my blood pressure down But in my experience, I was really worried about Abby moving from the cosy, cosseted and quiet 2-3 room to what appeared to be disorganised (and loud) chaos of the 3-5 room.

In the 2-3 room, I was always hearing children being asked to play nice, to share, to not shout etc, it was far from unruly, it was great fun. Now Abby is in the 3-5 room it isn't as bad as it sounded from the outside looking in! The nursery has golden rules, one being we use our walking feet and the other is our inside voices. What is producing unruly children is bad nursery provision. And that can happen just like bad parenting or grand parenting or child minding etc. Any good nursery knows that some form of order is not only good for the children but is much easier on their staff.

 

[Piper84]

I'm not saying the argument is irrevelant, it just doesn't apply to this article. The article was specifically addressing nurseries that are chaotic and don't prepare children for school.

I think it's more a few soundbites from one person about supposedly chaotic nurseries than an actual report on the state of early years education in the UK, which makes it all the more ridiculous.

 

[CeeDee]

I'm not saying the argument is irrevelant, it just doesn't apply to this article. The article was specifically addressing nurseries that are chaotic and don't prepare children for school.

I think it's more a few soundbites from one person about supposedly chaotic nurseries than an actual report on the state of early years education in the UK, which makes it all the more ridiculous.

I agree. Just the other day I arrived to pick up my daughter and the preschoolers (3-4) were coming in from outside. They were so well behaved and followed in line perfectly. I was so impressed. Once they got in the gym they started having a good time though which is fine by me.