What i have seen here

[sammich]

It is quite shocking to me to come onto this site that i have sent so many of my parents on and find pretty much every one here complaining so i thought that i would also complain.

• Early years educational entitlement: first off we dont have to accept it as private nursieres and when we do its at a loss to us and yet every parent seems to think its a god given right to get there 15 hours when in fact 15 hours is a pilot and legally you could only give 12.5 and when you explain you dont have enough space at your nursery they seem to think you should automatically find some somewhere and then they would be the ones to complain when you went over ratios so tip being its free dont complain and be greatfull that any nursery is still running the scheme to begin with
  

Plus early years etitlement does not run on a back log you have to sign the head count form and have it back by a certain date usually two weeks after the term starts and yes you have to do a new one for each term and it is up to the nursery to send it off (ask your nursery for a list of eyee dates) and yes you are responsable to pay for the sessions if you miss two weeks of eyee because the nursery no longer gets the finding for that place and are losing money so dont be suprised at it


-Lateness: yes sometimes it cant be avoided but ring the nursery we usually are understanding if you dont do it all the time but if you do we will charge you a ridiculous ammount of money because staff finish at certain times and they dont want to have to stay extra because you are running late again and did not have the thought to ring and we LEGALLY have to call social services and say a child has been abandoned after half a hour so be on time and let us know because we dont want to traumatise any children by having to send them off to social services

-Weather conditions: Nursery workers are people too shockingly enough we have families of our own and people who care about us enough to not want us to be trecking miles to get to work in heavy snowfull and alot of ice. contary to popular belief of the children we do not live inside nursery so we have to travel there and we have to travel back while also worrying about making sure the temprature is above 15 degrees in all areas of the nursery or we have to shut LEGALLY

-The actual nursery: yes it may look like chaos but we have carefully honed ratios we abide by and we have to allow children free choice beccause of the eyfs so while it may look like a bomb has hit it if you look carefully there are many areas of learning happening plus think of what your house looks like with one or two children think of a nursery with 16 youll be amazed at how tidy we are

-Staff: we are a lovely bunch really we dont get into this job for the excellent salaries (because mainly you could get paid more for working in tescos and you dont get as much hassle ) we dont get into it to be mean to parents we dont need to be leared at by men we are not intrested in we dont want to yelled at or steal your husband/wife and yes we may be young but thats because we want to have a lot of energy to run around with your child so they can have the best experience so be nice to us and we will be nice to you

-Bringing toys ect into nursery: Dont do it seriously we have toys its a nursery trust me we have toys and games and activities what we dont want is things coming in and then the child not wanting to share and then getting upset/the toy getting broken and then the child getting upset or the toy being lost and parents and children getting upset. Children can hide a million of things and when they get lost parents look to us as if we are magical and can find it immidiatly which we cant so please dont bring it in especially not if its my child wont sleep without insertfluffyanimalnamehere and its the only one of its kind because we dont want to have to look after that we have children to look after and that is more important

-Clothes: for goodness sakes name your childs clothes and shoes and socks and anything else you want to keep because you are not the only one to have that item unless you made it yourself and if it doesnt have a name on it it could get mistaken as someone elses and no matter how hard we try we cant memorize every peice of clothing in every childs wardrobe so if someone says its theres we are going to beleive them unless it is named so name it !!

-Sickness: noone likes it when children are sick or have dodgy stomachs but we also dont like it to spread to other children so LEGALLY we say if your child has either one of these things keep them out of nursery for 48 hours after it all finishes and no were not mean we just dont want it to spread and yes they may seem fine and you may have to go back to work but viruses spread even when your child seems fine also if your child is given antibiotics you have to keep them away for 24 hours after they first have it incase of a reaction were not being mean i promise (and yes i know some nurseries dont enforce this but when they do dont be shocked)

-Nits: they are like the plague and its evil and you feel bad when you discover it or your told by a nursery worker but dont feel shame we are not telling you to be cruel were telling you so you can treat it and please do treat it and dont complain your child has got them if you send them without there hair up because there isnot anything we can do about nits except let the parents handle it so please dont shout at us because we cant do anything about it


I do know that mums need a place to vent and air out there problems but please think about the nursery workers you shout at and are rude to because they do work hard and are often nice and happy to help if you talk to us, if you dont talk to us we dont know whats going on but please dont pick a time to talk to us when we are say hands deeps in blue paint with a group of children then complain that we are not giving you my full attention

Feel free to ask me anything you want to know about nursery life ive been doing this 12 years now :)

[ChippingIn]

Which nursery do you work in?

[Mummy2Bookie]

The amount of parents who send their children to nursery sick is unbelievable. I used to work in a nursery. In six months we had- vomiting and diarrhoea, scarlet fever, chicken pox, measles, slapped cheek disease, loads of coughs and colds and loads of nit infestations. The amount of bugs was the main reason I left,along with the rubbish pay(about £ 500) per month and lack of respect( mums, dads and management expect you to be both Mary poppins and mrs doubtfire rolled into one)
The amount of parents who put white babygap socks on their kids and then didn't label them was also insane.

[Mummy2Bookie]

A lot of young staff do not see being a nursery nurse as a good carer choice( and why should they considering the low pay, low status and lack of respect)
A lot see it as a " means to an end" whilst looking for something else or as part time work whilst in college( which is a shame as the work can be very rewarding)

I know a lot of nursery nurses both current and formetwho do not use nurssries for their own children.

[purepurple]

sammich,
You speak the truth

[Mummy2Bookie]

Oh and also when a child is bitten by another child, the bitees mum would frequently ask nursery staff to expel the biter.... Sorry, it doesn't work that way lol

One dad also tried to get ofsted onto our nursery because his son lost his jumper at nursery...how ridiculous is that?

[PuppyMonkey]

I think you'd be less grumpy if you went to bed earlier.

[onimolap]

Tone of the post may be ranty, but they're good points.

[Mummy2Bookie]

Nah I'm not grumpy, just telling facts. Not ratty either.

[rubyslippers]

When my DS was in a nursery I was unfailingly polite, never late, never sent him in sick and treate the staff well

Not all parents are awful and demanding

It is a hard job that you do and not financially rewarding - some of us do appreciate it

[PuppyMonkey]

I still think they'd be points better made (and therefore not quite so patronising) if OP was not posting at 3.30am in the morning. oh yes and what ruby said.

[Mummy2Bookie]

But some parents are so patronizing towards staff. Perhaps the op had a bad day at work and needed to vent?

[TiggyD]

Weather Conditions - Half the parents in the nurseries I've worked in drive expensive 4x4s. The staff drive Micras. If it snows don't complain about staff not getting in when you had no problems.

Tidiness - I've worked in very tidy and neat nurseries. The staff don't let children do messy stuff, constantly tidy up rather than do activities, only let children have access to a couple of areas at a time and generally put the children 2nd.

Staff - Some staff are crap because who wants to study at college for a year and earn as little as they do. The good ones are very good. You wouldn't expect to know as much about cooking as a top chef, why do you think you know as much as a Nursery Worker with a 2 year qualification and 20 years in the job? It is not just playing with children.

Clothes - A 3 year old can dress and undress themselves If you put them in sensible clothes. I've worked with 5 year olds unable to go to the toilet on their own because of impracticable clothing. And Clothes Get Dirty. Special white dresses that "can't get dirty" means you child will miss out on doing lots of stuff (or usually they'll be changed into joggers as soon as you're out the door).

Sickness - If you take a child to a nursery when they're ill and they give their illness to another child you have hurt that other child. It's the same as just slapping a random child until they cry.
If you say your child is better and they suddenly go down hill in the late morning we know why. 11 o'clock is 'The Calpol Hour'.

[RockChick1984]

It's not just nurserys, anywhere where goods / services are provided means you get a stupid amount of moronic customers, I've always worked in retail in one way or another. Currently at a bank, an I don't understand why some people think it's fine to make personal remarks and threats just because they don't like the company I work for! I've had a woman threaten to wait outside work and 'hurt me' - her words - because I wouldn't refund her bank charges that were there coz of her mistake and company policy wouldn't let me refund them! I was pregnant at the time! Other favourite one is people kicking off about how much bonus I get - am on just over minimum wage, and not had any kind of bonus in well over a year! Sorry to hijack your thread, but it's so frustrating when just seen as 'employee' and they forget u r also a person doing a job, without u they wouldn't get the service they are choosing to use! Xxx

[sammich]

I am glad to see people siding with me on this and i thought after i posted this i would of been attacked by saying somehow i was ungreatfull which i was before i wrote this post by a parent

-I was nice to my parents during the snow and put it on local radio stations and on the website for my setting to let parents know not to come in for the two days we were closed during the snow and i called the parents who were due in to let them know incase they did not listen to the radio/check websites/had no common sense and was yelled at for not opening up but the kicker was i was called by a parent yesterday and yelled at for being closed over the christmas break on my personal phone (which i stupidly used to call parents as i couldnt get into work) and the parent then said she was complaining to ofsted because i wouldnt talk to her

This is the level of insanity we put up with to look after children and while yes i have some lovely parents who are god sends and are so very fabulous, the majority are not and as it has been rightly said dose there child up on calpol send them in dont say anything and then turn off there phones so they cant be reached or say it will take a hour to get there and are shocked when you remind them about the 48 hour rule

I forgot to mention

-white clothes: who in there right mind sends there child in white clothes and says could you keep them a clean were going out afterwards and then gets stressed because there child who paints every day got paint on them through a apron hint dont send children in in clothes you dont want to get messy nursery is not a fashion parade we are not going to judge you if the clothes you send your child in are not from a designer because children get messy its a ood thing so keep the nice clothes for at home where you control the mess

-Spare clothes: bring them in because if your child is potty training or has any accidents we dont have a unlimitless suply of spare clothes and if you borrow spare clothes bring them back!! dont complain if your child comes home in mismatched clothes or clothes that are too big if you dont bring in spare clothes!!

And sorry to chippingin i wont say what nursery i work in because i do not need more hassle than already given to me :)

[Mummy2Bookie]

Sammich does your setting have an open or a closed door policy? Just curious.
The nursery I worked in had a strict closed door policy.

[sammich]

we have a openish door policy i mean we say anything from 9.30-11.30 and 12.30-2.30 and 3.30-6.00 and how ever much some visitors and people like to say we dont have anything to hide during those times its just in the morning/afternoon its a lot of people around and we cant give you our full attention and at lunch time the children really dont like to have people come in and out

[cookielove]

yes i agree with all of the above, but the clothes thing is the worse, most parents bring in spare clothes, but then they don't bring in any socks, why no socks argh. I have no spare socks or boy pants in the potty training room because parents just don't bring them back.

Oh and argh when parents put nursery clothes on the children and send them in wearing them, seriously they have a big N in them i know they are mine.

[Mummy2Bookie]

I worked in a nursery in Yorkshire a few years ago and there were big signs on all doors asking parents to wait outside the room until their child was brought out to them. Parents could drop off and pick up their children whenever they wished, just so long as they didn't enter any of the main care rooms.

[purepurple]

Thats awful, mummy2bookie. We have an open door policy, Parents can come in anytime. Visitors who wish to look around the nursery are normally booked in for 10 am or 2 pm, but many times people just turn up and are shown around whatever the rooms look like.
Mind you when I first started at my current place, some rooms were upstairs and the parents waited dowmstairs while their child was brought down to them. The same thing happened in the morning, with the child being dropped off at the door and taken upstairs by a member of stsff. I soon changed this policy as I feel it is important for parents and nursery staff should build up a relationship to share information. Plus it was bloody hard work going up and down stairs all the time, as well as affecting ratios.

[mssoul]

I hear the way some parents talk to workers at my daughters nursery and am apalled. Really, if you don't want your precious child to eat the same food as the others/get covered in paint/get muddy at the park or whatever, then use different childcare. You just know these parents are the ones who always order off menu in restaurants and park illegally, then complain about getting a ticket.

I used to work as a carer for people with learning difficulties and this often meant dealing with parents and some of the expectations of my colleagues and me were ridiculous due to the staffing ratios.

Such an exhausting job, I think you're (mostly) wonderful and I am grateful that both of my daughters have been looked after so well. And I will bring in socks

[JetLi]

I love the nursery that DD goes to & will be eternally grateful that the staff are brilliant with her. It's a Surestart nursery rather than private. Wish more parents would adhere to the sickness policy though! We're all in the same boat regarding taking time off with sick kiddies, but some seem to think their's can vom in the night & are OK to be sent to nursery the next morning - they wiped out most of the kids and staff within a couple of days.

[Mummy2Bookie]

I know that at my previous nursery, both staff and parents hated it. Huge staff turn over and parents only using the setting because everywhere else is fully booked up ( some told us) I think mostly because of ownership and management. The manager actually told staff personal info to other staff everybody knew when one carers husband died, my miscarriage and when I decided to leave etc.
mssoul I know what you mean by parents complaining about food but really I do think that sometimes it's justified for example at the nursery in question a typical meal might be asda basics fish fingers, frozen chips and frozen veg followed by asda basic 7p yoghurts, or maybe stew made from frozen potato, asda basic sausage, gravy, followed by a bough in cake mix baked in the nursery kitchen. Some parents do not realise how bad the food can be, especially with all the money they pay.
pure purpleare you a manager?

[Spinaroo]

Well said!

[purepurple]

no, not a manager, I just like to make changes when I see blatant bad prsctice. I can justify all the changes I have instigated by referring my manager to the guidelines laid down by Ofsted and the EYFS. The deputy is more open to change, but the manager just likes to do things the way they have always been done.
I find it very frustrating at times, but I have had some successes such as
introducing continous provision
changing paperwork
changing planning
children no longer eat snacks straight off the table
we now have hot water in the hot water tap
children now have proper veg at mealtimes which isn't hidden in the gravy
3 year olds no longer sit in high chairs or use bibs
3 year olds use knives and forks and plates, not spoons and bowls
pre-school children have choice over their food and do self-service
pre-school children have jugs of water available all day
children's art work is no longer adult led
I still have a few issues to work on, then my work here will be done