to be annoyed at the nursery workers comment re DS still using a buggy?

[choceyes]

My DS is 3.4yrs and this morning when I dropped him and his sister, 18 months off at nursery this morning, nursery worker commented to DS , "ah you are a big boy now DS, you should be walking" .
Argh...I told her that we walk 2.5miles into nursery. It would take me about an hour to walk that with a dwadling DS, it takes me a good 30mins in a brisk walk. And most days I am late for work anyway.
I don't need the stress of making him walk all that way first thing in the morning. I just want to get to work!

Just annoyed me really as, most parents drop their kids off in a car at the nursery entrance and walk in. They never get commented on. I know some drive the same distance that I walk. If i took DS off the buggy just before we get to nursery and let him walk in, I'm sure that would be OK too
I just hate the assumption that just because DS is in a buggy that he is being lazy
He walks back home some days, when he is not too worn out from nursery.

So AIBU to let DS be in a buggy at his age?

Sorry, this is a monday morning rant above all really!

Athinginyourlife. When my DDs were small children. I thought they should all gave a proper breakfast before we left for any activity But I then discovered that DD2 really didn't like eating first thing and she was better waiting an hour. She also didn't like cereal. So I gave up making her eat a proper breakfast and she would often eat a banana on the way to school. .

Children who are up early and fed aren't too tired and hungry to walk anywhere.

There are faster ways for 3 year olds to travel independently than on foot, but if you need to eat on the move, you can't use them.

The child is getting to an age where soon he will need to be out of a buggy (or is it too judgmental to think children should ever walk?)

What works with kids is provisional.

TSC - the location being nursery What's wrong with having breakfast at nursery if the kid doesn't want to eat early?

No, I think you're objecting for the sake of an argument. Ridiculous to suggest there is something wrong with giving a child a pre-breakfast snack or breastfeed.

Child doesn't want to eat breakfast early before 8am
Gets hungry on school run between 8am-8.30am but can't have a sit down breakfast then so has a little snack
Has a proper breakfast at nursery at 8.30am

It's working for the OP and absolutely no harm is coming to anyone.

Is this "no snacks before breakfast" thing a bit of a moral stand, like thinking it's slatternly to have babies in sleepsuits during the day? I really don't get it.

I run a nursery school breakfast club and most of the children come in between 8-8.30am having had a bit of fruit or some milk on the way over, and then have their proper breakfast at nursery. It never occured to me that anyone would view this as poor parenting.

"Is this "no snacks before breakfast" thing a bit of a moral stand, like thinking it's slatternly to have babies in sleepsuits during the day? I really don't get it."

No, you really don't get it.

The point was not that you are not allowed to give a child a snack before breakfast, it was that it is a nonsense to call the first thing you give a child to eat in the morning a "snack".

Breakfast is the first meal of the day, be it a banana, an omelet in a box, or a sit down breakfast at home or at nursery.

So in this case, either the boy waits until he gets to nursery to have his breakfast, or he has his breakfast out of a box sitting in a buggy.

Calling it a snack doesn't change the fact that it's the first thing he's eaten in over 12 hours and he's really hungry.

I think it's a bit horrible to have breakfast on the go. I wouldn't take a piece of toast on the train and I don't expect my children to take their first meal in a pram.

If they're still hungry or want a piece of fruit or something like that, then they have it. But a hungry child should be given the chance to sit down and eat at a table.

You can't force a child to eat though. Mine are up by 7 and have milk first thing and then they don't want breakfast for another hour. On a preschool day we leave at 8:40 and DD1 has normally eaten by then but if she has refused to then I just give her toast in the car. It would be really mean to wake her earlier to make sure she has eaten, she needs her sleep more than she needs to eat before we leave the house.

OK, call it a little breakfast and a big breakfast instead of a snack then If he doesn't want to eat first thing, fair enough, lots of people don't. I'd be quite happy to have a banana or some toast on the train personally.

Are there really that many children incapable of eating for a full hour after they wake up?

Like if you sat them down and said "it's breakfast time, here's your breakfast", they would refuse it?

I find that quite odd.

It would worry me to have small children regularly going to school on just a piece of toast eaten in the car on the way.

Why would it be a worry, if they have a proper breakfast at school/nursery?

Surely the end result is the same - by 9am they've had breakfast, whether sitting down at home or in two parts on the way to nursery.

And yes, I think lots of pre-schoolers are in the habit of maybe having some milk first thing, and breakfast a bit later. My 19 month old doesn't really bother with the milk anymore, but generally wants breakfast about an hour after he wakes up - sometimes he has it at home, sometimes at his childminder. No way would I wake him up early to ensure he has it at home though, he's miserable if he's woken up.

Do most schools give children breakfast where you live? They don't here.

I would be worried if that piece of toast shoved into the mouth in the car was the only thing the child was going to eat before break time.

I've worked in schools with children who don't have proper breakfasts. It's not great for the old concentration.

I wouldn't be that keen on children eating breakfast at school, because I think it's better to eat breakfast quite soon after you get up and not immediately before lessons begin.

But if that's what was happening, I would still prefer that they had a small sit-down breakfast before we left in preference to eating on the hoof, which strikes me as not a great way to start the day.

If a child goes to a breakfast club or nursery they do. Which is what we've been discussing on this thread.

OP you need to practice a withering stare or a look of utter contempt.

It will come in handed when you try using public transport with DCs IME as well.

Jesus, I feel mean that on work days I make my girls get dressed before breakfast :o

"Are there really that many children incapable of eating for a full hour after they wake up? Like if you sat them down and said "it's breakfast time, here's your breakfast", they would refuse it? I find that quite odd"

Good for you! Mine are not into breakfast at all. Really not interested. They generally are happy having something around 10am, when they eventually get hungry.

Newsflash: Everyone is different

I didn't realise that nursery breakfast were a substitute for breakfast at home, I presumed it was hobbit-esque second breakfast.

Same with breakfast clubs.

It genuinely never occurred to me that parents weren't feeding their children first thing in the morning because they would get food much later when they arrived at nursery/school.

I mean, I know there are parents who don't feed their kids in the morning. I've taught their children. But they were from quite troubled families in the main.

I had no idea so many people considered sitting down for breakfast to be a weird affectation rather than a basic necessity.

Interesting.

It is a bit shit to bring toast onto the train though. It's like doing your makeup on public transport.

AThinginYourLIfe, do you therefore acknowledge that some children do not wish to eat first thing in the morning? That some people don't want anything till a few hours after they get up?

And has anyone really said they think sitting down to breakfast is a weird affectation?

Yes, nursery breakfast is brick dust and fluff

And loads of people get up at 5am and then make their children starve STARVE until they get their bowl of fluff 6 hours later.

Or maybe they just get up, leave the house 45 minutes later, give their kids a banana and a cup of milk on the way to nursery/school where they sit down at 8am and have some cereal, toast and a yoghurt.

My DS gets up 7-7.30am. He leaves the house at 8.15am. So sometimes he has something at home, sometimes the poor neglected little urchin waits til 8.30am for some porridge with his CM.

"do you therefore acknowledge that some children do not wish to eat first thing in the morning? That some people don't want anything till a few hours after they get up?"

Not sure what the "therefore" refers to... are you trying to sound legal? :o

I acknowledge that some children come to school unable to concentrate because they haven't eaten.

I acknowledge the possibility that some people don't want to eat for several hours after they wake up, but I do wonder why that is, and whether it is good for them.

I also acknowledge that some people who claim their children don't want things really mean that they can't be arsed to provide those things.

Is it really common for children to fast for 16ish hours per day (12 hours sleep, presumably don't eat directly before bed, then 2-3 hours without food in the morning)? I find that extraordinary.

I can believe there might be some unusual children who cram all their eating into 8 hours, but it seems odd for it to be unremarkable.