Recent study of children joining reception class

Recently talked about this on a Safeguarding course - it's called 'Affluent Neglect' apparently- very sad

I don’t understand why this has to be yet another class issue. There are good parents and bad parents, neglectful ones and helicopters ones, kind, cruel, and so on, from every social background.

This is so true. Whenever parents start potty training, there is so little support available if your child doesn't just 'get it' after however many attempts, just conflicting advice and judgement.

In our area there is an 18 month waiting list for the children's continence service, which doesn't accept referrals until children are 4, so basically useless for what should be their primary purpose - supporting families in getting children toileting confidently before starting school.

Alarm bells went off when my son was being assessed for ASD and ADHD a few years ago. He rocked up to his first appointment with a perfect American accent. Then the developmental paediatrician met with myself and DS's dad, revealing our own American born, native accents 😁 and she thought..."Oh."

He was diagnosed with both ASD and ADHD, and oddly enough had formed a perfect British accent by age 12. High school peer influence does count for something...

I agree with nappies being bigger sized. Size 6 used to be the biggest.

Is it not immediately obvious when a child is wearing a nappy? My child's class is very small, so it has taken me less time to get to know all the children, but my husband or I see them almost every weekend at birthday parties and every morning/afternoon and I would definitely notice if one was wearing a nappy.

There's a reason why the government have over the years significantly increased their contributions towards childcare costs. Government-funded research shows that children in nursery or formal childcare during their early years on average have better outcomes, despite some comments here disagreeing. My son has been part of one of these studies (SEED) for over 10 years so I keep an eye on the results.

Yh, I feel like this is getting lost in the many threads on this topic. It's not really hard "data" so I'm not sure how useful it is to start a panic on child development. I think there's been a massive social malaise since lockdown and it colours everyone's perception.

Too much screen time and lazy parenting.

I don't read all of the comments here but some..

DD just started reception, had some issues with number 2s but seems to be getting out of them. It was psychological due to having some constipation issues and therefore toilet = pain. Number 1s she's been excellent with though, very quickly.

I went back to work full time when she reached 12m. She was in nursery.

Reflecting on potty training, maybe I have left it a little late (won't make that mistake again) as I started around two. The information out there I found very confusing for a first time mum.

My own mum and MIL kept pushing to say that I should've potty trained her from 12 months and all the information elsewhere said 'when your child is showing signs of interest'. Although those signs never really showed…

Like I say, she was potty trained before starting reception, had a couple of accidents but not consistently. I think I should have addressed her fear of the toilet a lot earlier than I have, but the device constantly given to me by health visitors and nursery staff was that it was just going to correct itself at some point...

I'm definitely not a lazy parent, I just didn't know what I didn't know and had to figure it out with all this conflicting information online, NHS, other peoples experiences. I found it quite hard to navigate as a first time parent.

With second DC I feel I'm equipped to do better

Sorry to burst your bubble but my "Covid baby" was born in a tiny flat and we followed the rules. We also talked to our child, read to her every day, took her out for a daily walk as the rules allowed, did tummy time and built up her muscle tone and potty trained her. The first time she saw stairs she climbed them with no problem because she is strong and healthy. She met all her milestones on time or early.

It was a year, and even then, not the whole year, just a few months in spring and some more in winter. It's had more of an impact on children who were taken out of school. Babies only need their parents really. Unless their parents are rubbish.

Logical thinking.

The other thing I'd add to your list is widespread WFH, which may result in parents being more likely to attempt to work while caring for children, resulting in really substandard parenting (albeit possibly motivated by genuine financial desperation).

Stats also suggest that children cared for by grandparents while parents work tend to have worse outcomes on average because some grandparents will be unwilling or unable or just too busy to give dedicated and stimulating care.

That situation might perhaps be more likely post pandemic due to COL issues, and because we now have a higher proportion of 50+ people economically inactive and hence perhaps available for childcare.

I agree with you. I also cannot help but be shocked when I see kids in prams with mobiles or iPads and showing no interest in their environment. Sad indeed.

We're not blaming lockdown instead of other things, we're including it in the reasons!

I don't think this can be down to busy parents. Surely their children are mainly at nursery so will be exercising etc every day. Nurseries also help potty train children.

The American accent thing has been going on for years. I'm in my 30's and all my Barbie's spoke with a fake American accent (I still slip into an American accent when playing make believe with my own children!). They definitely pick it up from watching American content online, but I don't think it needs to be excessive... it can just be a convenient way to put on a character voice because it's different to their own but familiar to them.

"I don’t recall any four year old in their classes being in nappies, and we didn’t live in an affluent area"

So many statements like this on the other two threads. How on earth would the average parent or child know how many other children in a class are in nappies or having accidents?

If the data was based on more than anecdotal teacher reflections, and instead recorded over x years the percentage of children in Reception year in nappies, I think that would be more useful. It's quite hard to quantify feelings of "getting worse", and, of course, correlation is not causation.

i know. I’m glad you are glad lol.

In fairness having looked at the report it doesn't attribute most of the problem to working parents at all, and none of the specific instances reference this. Not attending nursery while being propped in a corner sofa with an iPad is the type of thing mentioned - no mention of whether either parent worked.

In the one case working parents are mentioned it is because the teachers have been specifically asked whether they think parents working long hours due to the high cost of living contributes to the problem, so it has basically been set up to get at least partial agreement.

I was going off what a previous poster said….

What? I was replying to someone else who seemed annoyed that working parents are being blamed for so many children starting school without skills they need. That is annoying as it implies that parents are just dumping them somewhere with an iPad and haven’t spent time and money finding the best childcare they can afford while they’re at work. Childcare providers do a lot to prepare children for school. So do parents.

“In my world” (wtf?) my children went to nursery and preschool but I toilet trained them, taught them to feed themselves, chatted to them lots and read to them every single night. Amongst other things. And nursery/preschool supported all of that too. I never said parents shouldn’t actually raise their children and it was all down to childminders and nurseries. I don’t know how you’ve got your wires so crossed 😳

I have no experience in nursery so I cankot comment on how much they help. I’m just quoting a previous poster who said theirs did the majority.

All of my colleagues with kids took annual leave to potty train. I live in Ireland and the nurseries here won’t do it. They are supportive but won’t do the work for you.

Is it? Or is it that people who are stupid and lazy are much more likely to end up un/underemployed? I don't think the working class want to claim them any more than the middle class does.

Wow. Defensive.

@Liveandletlive18

A child choking and a member of staff not being present because ratios are not adhered to..