Recent study of children joining reception class

they are the ones at home with SAHP

This really needs data to back it up.

In my experience the SAHP vary, just as the work out of the home parents do.

Nurseries vary, as does in home care, and indeed, nannies.

I hate to say it, but I do know people who WFH with pre schoolers. It is impossibly stressful for them and I feel incredibly sorry for them and the kid. I do think that the pandemic taught some people that it is almost possible to do without childcare, and once you start thinking like that, the mad cost of childcare suddenly starts looking like a luxury for some.

Sorry can't blame teen mum's for this when this issue has increased in line with the average age of becoming a parent increasing. Maybe having children at 40+ with an increased risk of disabilities should be considered as a possible explanation?

Yes it could have made a small difference but the main way children learn is by interacting with their parents.

I don't think they're far wrong, my daughter's reception class has 19 kids and I know 4 of them are still in nappies.

I really think that the issue isn't too much childcare but not enough

I see so many posters on this site angsting about childcare - especially wraparound - and twisting themselves into pretzels to avoid it. So little Freddie doesn't have to go to after school club, I finish early but sometimes he has to entertain himself play Roblox for 2 hours while I am on a call and then I need to log on and finish up so I am knackered and shove him on his tablet at breakfast time as well. I know people who do this with under 5s for a day or two a week as well

After school club is a great thing for us - my kids mix with children from other year groups, they get fresh air and exercise if they want it or chill out and play board games or Lego if they prefer. And when they come home, we are properly finished with work and pay attention to them

Name changed for this because it's a little embarrassing and I'll probably catch some heat for admitting it but I agree working too much is probably the issue for some toddlers imagine the kids are driven to day care spend all day there and are then driven home many of these day cares don't even have gardens.
I had my child at 15 and was on benefits until they started school we walked everywhere because no car read loads of charity shop books because too poor to buy an iPad and spent hours every day at the park. Could do everything from a very young age and was very athletic, wins the running race at sports day every year.

I think a lot of these kids are just in day care way too long although I'm not sure what the solution is I acknowledge if everyone did what I did the economy would be screwed.

You do know, parents that WFH use childcare too?

I worked at a private school and a lot of kids arrived in early years already referred to speech and language therapy. A senior teacher said to me she know it was just an impression, but a lot of those kids had double WFH parents. So those kids are effectively being raised in an office. Lots of “sshhh - Daddy’s/ Mummy’s on a call”. The totality of words they hear will be fewer. And yes, potty training is very time intensive… it would be better, rather than pushing for the optimum, for health visitors to have guidance for parents in that position, eg -

1. Take your free hours when they come up even if it’s inconvenient getting them to/ from nursery
2. Choose TV programmes (e.g. CBeebies) where they will not only hear words, they will see lips move (unlike cartoons)
3. Take annual leave for potty training - just accept it has to be done. Ideally one parent one week, the other the next.

The fact is if both parents are working hybrid, they shouldn’t be juggling it with looking after kids but you can see the temptation - they’re saving an awful lot of money.

I’d be interested to see the data on this, including how they chose their teachers, whether they all actually work in reception and the exact questions asked. I filled in a questionnaire by the NEU recently which asked whether I had been kicked/ hit/ bit etc at work in last 12 months. I answered yes to everything, but what the questionnaire never asked was the setting I’m in. I teach in EYFS but children with SEN who are predominantly non-verbal and easily dysregulated, yes I have been bitten and kicked etc but I wouldn’t class it as assault however I am sure my data will be used to make it look like 1 in 4 teachers has been assaulted at work or whatever.

wouldn’t be surprised if for this study this data included children who are in pull-ups overnight for bedwetting and has not accounted for SEN and has then been skewed to look like 1 in 4 children are in nappies. I do outreach in a couple of reception classrooms and nowhere near 25% are in nappies, the only children in nappies are those with SEN who are waiting for a specialist placement. So many special schools are at capacity now and we are seeing much larger numbers of children in mainstream school who need specialist placements, I feel this is more likely to be skewing the data than huge numbers of typically developing children with no SEN wearing nappies in reception.

My DC watched a lot of tv, especially cartoons, both at home and when with their grandparents, who picked them up from school.
However, they also played outside in the garden, did crafts and painting and read books, and we had dinner around the dining room every day, where we discussed school, current events Etc. The skill of making conversation was a key one in our house!
I and their DDad also read to them both every night, until they wanted to read themselves, and they both had weekend activities that made sure they were always talking to someone new, and getting different viewpoints.
It’s only now they are adults that I have fallen into the doom-scrolling, tv watching trap - but as one DC has returned home after Uni, they are beginning to get me out of those bad habits again!

I've read most of the posts, and don't want to de-rail this interesting thread but would like to hear what an ideal day caring for my DGD age 26 months would look like?

I do my best but welcome your thoughts. Thanks.

Our country should do better at supporting families , one parent should be able to afford to be at home with their children (under 5) if they choose.

the biggest issue with that is it being career suicide.

Completely agree

what is right for one family isn’t another and we no longer have that choice of doing what’s right for you and yours.

Naturally, you will first ensure that access to actually functioning continence services is available to all DC well before this age.

Where I was (small city in the South East) had plenty of full time nurseries in the 80s. Most of my contemporaries at school had working mothers and I can't off hand think of anyone who had grandparents doing childcare

Regional differences, I guess

They’re just looking at the opening hours and assuming the children must be there the entire day.

It's interesting isn't it more children in nursery's and pre school than ever, being raised by professionals, both parents working is the norm and yet children are starting school less ready than when the norm was for one parent to be a sahp (typically the mother)

I worked in sure start centre when the 2/3 year funding came in, there was so much judgement on sahp, lazy sat on their arse watching Jeremy Kyle. The only thing that could apparently save these children were nurseries.

Some children thrive in childcare, some are better off in it, some would thrive better at home.

Some parents have the support network, skill set , money and health to juggle full time work and family responsibilities and for some it's an impossible juggling act where nothing is getting done well.

Our country should do better at supporting families , one parent should be able to afford to be at home with their children (under 5) if they choose.

Another issue is lack of community , parenting skills were handed down, shared in previous generations. Now everyone is working too hard, services are cut there's no access to support easily.

I would not be withholding benefits, but have an alternative sanction for parents who have not ensured potty/toilet training for their child before starting school. Including non-resident parents.

That was unusual where I was, full time nursery didn’t exist. Quite a few mums did child minding which was vaguely regulated. Most used grandparents or if it wasn’t your own grandparents it was Mrs x who lived down the road who did it for a little bit of cash. Whilst school wraparound care wasn’t a thing, there was definitely an army of older retired ladies who’d pick up and just watch your kids for a few hours.
there wasn’t holiday clubs, but it was easy to find childcare that was cheap and unregulated (different times!) there were a few nurseries but they were half days and term times.
the village filled the gap.

I don’t think working parents are to blame either
I don’t think “benefit” parents are to blame either
I don’t think lazy sahp are to blame either.

we’ve lost our village, we’ve lost support.
Life is really hard for families now.

Yeah.

My grandparents were alive but did not do any childcare for various reasons. I was in full time nursery in the 80s and then a childminder after school

I expect the answer will be to pretend they don't exist, or maybe to admit they do but claim they'll all be diagnosed in the preschool years. Usually the way.

Who would have thought it, removing children TV channels with British content, sure start centres and closing nurseries has lead to this? 😲

Totally unpredictable....
Of course it's not, but here we are, and generational decay will continue, because these kids will grow up with even less skills for adult life than the ones now.

I didn’t have grandparents around the corner all mine were dead before I was born. I went to a paid childcare setting. Just making the point I don’t think working is to blame for this plenty of us didn’t grow up with a stay at home parent.