Aibu to not want my dc being strapped into Walk o dile

[Castleheights]

Im prepared to be told I am being silly but, I feel uneasy about groups of children being strapped together.

At my dc nursery they have arranged a trip into town using a walk o dile. (Sorry don't know how to link). It's a so called safety device for keeping children safe when there are not enough adult hands available.

Aibu to think it looks unsafe because if one child falls so will others? Furthermore there are plenty of parents who would help if asked, nursery have said they don't want any parental help.

I do understand what you saying about staff ratios but, parents want to help and are being told they can't.

It's not as easy as parents just helping. These days you have to have DBS checks and things to do anything that involves being with the kids for any length of time (which accompanying frequent trips would be) Also many parents are unreliable.

You would never get 1 - 1 care no matter what you did. These look like a great idea for younger ones.

Good grief, it's a chain gang!

Is this really what its come to? Whatever happened to proper adult supervision and well-behaved children?

I've seen it all now!

I was at the park with my Swedish friends when a nursery turned up with a load of kids holding on to one of these

They were AGHAST she said What is it with you English and strapping your children up like dogs

I have never seen a Walkodile before.

Marvellous invention!

What is it with you English and strapping your children up like dogs

Yep - I don't want my dog or my toddler to run into traffic, funnily enough.

Yep - I don't want my dog or my toddler to run into traffic, funnily enough.

How about keeping both of them under better control?

Estate - well behaved children can get run over though or wander off looking. Her win central London most tourist adults hold hands crossing roads, and the paths can be super busy so it would be easy for one to get lost in crowd if not enough hands to hold a child in each hand. Staff ratios are not 1 adult to 2 children so how can one hold 5 hands?
My own two children are very well behaved and never ran off. But I only have two and two hands so can safely hold both hands through crowds. If I had 8 children under 4 years I would have lost one daily I'm sure.
Nurseries also use the tube around here so it's safer one can't go too close to tube track or get lost going down. Like I said there's usually 3 staff to around 8, one at front, one at back and one in between to help any

(and yes, I am an owner of both)

How about keeping both of them under better control

That is keeping them under control.

Have you met many small children or dogs?

Some parents are unreliable or create extra problems. The nursery may want to do the outing without parents being there.

Ds is always on a 'strap' anywhere near a road. If I didn't do that he would have been hit by a car by now.

Parental help can be an absolute nightmare for schools: failing to turn up, inappropriately chastising children, arguing with other parents over who gets to go. It can be a whole lot easier to do school trips without any parents because, sometimes, the parents are a much bigger problem than 10 small children rioting.

Staff ratios are not 1 adult to 2 children

I know this is not the point of the thread, and I've posted about it elsewhere on MN, so apologies for banging on, but this is precisely the problem with parents outsourcing their childcare while they work.

I can totally see why nurseries have to do things like this, because they have no choice (I take your point about ratios and safety). If parents actually looked after their own DCs though, there would (for the most part) not be issues around ratios and no need to treat our DCs like convicts/dogs.

The culture of both parents working full time and DCs being looked after in childcare settings is a very worrying direction for society to go in. When we actually have to have a chain gang of DCs for their own safety, doesn't that tell us that we need to have a rethink?

Ah, right, my mistake. Clearly your 18-month-olds act like responsible adults with full understanding of risk management around traffic. Kudos

I'm glad you don't manage a nursery, though - if my child's nursery said their safety procedure around traffic was "we only well behaved children here!" i don't think they'd stay open very long.

A chain gang. :o

It is, isn't it?

Estate, if I were you I would just thank my lucky stars that none of my children were bolters.

It keeps children safe, with the adult ratios available at nursery, and involves adult supervision. Without it they wouldn't be able to do trips out. I know what I would prefer.

As precious posters have pointed out, asking parents to help is not as simple as you seem to think.

Do you know what a chain gang actually is, estateagent? I don't think many nurseries are taking their charges out to the fields for 12 hours of back-breaking hard labour.

Don't be so completely over dramatic... Strapped together like dogs... Honestly. What will you say next? That there should be no fence around the nursery playground because children are rounded up like sheep?

As for 'keeping them under better control' you have clearly limited experience in working with a group of pre schoolers.

They are a great idea.

That is keeping them under control.

Its a easy option, lazy parenting cop out, and we both know it.

For childcare settings its a rather different matter, but again, I think it is very wrong.

I used to walk with DD2 and DD3 and would have loved the duo.

DD2 was "under control" but because of noise sensitivity would be startled by loud noises, break from my hand and run away. I'd have to tuck DD3 under my arm and try to run after her.

Children are like puppies, you think you have them trained and then the unexpected happens.

I'm a SAHM, Estate.

Doesn't stop DS2 from being a bolter.

You're talking bollocks, I'm afraid.

Estate - many people have to work. And also many people who don't work still send 3-4 year olds a few mornings to nursery to socialise if they don't know many people so the ratios the same. The only way to get 1-1 childcare is a nanny, but then you pay nanny prices per child not nursery

Part of the punishment of the chain gang is the humiliation and degradation of being tied to others and therefore being unable to move autonomously.

It's pretty much been dropped by most jurisdictions now and being a cruel and unusual punishment (separately from the forced labour aspect)

How can we think this ok for our DCs?

I had one for my twins, and it meant I could walk safely with them on one side, and their slightly older sibling holding my other hand. Is that lazy parenting estate? I'm all ears.

My children were on straps in the 90s early 00s nobody batted an eye really no angst about children on leads or make your children behave better because all kids had them parents were able to help out at playgroups and nursery trips now the nursery have different procedures so these things are useful and practical

For childcare settings its a rather different matter

They are for childcare settings. That's what they're for.

Unless you think there are many 'lazy' parents with six under-5s they need to take out together?