To make a bit of a fuss at nursery?

@DarlingJo"accidents are going to happen, much as they do at home." I'm on the lax side of parenting but I wouldn't be letting my 18mo toddle around swings in the park without hawk like supervision! That area should be enclosed or have enough staff on it to monitor very closely. If they've recently installed these swings (who's good idea was that?) then it's possible they haven't figured out how to manage it properly yet. I would be worried about accidents. I have worked in nurseries (and still do) so I'm generally defensive about most nursery complaints on MN. However, this one seems quite an extreme accident, which should not have happened and seems like nursery are not acknowledging their responsibility, explaining how it happened and how it won't happen again.

So you check the set up it doesn't not meet your approval so they change to your requirements then the next parent comes along do they change for them? Then the next?

You either trust them or not

I think the concern for me would be that they're suggesting he was somehow at fault. Of course an 18 month old has no awareness around a swing! I would definitely want to know what they are doing to prevent that happening again.

Sure, ask to see the garden but you’re being a bit dramatic with the “if something even worse happens” stuff. How many times do you think he’s happily played in the garden before this, without incident.

In your shoes I would perhaps question them a bit about at it at next drop off. Say you’re concerned he was allowed to get so close so the swing, have a conversation. But in reality it’s an area full of small kids, not being monitored 1-1 and accidents are going to happen, much as they do at home.

YABU to “make a fuss” (whatever that means) but I would ask to see their risk assessment and how they’ll avoid it happening again.

It could have been a much worse accident. Toddlers clearly shouldn’t be in an area with a swing.

A swing in the face is potentially a serious injury - did you get him checked over by a doctor? I would do that first and then address things from there. He could have lost an eye or received an injury requiring plastic surgery so you are not wrong to take it seriously.

Yanbu. Yes accidents happen and whilst its forgivable, some blame does sit with the nursery. Its reasonable to expect that accident to be anticipated and preveted. You cant have swings and such young children in the same space with out very close supervision. Like you say he has just started walking he doesnt go that fast. And being hit with a swing is much sorer/more dangerous than him falling. Some accidents are not precentable imo this one should have been anticipated and prevented. Keeping a baby safe means not letting them near moving swings. Make a fuss op. Yanbu

It’s reasonable to ask what their risk assessment is for toddlers being near the swing. Surely they would have an adult monitoring the area, they can’t expect under twos to know to avoid the swing.

What are you wanting to happen if you look at the garden and don't approve of the setup? I mean, would you want them to remove the swing because your child walked into it once? Will you move yours to a different, swing-less, nursery?

DD is 15 months and at nursery, too. They have a big swing in the garden of the baby room. (Her room is 12-36 months.) She's been walking since she was 11 months and is quite speedy by now. I'm running after her frequently and she's taken a few tumbles. I've only got one small person to look after, they've got several. Accidents happen.

I completely agree that accidents happen all the time, I receive calls every other day about one of my toddlers hitting a wall, tripping on a rock or falling from whatever they were climbing on... But they are older and these to me are normal incidents that can happen anywhere.

There are few things that seem odd to me here. I'm very surprised they have swings in the first place. I get the kids love it, but with young toddlers like yours it's a nightmare to manage - because they keep walking near it and can't yet understand they shouldn't. I have never seen a swing in any nursery I visited.
And also I would assume it's a baby swing so the child isn't using it on its own. There was to be an adult nearby pushing the swing.
Or it was an older child using the swing on their own, and then I'm very surprised they would mix an 18 mo with a 3-4 yo in the outdoor area.

Yes accidents happen but they should be risk assessing everything in that garden and the swings are obviously one of the significant areas where harm could happen. Not many nurseries have swings for that reason!
if they want to use them in their setting, they should be heavily supervised.
You're absolutely right to seek assurances about how they will prevent this happening in future as your child should have been in sight of a member of staff and not able to wander behind a moving swing.

It's nursery, accidents happen.

Get real, a newly walking child should not have been anywhere near a swing in a playground. They have little danger awareness at that age so no lesson learnt.

did you not look round the nursery before starting surely the garden and the garden set up would have bin part of that

It does sound a very odd set up, to have a newly walking toddler in a space with swings. These things to happen but it does seem quite a hazard.

In all fairness though this is how kids learn things for themselves. He will be more careful as well as he knows he could get hurt.

I would ask what risk assessment they have done for the swing. I would have thought that there ought to be an adult by the swing whenever it is in use, and if that means that it has to be tied up when there aren't enough adults, so be it.

(This brought back memories of taking my friend's three toddlers to the playground. I ended up stationed by the swings as that was the biggest danger point and I couldn't keep within reach of all three.)

Depends where you are but most of the country has a weather warning tomorrow for rain and/or wind so hopefully they won't be in the garden. I'd definitely have a few questions.

Yes you are def entitled to see where this happened. I don’t like that they seemed to indicate it was your so son’s fault for walking around the swings. So I would be making that clear to them.

I think there are ways this could've happened which don't mean they were being negligent. Perhaps another child grabbed the swing and let it go rather than sitting swinging, before an adult could stop the swinging seat. Perhaps your DC was standing with an adult waiting and suddenly tripped lurching forward into swing's path. Perhaps your DC was being held in arms by adult swing-pusher and then started agitating to get down thus being semi-dropped/slid down. I have had all these happen between my two small children.
However obviously yes it could have been that nobody was paying close enough attention to moving swings.
I think I would ask at the door next time. Tell them how the bruise is recovering and ask exactly how it happened. I think the attitude with the answer will tell you whether this was an honest mistake made by good caring people, or laziness and trying to cover themselves.

@Undochange why would toddlers not enjoy swings as much as preschoolers? Arguably preschoolers are less likely to have swings because the kids are heavy for adults to keep lifting in and out. My children both enjoyed swinging from when they could sit unaided, very very gently at first but certainly by 12 months they were swinging pretty fast!

It sounds like it was a right bang to his face if he's still got the marks when you've picked him up. How old are the children he's in a room with? Surely a 2y/o couldn't have been going that fast on the swing to make so much of a mark on his face?!
I'd say something because for one they should have been supervising more carefully imo and two, if it was you bringing him into nursery with such a mark on his face theres a chance they'd flag it as a safeguarding concern.

A fuss in my world is asking a few questions, wanting an apology and assurances it won’t happen again - and def not a slanging match but from your initial post you don’t seem the type that will be shouting, you just want reassurance. 😊

I'm usually the first to say, "Don't make a fuss" but this strikes me as a bit odd. A bang from the swing would have left a mark in one place, I would have thought. It's possible they didn't see what happened. It also seems strange to have swings in a nursery unless it has a huge garden as that's a frequent accident waiting to happen. We have someone stationed on the slide all the time there are kids on it, to stop accidents. I think you should ask some questions and maybe just ask to see the garden at drop off to see if this is a likely story.

Sorry about your son OP, the Nursery are completely out of order on this.
An 18 month child will have no awareness of the danger of getting hit by a swing. Hence why you pay to have him cared for by a nursery. If he was that smart you could near leave him at home.

I would ask to see the risk assessment for this area and def make a fuss on this.