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Baby observation

6 replies

Kirstybroadmore1 · 01/12/2018 19:28

Hi there I’m kirsty and I’m a trainee social worker. As part of my masters I need to undertake a 12 week baby observation to learn about child development. I live in east London and wonder if anyone would be interested in taking part? Basically I would observe your child for an hour the same day every week for 12 weeks. This is ideally done in a nursery setting. I need to start in February and happy to answer any question. Of course I have a DBS and will show this to anyone that agrees

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bonzo77 · 01/12/2018 19:38

I’m not offering as my children are too old now, but just popping in to reassure any prospective families that when I did it it was quite nice fun and not intrusive at all. My middle child was observed weekly till aged 2 (!) and I got a lovely report on his development over this time. The observer got very fond of him and they had a lovely play date after the observation was over when she finally got to interact with him.

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Kirstybroadmore1 · 01/12/2018 19:58

thank you bonzo77 for posting! I feel like I’ve been set an impossible task to find an unknown baby so it’s good to know people out there do it

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IggityZiggityZoom · 01/12/2018 20:03

You're posting in the wrong place. Post on your local Facebook mums group. I volunteered along with my baby and the observations were for a year. I'm sure you'll find someone.

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Tumbleweed101 · 02/12/2018 08:59

Have you contacted your local nurseries? They may be able to help you find a parent who would be interested in this.

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insancerre · 02/12/2018 11:12

I run a nursery and feel you are approaching this from the wrong angle
You need to find a nursery first that will let you do the observations in their setting, it's not a case of finding a parent that agrees then approaching the nursery. The nursery will need to ensure you are suitable to be in their setting.
Then when you have found a setting that will accommodate you then they can approach the parents for you
I can say 100% that if a parent approached me and said they had arranged for a volunteer to come into my nursery to observe their baby I would refuse

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Kirstybroadmore1 · 02/12/2018 12:29

Thanks for all of your suggestions. This is not the only way I have gone about it. I’ve contacted nurseries as well but I’m casting the net wide for a greater chance. The observation can also be done in a home I just suggested a nursery so that it does not interfere in the parents time