DC at nursery put in front of a laptop watching Peppa Pig, AIBU?

@CharlotteBog to be honest back in the 80s not nearly as many children were in nursery at pre school age so you can't really compare.
Although "Listen With Mother" started on the radio in 1950 so I expect lots of children who were in some form of childcare were plonked down after lunch next to the wireless....

@crostini you say "reading WITH your toddlers" - that's the point. The staff can't sit and read during nap time because they have other tasks they need to do. They need the children either asleep or quietly occupied by themselves so they can do what needs to be done.
There is an awful lot of paperwork and diaries etc that have to be filled in.

Trundling the telly from room to room (we only had one tv in the school), fannying about with videos (later in the 80s).

I am curious to know how common they were in childcare settings now.

@CharlotteBog what was the "hoo ha" about watching TV in schools in the 80s?
Everyone watched it.
Look and Read was brilliant - an entire generation was raised on watching "Dark Towers" 😂

@Needmorelego im guessing they are underfunded yes because they strike at least once a month still not a screen in sight! Which I'm very pleased about.

And actually young toddlers are perfectly capable of looking at books for longer than a minute! I can quite comfortably kill an hour, reading with my two toddlers. Treat children like they are capable and they will achieve. Stick them in front of a laptop and they'll dribble on their chins, dead behind the eyes and then whinge until they get it back.

Oh I bet it was VERY unusual to have televisions in nurseries until fairly recently. Remember the hoo haa watching anything at school in the 80s?! I could be wrong.

Yes, you're right, the OP's toddler is in the baby room on days where there are not many children. OP also said the nursery manager was away. So rather than jump to "while the cat's away - let's plop them in front of the telly" it might be a case that they are struggling with staff ratios.

@ButterCrackers small toddlers looking through books by themselves will hold their attention for about 1 minute.
@CharlotteBog nurseries have probably used a bit of TV time since Watch With Mother was invented back in the 1950s.
Older children most likely don't have scheduled nap time so they will have a different schedule and activities planned. The OPs child apparently seems to be in a room with younger children so nap time will be planned into the day.
@crostini in your country are nurseries underfunded? Cos they are in the UK.

@Needmorelego.

Then that's a problem. I live in a different European country and they certainly are not using screen time in the nurseries and pre schools here. It would be seen as simply unacceptable.

How do you think they managed before screens? I imagine about 1/2 the children in nursery are non-nappers - we're not talking about an unexpected situation.
Non-nappers are usually older and can be occupied in shared activities.

A pile of books that the kids can look through them without an activity agenda. It’s so easy. No need to stick kids in front of a screen.

@crostini yes and no. Nurseries simply don't have enough staff to be able to give time and attention to do a separate activity for the non - nappers.

@Needmorelego yes - that is what we're discussing. The problem is, is that it's a poor plan.

@crostini I can't speak for that specific nursery but I expect that watching a pre school programme (whether on a tv screen or laptop screen) is probably part of the nursery plan for the children who aren't having a nap during nap time !

@Needmorelego yes of course it better. My point is that many kids have too much screen time at home and it's not great to hear that they're also being given it at nursery, regardless of what form it takes.

But watching it on a laptop, is not 'scheduled', by the sound of it, they have put it on Netflix (or similar streaming platform) and are just letting it run endlessly. We are talking Preschoolers here!
We have a responsibility as parents and child care settings to take care of them and their developing minds. Screen time for toddlers is not ideal, I think everybody knows that. As I say people have become numb to it because it's become engrained in society.

And am I really paying nursery fees for DC to be watching Peppa Pig when that’s something I can do for free at home (as others on this thread have mentioned)?

To be fair, you can also look after her for free.

As a PP pointed out, you're paying for childcare, not constant stimulation (with zero screens). If your own childcare can involve some screentime, then I don't see why nursery can't, especially on rainy days or downtimes such as nap time.

I wouldn’t have let either of mine have screens to watch at home as toddlers and we opted for a nursery that didn’t use them. Not a massive deal or that they are doing something wrong but if you’d prefer she doesn’t have screens I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask for that. People tend to be really extreme about it being the worst thing in the world and damaging and I think that’s overstating things massively but screens definitely are less good than lots of other activities and if they just were not available toddlers would occupy themselves with something else.

I don't need to see it. I am currently in a care home (for my many and varied sins) and the woman across the corridor has it on and it regularly wakes me up at 6-6.30am. This is through 2 closed doors! I'm sure there are plenty of quality programmes for pre-schoolers, I'm just not sure that Peppa Pig is one of them. One advantage of being in your 60s and not having daily responsibility for toddlers is that you don't have to watch kid's shows. I much prefer waiting for a few hours and watching Magnum PI. A daily dose of Tom Selleck in tight shorts kick-starts the heart in the morning.

@crostini you say the nature of screen time has changed in recent years - you are actually correct. Many dedicated TV channels for children have actually stopped broadcasting due to lack of viewers (CITV is one channel).
Children don't watch as much scheduled TV as they used to - it is a lot more online content.
Surely this is why (if there's going to be screen time) watching a well established and reasonably quality programme (like Peppa Pig) is better than watching random online nonsense.

@VeryHappyBunny I think @Unopenedpackofmenssocks comment was in relation to Peppa Pig being a programme full of shrieking noise - when it really isn't.
It's essentially an animated version of a picture book (and many episodes have been published in book form).
Peppa (the character) is known to be a little bit annoying but it's relatively gentle stories of a pre schooler and her family and friends.
Although Grampy Rabbit can be a bit booming......"FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOG" 😂

And your point is?

@VeryHappyBunny nursery staff really don't have time to do any more observations than the ones they already do.

I would ask, but do it by saying you are looking at all aspects of your child's life and development and just want to know the daily routine at the nursery so you don't duplicate or overdo things at home. E.g. what, how much and when they eat, sleep patterns and amount of time asleep/awake. What sort of play - active educational etc. So basically, an overview of all aspects of time spent there. I don't think anyone would or could object to giving you this sort of information when it is for the benefit of your child.

I imagine because they already have access to a pile of books via the book corner so unless it is a more structured story time, it isn’t going to grab their attention as much as peppa pig is because it will feel like a treat whilst the babies are sleeping.

@Needmorelego yes it's great that your child's development was as expected. But one child's experience does not negate a huge problem. And we know we he nature of screen time has changed a massive amount since your daughter was a child.

I wouldn't be happy if my toddler was watching telly in nursery! In my daughters room when the kids are sleeping the non sleepers either go outside and play or do quiet play inside