To think that nursery must drug a room full of under 2s to get them to sit nicely and cooperate?

[Bubspub]

Obviously the title is in jest! I don't suspect that my nursery is drugging the children, they are an excellent nursery of very lovely staff. I took DS 21mo in slightly later than usual this morning and 'sing and sign' had begun. I stood there open mouthed. I kid you not, a room full of under 2s sat in perfect, straight rows, listening attentively to nursery nurse singing and signing. HOW DO THEY GET THEM TO DO THAT??! I am seriously impressed. I also assume that my DS went to join them and behaved this way. HE WOULD NEVER DO THIS AT HOME! Am I the only person whose child is a complete hooligan at home but get reports that "he's been an absolute star" when I pick him up and they have told me very clearly that they have no concerns about his attention and behaviour? I'm baffled but impressed at the same time! And open to the suggestion that it's because of my crap parenting!

A thought. Humans tend to be tribal, on their own they're selfish, wanting their own way. With others they want to be accepted into the tribe and thus conform.

Aside from what everyone else has already written, there's one more point to take into consideration. The fact that your kid acts perfectly at school and like a hooligan at home is a very good sign that 1. your son is willing to be socialised and is well on the way to becoming civilised, and 2. your son feels comfortable enough to 'act out' around you after having made supreme efforts to control his emotions for many hours at the nursery. As he gets older, he'll start internalising all the rules he's learning at nursery. They won't take such an effort to follow, hence he won't need so much space to let down and act like a hooligan at home. For now, I'd recommend you just keep loving him the way you've been doing, and I suspect the above welcome scenario will follow sooner than you might imagine. :)