My 3 year old has mentioned that they have had 3 minutes silences and has role played what happens. The first time it seemed to be that they were 'too noisy and shouting' at lunchtime and the staff made them sit there for 3 minutes as a punishment. Then today when I went to pick my child up a little earlier than usual the whole group were sat in a circle in absolute silence, all crossed legged, looking very sombre with a very large egg timer in the middle of the circle. As I got my child's things together the staff member said now we are having this silence because we didn't play the game properly. I mentioned to another member of staff about this and she said it's a minute per the child's age. But to me it seems wrong
- to punish a whole class when they are only preschoolers (private nursery so some 2 1/2 year olds in there as well as four year olds),
- to punish them for being too shouty and lunch or not playing a game properly - there were about 15 of them! Surely there are other ways?
- timeout should be used as a thinking time for individuals and not as a punishment
I spoke to the nursery manager and she said she wasn't aware that they were doing this - she knew they were doing it for individuals but not whole groups.
I'd really appreciate your thoughts as it was a horrible experience to enter such a sombre room! I've noticed recently that my child's role play recently about preschool has been a bit more 'shouty'.
My child tests the boundaries like any preschooler and I am no expert but these discipline tactics just don't feel right.