Baby 'painting' a picture for Daddy equals child abuse???

[FeelingEvil]

Not quite sure where to post this.
It's DH's birthday in a couple of weeks and I thought it would be nice for my year old DD to do a handprint or something like that on a piece of card for his birthday.
So, as I didn;t want Dd getting paint everywhere at home, I asked the nursery if I could stay with DD one morning and get her to do a hand print with paint for DH.

Not sure quite what to make of the response:
Head of the baby room told me that they didn't like making finished works with babies because it inhibits their creativity by setting boundaries as to what's good or bad works and that's why they don't do painting. I was okay with this. But then she went on to say that putting a babies hand down on a piece of paper was equal to child abuse and not something she could or would ever do.
Bit extreme, no?

I went on to explain that it was a special occasion and that it would be a one-off and it didn't matter whether she did a finished hand print or just got a piece of card messy. We left it at me going in to do the painting with DD one morning this week.
But now I've had time to think about it, I do feel a bit insulted by what she said, should I go ahead and do it or not?
And is she right? Or am I being over the top in feeling insulted?

Can't discuss this with DH as it's meant to be his birthday surprise, so am relying on wise and sensible MNetters to help me make sense of this.

[sagacious]

She sounds like a loon
Shove a handprint on a blank canvas at home
Its not that messy

[scanner]

She's mad as a hatter, I presume you are planning to gently place your babies hand.

[giddykipper]

What?!

Sounds utterly ridiculous to me.

[giddykipper]

Do it out in the garden if you're worried about the mess. Meant to be a lovely day tomorrow.

[wheresthehamster]

She probably thought at you not doing it at home!!

Agree the child abuse comment a bit ott

[Guitargirl]

Dear God, have never heard anything so ridiculous (from nursery I mean). Does the woman in question have children?

[harpomarx]

the child abuse bit is mad but the 'inhibiting creativity by making finished works' is hilarious!

is this some kind of alternative nursery? Know nothing about Montessori or anything like that but is that the sort of thing they would say?

[controlfreakyagain]

barking bonkers.
are you sure you want to leave your precious baby in the care of such mad people?

[taliac]

Yes she is v odd.

If your DD is anything like mine she will have great fun and very soon she will want to do it all the bloody time..

[StressTeddy]

totally barking - chold abuse - whatever next?

You are her Mother. I think you can be the judge of child abuse

Is all else ok with the nursery?

[Mummywannabe]

She is nuts! I have worked in babyrooms and i agree that some parents want a piece of work to go home that looks perfect rather than letting the child explore the paint but thats not what we are talking about here.

Hope your painting goes well!

[colditz]

Put baby in high chair, wearing only nappy.

Proffer paint on a paper plate, dab hand in, place directly on card, and without releasing hand, wipe with a baby wipe.

bin paper plate and wipe, dress baby.

Job done.

PS

Call the "Dangerous Lunatic Watchdog" about the nursery manager - and I am only half joking, if she equates hand printing to child abuse, what will she do the first time your child comes in with a bumped head, torch your house?

[TotalChaos]

she sounds completely barking. one of my friend's didn't approve of wrist rattles as she thought it was unfair to make a baby have one on when they might not want it (?), so I guess this nursery head is at the extreme end of that sort of thinking!

[ilovemydog]

speak to the head of the nursery and ask when putting a painted child's hand on paper equated child abuse, as you're a bit confused.

[Eelpie]

Good Grief - then DDs Nursery abuse her daily I get piles of paintings, hand prints and collages. All sound lovely until you see the splat on the paper (then it is even more lovely ).

I don't do much painting with her at home as she does it 3 days a week there. The garden is a great idea though.

[youcannotbeserious]

You will have a great time doing this. I'm doing DS's hand prints in a few days...

FGS, I've even 'done' my dogs paw print.

It's just good fun - and not that messy!

[PhDlifeNeedsaNewLife]

well you'd better report me to social services then - I put paint on ds's foot and put it on a father's day card ("his mark") when he was only about 7 weeks old!

[KatyMac]

There is a big 'thing' at the moment about not producing 30 identical cards for Easter where the children have obviously been persuaded or pushed into producing.

The consensus is that the product is not the important part of the process, but that the process it's self that is important. So painting is important but the painting isn't

But tbh this takes it way too far imo

[taliac]

God DD1 loves hand / foot painting so much that she tries to do it with crayons, mud, anything she can think of..

[Habbibu]

This is barking. She must find nappy changes a moral minefield.

[FairyMum]

Our nursery makes foot and handprints on cards for us. Sounds mad.

[morningpaper]

Unless you are actually stapling your baby's hand down then it's fine

But I would do it at home, it's not that messy

There are cool little moudling kits you can buy too where you use plaster of paris to make a little plaque - they are rather good keep sakes

[onepieceoflollipop]

I must send a memo to my nursery then. dd2 was "abused" in this way only a few weeks' ago. I did chuckle at the time because they put the babies in their high chairs to do painting/craft. The first time this occurred dd2 got a bit miffed - not because she felt that they were inhibiting her creativity. Oh no, she was expecting a snack and wasn't impressed to be offered a paint pot to dunk her foot in!

[Amphibimum]

oh dear, she sounds very earnest.
is this a steiner nursery by any chance?