to expect nursery to take *some* care of DS's clothes?

[curlygal]

DS is in nursery four days a week so often by day four we are running low on "nursery clothes" ie scruffier stuff that he wears to nursery.

Yesterday I dressed him in a white (yes I know) Thomas T shirt (nothing fancy just the white one out of a pack of three) and he happened to be wearing his new summer shoes.

When I dropped him off I mentioned that I knew white wasn;t the best colour for nursery and that he had new shoes on and said specifically to DS to please be careful with his new shoes (his last pair was ruined at nursery).

When I came to collect him I couldn;t believe the state of him. His white T shirt is totally ruined - covered in red paint and yellow sun cream. His shoes and socks were soaked and he had got into the paddling pool wearing shoes and socks.

I've soaked and washed the T shirt three times now and it is not wearable again. The shoes are ok after a wash, but you;d never guess they were new!

Several items of clothing have now been ruined at nursery - about three tops stained with non washable paint, plus the other shoes. Not to mention a lovely cardigan that just "disappeared".

I expect him to get a bit mucky and I know the white T shirt was silly but surely they should at least make an effort not to ruin the children's clothes?

[nickschick]

Its difficult,as a mum I can see your point but also can see hes having great fun at nursery on the the other hand as a nursery nurse I can see its very hard to keep a child clean - I do think that they should be wearing tabards for painting and to allow him in the paddling pool with shoes on isnt something id do.

A good thing to mention to nursery is that a dash of washing up liquid in paint can help stain removal.

[MangoJuggler]

Well erm sorry

You knew he was going to get mucky so why are you moaning?

Send him in doodles or crocs

Or perhaps you would prefer that he not express himself by sitting in a corner and not participating in anything??

[rolls eyes]

[Wonderstuff]

I sympathise, dd always comes in covered in something after a day at nursery. They say they will strip them down before they paint, but they don't always!
But I think rather than get cross get some more nursey clothes, DD goes head to toe in ASDA or Tesco to nursery, she wears doodles shoes so I can chuck them in the machine. The most important thing is she has fun. I wouldn't let her do half the messy play they do there because we don't have the space. Its all good really.

DH mused on why MIL who has our dd one day a week sends her back immaculate whereas nursery sends her home grubby. I pointed out it was the difference between 1:1 and 4:1 ratios.

[thisisyesterday]

i think if you know they aren't very good at keeping them clean then you need more nursery clothes.

that said, they ought to be making sure the kids wear aprons and stuff for painting IMO

shoes- tis a pity, but they'll look like that in a week or so anyway so i wouldn't worry too much lol

[MangoJuggler]

Plus if the child has not been suncreamed you would be on here moaning that he's got sunburn

[curlygal]

I don;t understand why the nursery don;t use washable paint. Or as you suggest nicks a tabard or smock for painting isn;t unreasonable surely?

His tops have been stained by permanent pen adn god knows what kind of paint it was they were using yesterday as vanish, bleach, washing up liquid and boil wash won;t take it off!

I will try and get him some more nursery clothes so that it doesn;t matter if they get ruined, just fed up of having to throw perfectly good clothes out as they are stained by pen/paint that I don;t think they should use in a nursery.

[seeker]

You are being unreasonable to ask a nursery age child to be careful with their shoes - why on earth should they? They don't care what state they are in!

Shoes aren't ruined if they get paint on - they are just a bit painty!

[thisisyesterday]

no, i do agree they should limit the damage done.,

ds1 goes to nursery and we don't have any nursery clothes, he just wears his regular stuff and we've had nothing ruined so far. if he gets paint/food on stuff it generally washes out.

did you cold soak the top? that often helps. heat will set the stain.

anyway, it might be worth asking them what kind of paint etc they use as you've had yet another top ruined. and also ask if aprons are available for the children to use.
how old is your ds?

[CMOTdibbler]

YABU. He is a small child, and had a great time. I think that at that age if they are immaculate at the end of the day, they haven't done enough.

They can't help the sun cream, and although getting covered in paint is unfortunate, these things do happen.

Buy a bundle of shorts and t shirts from Ebay for nursery wear if you are worried about it. And the Thomas tshirt will be fine to wear to nursery.

[Wonderstuff]

I don't think washable paint and pens is unreasonable tbh. I can never get out the food stains from dd's clothes, they do put a bib on her but she still manages to get it all over her clothes.

[CaptainUnderpants]

Wait until Ds goes to school , infact you will have uniform etc going missing and getting mucky for the rest fo their school days!

Fact of life with kids , very annoying I know , but dont expect nursery staff to worry about one child pair of new shoes that mummy doesn't want to get dirty, when they have 30 or more other kids to look after.

Children get mucky at nursery /playgroup - thats what children do.

If this is the only thing you have concerns about your DS nursery that I think you need to chill out and get to charity shop to pick up some old t shirts that you dont care what happens to them.

Kids do tbhings very quickly and can easily get paint or themselves or others, just takes one child walking to wash their hands after painting and bumps into yours - hey
presto !

re the shoes - ever seen a child walk round a puddle ! Your child could have easily walked out yojur front door in his shinny new shoes and jumped straight into puddle !

Dont be so precious about it all .

[Morloth]

DS was/is always filthy - I suggest you get used to it.

Clothes are absolutely wearable for little kid's when they are stained. As long as it has been washed - on it goes. You throw stuff out when it gets stained!?!

[Wonderstuff]

Glad I'm not the only one sending her child out in stained clothes

[LadyGlencoraPalliser]

YABVU. Just send him to nursery in stained clothes. Then it won't matter.
My DDs always look like complete scruffbags. But they are happy scruffbags.

[CAPape]

Our daughter was always coming home from nursery in utterly filthy clothes, and like one of the other posters, we had nursery clothes and non nursery clothes. But oil based paints with 3 & 4 year olds - why would you!!?

[Pinkjenny]

I used to get a bit uptight about this. But now I just accept it, and tbh as long as dd is happy and enjoying herself, I couldn't give a fig.

I do consciously minimise the white items though. She ruins them when she's with me.

[MilaMae]

I can't believe the op cares more about clothes than her child's development!!!!!!

I love my lot coming home from pre-school dirty it shows they had a good day. To be frank I'd be mighty concerned if they weren't.

The staff at your child's nursery are there to enhance his development not to spend time worrying about his and several other children's clothes.

Oh and red and purple washable paints aren't washable,neither are dry wipes pens.

Children use dry wipe a lot at school I'd resign yourself to your ds having every white polo shirt covered in it. Believe me your child's teacher will be concentrating more on teaching than your child's polo shirts.

[curlygal]

Thanks everyone.

He didn;t get paint on his shoes (that would be fine as would wash out) he stepped into the paddling pool wearing his shoes and socks.

The T shirt was literally covered barely a spot of white left on it. I was just when I saw him as if they had gone out of their way to make his T shirt and shoes dirty they couldn;t have done a more thorough job.

I will get him some more scruffy stuff but just couldn;t believe the state of him yesterday, just too much to deal with at the end of a long day at work.

[MangoJuggler]

Under EYFS the chld is allowed to chose whether or not to use a tabard

[Morloth]

Cause it doesn't matter CAPape, the clothes get paint on them. They get washed, they get MORE paint on them, who cares - especially if they are only for wearing to nursery.

[Morloth]

curlygal "just too much to deal with at the end of a long day at work."

So toss it in the washing basket and forget about it, works brilliantly!

[rubyslippers]

a young child is not capable of understanding or even trying to keep clothes clean

IMO and DS has been at nursery for 2.5 years is the muckier the child, the better the day

Nursery staff cannot be expected to keep a child looking pristine - in fact that is a total waste of their energy

YABU

[curlygal]

Oops posted that before I read Mila's post.

Just to clarify, I don't care more about clothes than DS's development.

I thought that my post made the point that I was just exasperated at clothes being ruined at nursery.

I really should learn not to post on AIBU as ther are always one or two spiteful responses which make me wonder what those posters get out of just making nasty digs are other people. Mango and Mila's posts were just destrutive and pointless - all they did was make me feel even more crap so well done, good work you two

[curlygal]

Morloth - if only! I;d love to be able to just wash his clothes but the paint used just won;t wash off so more like "toss it in the bin" and forget about it - so if only I had the cash to just dispose of clothes when ever it happens that would be fine.