I thought it would be easier to find a nursery with a no outdoor shoes policy !!

[Noshoesnursery]

Every one so far that I’ve looked at they all wear outdoor shoes inside meaning the carpets and rugs are not clean ? I thought they would be outdoor shoes off at the door for children and staff and just clean indoor shoes inside ?

is it really that unusual ? It’s a deal breaker for me but I need to find one !!

After all the serious threads, this is some lovely light entertainment.

I’m actually really surprised kids are wearing outdoor shoes in nurseries. It’s unheard of in Sweden, and kids either just have socks or they take crocs or slippers for indoors.

Do they have free flow into the outdoor area where you are? At our nursery the inside and outside were basically treated as one area and children could go freely between the two at all times.

The baby room at my Dd's nursery has no shoes indoors, but the main room is free flow and they all wear shoes. Its easier in the baby room as the ratio is 1:3 and only 9 babies in that room. The ratio in Dd's "big room" (from 2yrs +) is 1:5, there is about 30 kids in the "big room", I can't imagine the absolute hell in trying to take their shoes off, put slippers on and put their shoes away out of reach

Switzerland. You’ll find nurseries which require separate indoor shoes/slippers in Switzerland.

I’m also on Sweden and my nursery is basically in the forest. It’s a huge area so they climb trees etc. It can be free flowing if we want to, but there is no way they would have shoes indoors. We spend time on teaching them to how to put them on and take off. Our 18-month olds do this. It’s still not a big deal.

I think you probably just need a nursery with a dedicated baby room (non walkers) then I think it’s totally normal practice for adults to change in to slippers and for parents to remove shoes at pick up.

I never really considered it, but what I absolutely would not do is have my child in a nursery room with children who are walking when they were still crawling / scooting / non mobile - I think that possesses way more issues than floor germs!

Yeah they do look peaceful when they sleep. 😂

A good nursery will have outdoor areas the children access freely. Lots of the children will move between indoors and outdoors 10 - 20 times a day. It's not a matter of changing/removing outdoor shoes on arrival and only putting them back on to go home. It would be very disruptive to their play to change footwear so often.

No, they go out together or in groups with a teacher mostly, they just put their shoes on, and outdoor gear. It’s a part of the day and part of the learning they do. Even the tiniest ones are encouraged to dress themselves in their shoes and outdoor stuff as much as they can.

Our nursery has this policy but they have recently expanded and older toddlers and pre school rooms are now shoes on.

Our nursery had no outdoor shoes in the baby room where the little ones were crawling but once they moved into the older room at 2 ish (usually 21-24 months depending on child and room space) they kept their shoes on all day.

I would have expected that to be a fairly common approach to be honest. Can't imagine the hassle of getting toddlers shoes on and off multiple times a day in the older rooms!

i didn’t say they can’t take them on/off, mine were taught to do it as soon as they could walk. But they literally would go in/out 100s of times a day. 2 minutes out, back in for 5 mins etc. It was all just one big space. I think having to change their shoes each time would make them less likely to go outside as often that’s all.

And to change their own pull up nappies as early as possible, unless there is poo of course. All a part of being independent and integrity.

@Noshoesnursery No they don’t crawl on any surface where outdoor shoes have been ? It’s just unhygienic! I would let them crawl on the pavement so I wouldn’t let them crawl around a public library either

If you take your child on a picnic in a field or a park will you never let them play on grass? Will you never allow them to play poo sticks?

Unless it' s muddy welly weather this does not happen at nurseries. In dry weathers most nurseries with outside space might even have a free flow for the kids to play inside and outside as they please. They will not be changing shoes every 10 minutes.

Have you ever worked with toddlers? En masse?

That was quite a defensive answer when I was just asking an interested question!

We are outdoors about 7 hours a day so they get enough air.

Sounds like you need a childminder or a nanny

Fair enough, sorry sbout that. Didn’t mean to. I also find it interesting how other people do.

I'm surprised at the responses on here!

I used to manage a nursery and we had a strict policy of indoor shoes. In the morning parents went to the cloakroom and helped their children take off their jackets and put on indoor shoes.

We went outdoors A LOT and it was good practice for the children to identify their cloakroom cubbies and shoes and get changed into them. 1 and 2 year olds required assistance (not really an issue as high ratios of staff with that age range) but the 3-5 year olds had it sorted!

It really helped keep our floor, rugs, blankets and cushions clean. Particularly in horrible winter weather.

You need to focus on dealing with your anxiety.

If you are worried about dirty shoes, then I have some news for you about what babies and toddlers and where they put their hands...

Will you not let them crawl on grass? Or the beach?

Some nurseries (I believe) would allow children to go inside or outside at will. How on earth could that be managed with changing shoes?

Seriously, you can't vaccinate against normal everyday germs!