AIBU to think the nursery shouldn't let my daughter get so messy!

[cazzycat]

Picked up DD from nursery she is 17 months they had changed her clothes as she had got messy which is quite regularly and I don't normally mind. I got home and have seen the state of her cardigan covered in pen marks! I don't know if it will all come out in the wash.

Shouldn't they provide some sort of overalls for painting and drawing and what were they doing while she was drawing all over herself?
Should I email the nursery or just accept she is going to ruin all her clothes that she wears to nursery!?

Ds (9yo) looked a bit like that after school today. He says his pen exploded. I think him and his friends were probably having lots of fun.

That isn't too bad imo - I've definitely seen worse on my DD! I always put her in old/ cheap clothes for nursery and just bin stuff that get ruined. Our nursery has requested that parents send them in old clothes and have sent out an email/ newsletter to that effect, letting us know that being worried about getting messy is stopping some kids from getting involved in activities and enjoying themselves. They way I see it is if she can get super messy at nursery, I don't need to do messy stuff at home!

WAsh in cold water with fairy liquid. If it's in washing machine it probably won't come out as too warm

Cheap easily replaceable clothes for nursery are best.
I does look like someone has drawn on the cardigan rather than just getting caught whilst the child was colouring a picture.
I would mention it after seeing that cardigan and definitely make sure she wears clothes you arent particularly bothered about as they'll will only collect marks and stains as kids and aprons are always reliable either.

It's a work of art. She's obviously going to be a leading fashion designer.

Did always comes home in her spare clothes, I love it. The difficulty I see at her nursery is that the free flow of play means that the staff can often not be quick enough if a child decides 'oh, paint' , goes over to the paint and gets stuck in. I guess the workers are then wondering whether to interiorinteruot their play to wrestle an overall on, or let them get on with it. I would much rather dd had fun tbh

Easy solution - don't send your DC's to nursery in clothes that matter. When my DT's were at nursery they went in their oldest most worn out clothes - yes there were overalls but mine did messy play very well and many nursery clothes ended up in the bin!

"
It's not 1:1 care. Just get cheap clothes that wash well or you don't mind being a bit disposable."

It should be possible to avoid a child getting into that level of mess with 1:3 care. A nursery nurse is employed to look after three children. They don't have to cook, do washing or ironing that a sahm might. Lots if sahm look after three children at once.

A nursery room is set up to make keeping children as safe as possible. An under twos room can have age appriopiate toys only. If you have one year old, a three year old and a five year old there would need to be suitable toys for all the children. A normal house has many more dangers than a day nursery.

DD has got into a similar state on a couple of occasions and the staff have been VERY apologetic about it (they have aprons, but she somehow managed to cover herself in paint/pen anyhow). I now send her in uniform (dark nursery sweatshirt and black/navy leggings) and she can get as messy as she likes in that.

Send her in cheap clothes unless you're seriously saying you want someone to change her into an apron every time she fancies messy play?! What would be the point of that- waste of time! Send her in cheap, dark clothes, problem solved.

What a lovely cardi that once was

Agree with the fashion designer comment
One day she will make millions drawing on other peoples cardis.

My children never got into that level of mess at nursery. That level of mess is not normal. Yes, I would expect the nursery nurse to put an apron on them or at least watch them. I would also expect them to interact with the child

It takes all of two seconds to tie a tabard onto a small child.

That looks like a lack of supervision. They should get messy, but not that messy.

Probably should have asked for advice on how to try to clean cardigan before bunging it in the washing machine! I am a first time mum with very active toddler so still learning best ways to deal with endless washing and stains!
Am very happy for her to get messy - just thought it was a bit much really as otherwise am happy with the care she gets from the nursery.
Love the fashion designer comment!

Genuinely surprised that this is considered an exceptional amount of mess for a child of that age. DS regularly came home much more colourful. (And I'd be very thankful that someone else cleaned up after him and all we had to do was bung stuff in the wash).

To me this just looks like she had a great time. I would be worried if my child never got as messy as that as nursery. I'd think he wasn't being allowed to play properly.

Slightly - usually they just have to put an apron on and can then make as much mess as they like

A soak in vanish overnight and then another scoop in the machine should work.

But yes absolutely aprons should be used. You would be surprised how much mess can still be created even with top to toe covers on (I am a cm)

To be fair all it takes is little Timmy to fall over and the off Jonny moves to the creative table. Turn around a second later after consoling Timmy and, "Oh dear! We're meant to wear aprons aren't we Jonny?" Small children can get very mucky very fast.

Cold water and washing up liquid really does work though.

My daughter would refuse to wear the aprons and tabards and I have loads of ruined clothes... but I really don't mind as I want her to be playing and getting messy (and I know the nursery well and know it isn't a neglect issue).

I don't know, mine gets very messy and I don't mind. I've seen pictures of him at nursery where he's covered in paint and he looks so happy. And if we do stuff like that at home he gets extremely messy too so it's not just a lack of supervision.

Always someone else's fault

I think, in this case, fault can be attributed to people who are meant to be supervising a 17 month old. Does the OP have to accept fault that her daughter needs to be stopped being messy?!

Washing Soda crystals are great for soaking clothes and not expensive. Stardrops is pretty good at removing stains too. Brilliant stuff. Probably cheapest place to get it is Savers. Love Stardrops. You can get Vanish type stuff in Quidland.

Not sure what you mean maxfielder20 by always someone else's fault.
Is it my fault because I send my daughter to nursery?

well, I have had plenty of practice with stains.

soap and cold water works well. I don't use fairy for clothes as it make my hands sore.

dry wipe marker comes out with soap and water if you get to it before it goes through the machine.

It annoys me more when I do not spot the stains and they go through the wash before I get chance to get them out.