My just turned 3 year old DD has been attending a local preschool/nursery for a few months, recommended to me by a couple of other parents. The first day or two was difficult but then she seemed to settle. Her key member of staff is absolutely lovely and DD obviously likes her a lot and says she does. Key member of staff says she's a pleasure to look after and no problems.
From the beginning though DD has said she doesn't like the manager. She seems pleasant, has been in childcare a long time but I imagine is simply quite matter of fact with the children.
On occasions that DD's key person is not there, DD is upset and unsettled and keeps saying she does not like the manager. When I ask her what has happened she describes things that the manager has said which all seem perfectly reasonable except that some of the language we wouldn't choose ourselves ("whinging" - we don't say that so I assume it's come from there)
We have the choice of another preschool next term but I wanted to keep DD where she is since it seems a lovely set up and in the main she seems very settled, she just wakes up and asks about preschool sometimes and sometimes if I say she's going she responds with she doesn't want to go because she doesn't like X. At the beginning she'd say this quite forcefully and repetitively sometimes
Is this normal? I know kids sometimes say they don't want to go to nursery but enjoy it once they are there. She's quite happy to walk in every time