Recent study of children joining reception class

Important to note that while people can make value judgements about covid impact, duration and excuses, nobody cares what they think. If there's a wider ranging impact on children who were babies and toddlers during lockdowns, that's happening regardless of whether anyone thinks it ought to.

If this is a recent survey, presumably it's for babies born in the 2019-20 academic year or perhaps the year earlier. Who would've been babies and toddlers at a time when we shut down much of society. There's no statute of limitations on the impact of that.

Read the previous post I quoted. Think it sums it up what people are thinking!

Wow.

Very unlikely to be kids whose parents work and use daycare.

Kids tend to develop fine, or quicker, in daycare, as they follow the lead of older babies and children. And they don’t sit them in front of screens.

It’s more likely to be kids who’re cared for at home or by a childminder who doesn’t follow best practice.

I blame the nappy industry for delays to potty training, actively marketing products to much older kids (I’m not suggesting they shouldn’t be available to kids who need them for longer).

You have to just go for it with potty training: ditch the nappies, anticipate when they need to go, keep getting them to have a try on the potty rather than wait til they’re bursting and take a potty and lots of spare clothes when you go out.

But pull ups are so comfortable now, I can see why there’s little incentive for both parents and kids. And keeps people buying them.

Extremely. But some of the excuses are bonkers. How can your child not learn to climb the stairs if you’re in lockdown?? How can you not potty train? They spent more time at home. It’s the perfect environment for some of these aspects. Some things of course I get, to WFH people needed more screen time so the learning aspect may be behind / language but some of the things in the list I just don’t buy.

And I never said it wasn’t hard for me thank you. I was one of those who had to sit on a post natal ward alone with no one answering the call button and my husband not allowed in.

but we’re 4 years on. We have to move on and surely the reception co hort of September 2024 can not be potty trained because of a pandemic 4 years ago!

Which demographics would be that be?
Why do you believe those demographics are parenting lazily?

And why does private school= ‘non-lazy’ parents 🤔

Children copy each other so the accent is probably playground rather than YouTube. Not being potty trained early is commonplace now and is imo mostly to do with expectation. If you so much as suggest potty training is possible earlier, my impression is you are seen as a baby bullying monster.

I personally think that potty training is hindered by not changing nappies as soon as they are wet/soiled and multiple carers or settings. If you are taught to buy disposable nappies that can last for many hours without leaking and to slather the skin with barrier creams rather than to keep your child dry and clean then of course that child is not going to toilet train easily.
The stairs thing is interesting. I rarely climb stairs outside of my home so perhaps it is a rare thing for children now?

There is no expectation in the UK to go to work from 'day 1' though.
Health Visitors still exist (though seem to get a lot of stick on MN tbh).
Also, what do you think nurseries need to 'improve' on?
I don't understand what point you are trying to make.

I’m amazed at how you have such a detailed view into the lives of the many working parents you know. Have you installed spy cameras into their homes 😂

Could I ask genuinely why you think this happens if it’s not actually do to with screen time itself?

Because to me children just naturally speak the way they hear things the most. I can understand them not being bothered about saying things like everyone else, but equally a lot of autistic (and non autistic) children just learn by mimicking. So you mimic what you hear. If you hear British accents 90% of the time surely it’s natural that’s how you’ll speak?

My friend has an autistic son. He was non verbal until 5. He had a LOT of screen time in his early years - especially YouTube. (I’m not blaming her here. She was a single parent who really struggled and her son was incredibly violent and screen time helped her cope). He had an American accent when he first started to talk. He’s now 16 and has a mainly British accent. His screen time was reduced to hardly anything by age 8 and it took a few years but now he sounds British.
With his autism when he was young he would repeat words and phrases from things he enjoyed. So I can understand why he was repeating things from YouTube much more than say mum asking what do you want for dinner etc. He was much more likely to repeat a line from the Lion King 100 times a day than repeat put your shoes on.
But surely this still proves the point his accent WAS from screen time rather than being autistic? If he had never heard an American accent he wouldn’t have one. If his screen time had only really been people with Indian accents he would have had an Indian accent surely?

no i mean the expectations that parents should go to work from day 1 rather than be at home. but as my next point raises, if they are going to work, then the nursery needs to improve.
either way, blame the parents!
i am not sure if parents are lazy but so many now are ineffectual and do not take responsibility, or know how to parent
bring back health visitors

I suggest you reread what I said. I did not say or imply that all children who stay at home until school cannot do those things. I said the children who cannot do those things are more likely to have been at home with inadequate parents - once they have outside influences (including school) they pick it up.

Wow what a sweeping statement 🤣🤣🤣

I think this is unfair.
Lockdown did make a lot of people's lives much harder, even if it didn't affect you.

My daughter went to nursery full time from 10 months. She was a lockdown child. She is exceptionally bright. Was mobile early on. We go to extra curricular classes we spend time outside. We spend time with family and friends and their young children.

what exactly is it as a full time working parent that I have expected from child care???

Ummm not sure many nurseries run that long…..12 hours a day is a slight exaggeration.

I was surprised with the amount of TV DD watches in school actually. She now likes Peppa Pig and several other shows that she's never seen with us! At least they won't pick up the dreaded Americanisms from there, although they do watch bluey so I'll be sure to report back on any Australian twang...

Obviously I don't know the full history of all the kids but I don't think lack of activity is an issue for most of her class, and the ones I know of are able to use the toilet.

Obviously this seems to be an issue, but don't paint all reception-aged kids and their parents with the same brush.

A lot of parents aren’t working and have a lot of time to interact with their children, teach them basic skills. Like potty training. They’re lazy and feckless, so they’re not doing it. Sitting the kids in front of iphones and iPads then sending them to school. Poor teachers. Nursery staff take all responsibility now do they? What responsibility do parents have, in your world (apart from working..)?

We worked, our children started school potty trained.

Covid is and never was an excuse. What does lockdown have to do with being able to climb the stairs? Bloody bonkers. If you’re a lazy parent in lockdown you’re a lazy parent full stop

Many working parents I know have had their dc in nursery for 12 hour days, 4-5 days/ week since 12 months. They would rather leave the nursery to teach the lo what they can and muddle through. They then spend the time they actually have with their dc doing whatever to be popular, whether that's giving in to putting TV on for lo or just generally not doing any hands on parenting or teaching life skills. They're all too focused on booking extravagant holidays that they'd rather use their annual leave for those than taking a week off to potty train their own child. It's very sad really.

What do you think it expected of working parents that shouldn't be?

Yes I remember the German teenagers on exchange at my school in the 1990s speaking English with a US accent.

otoh surely the dc go to nursery if parent/s are working?
agree, need sure start,
nursery to up its game.

i am not sure it is lazy parenting, just expectations of working parents

The children used expressions more common in America such as trash & vacation due to excessive screen time.

It's just as likely that their parents watch loads of US boxsets and the kids have picked up their usage.

I don't think something like that should be picked up in the same post as someone not being able to climb the stairs.

To me it just shows that we need Surestart back badly and early interventions like this.