To worry about the sticks in the nursery garden?

[SunnyG0507]

Found DS had an obvious scratch on his face when picking up him in the afternoon from the nursery. No one noticed it until I asked what happened to his face. The answer was " he did not cry". Then one said it was probably happened when he played the sticks in the nursery garden in the morning. I didn't ask more at that time but then feel more and more concerned when thinking about this back to home. DS is not yet 2 years old and sometimes fall down when trying to run fast. I'm not sure why he was playing the sticks in the nursery garden ( is it normal?) and I think it seems to have potential risks for kids around this age. He got his face hurt today without being noticed. What about if he fall down when holding a stick which may hurt his eyes! I'm thinking about to ask the nursery staff to pay more attention and perhaps avoid him playing the sticks until he is older or unless there is a staff keeping a very close eye on him. But AIBU to ask for this? Is it some normal activity for the under 3s to play with the sticks in the nursery garden? I think the sticks are those falling from trees in this season rather than some ones prepared for the kids to learn about or play with.

There are potential risks everywhere, falling inside bumping heads on tables or chairs. For the staff not to notice I’d say he was obviously not upset by it. He is exploring his environment, playing with sticks, he is learning. He’s experienced a learning injury, we underestimate young children a lot. He will go back and explore the sticks again and have a better understanding of how he might be hurt.

I'm absolutely sure that the kids in my son's nursery play with sticks. The nursery ladies have enthusiastically told me about it- they've played magic wands/ hose pipes whatever. I see it as a good thing about our nursery that there's a bit of nature in the garden.

Kids will get bumps, bruises and scratches and on occasion these may be missed by the best of us..nursery staff included! Your son is fine.. these things happen, let your son enjoy his adventures at nursery.. too much is childproofed and clinical these days... accidents happen let it go!!

Bubble wrap and a no outdoor play rule is the only way forward here.

I’d expect the teacher to chat to me about a black eye but a scratch from a stick? Really?

First child?

Thanks for your opinions, although I'm sort of feeling being misunderstood. I never meant to forbid DS to play with the sticks or wanted to avoid all the risks for him to get hurt. Why would I? He is a little boy! But I was more worried about the staff who were not aware of his scratch until I asked. The scratch was obvious, long and red. They were not sure when and how it happened- " sticks" was only the guess and the explanation given to me. When picked up DS, for several times I saw the staff were chatting in one corner of the garden while sometimes kids were playing with big sticks and threw them to others but no one reminded/ stopped them ( hope DS didn't do anything like that!) The staff sometimes just left kids crying in the garden, probably for some reason, but just continued chatting ( I can tell they were not talking about anything relevant to the kids or nursery) So yes, I may be or probably definitely be unreasonable here, but I had my worries for a reason. Again, thanks for all your opinions which reminding me that I shouldn't be over protective for DS!

Hi now I have an issue with your update. This is my field of work. The issue is that the staff were all standing chatting, if there was a group of small children playing with sticks I’d expect one of my staff members to be there engaging with the children and supporting them with what they are doing. Definitely not standing chatting and ignoring children that are crying. I have a huge issue with that. I’d ask to speak to the manager and state your concerns. I also wonder if that is what you have witnessed what is going on when no parents are around.

Thanks a lot Sunnydays78! We saw the staff chatting, etc, usually when we went to the nursery earlier than usual to pick up DS. I can understand they must have a long day to look after so many kids, but would hope they could engage with the kids a bit when they were playing if possible, at least to make sure the kids are playing safely. Maybe I'm over concerned here again.

But recently we went to visit another nursery and saw the staff there played together with the kids, like making paper plane and showing the kids how to fly them in the garden, playing the football together with boys and girls and laughing loudly together, racing the trikes with the little kids in the garden, etc. It was absolutely lovely! Both the staff and the kids seemed really enjoy such time together I can tell. I won't expect all the nurseries and the staff are like this, but secretly hope DS can have such experience as well.

Thanks for your suggestions again!

Well that's completely different from your OP. Instead of asking if it's normal for children to play with sticks, what you meant to say was you think the nursery staff are being neglectful because you saw them chatting while children played with some sticks.

Hi LittleScottieDog, I probably didn't explain clear. I thought kids playing in the nursery gardens are sometimes "independently", at least seems to be like this in our nursery but I cannot say it for sure only based on the staff chatting I noticed before. So I was worried about DS playing with the sticks by himself only in the garden in such case. After all the staff didn't notice the obvious scratch until I asked. DS is not yet 2 years old.

You can't really expect people to answer a question you not only didn't ask, but didn't even hint at, tbf.
Your update is a completely different question.

So you've previously seen the staff talking and are making an assumption that your child was hurt because they weren't being supervised.

I agree, you've completely changed what you were originally asking.

(And I'm an ex-Early Years practitioner. Yes, children sometimes play independently and sometimes in adult-led situations. You get different observations of the child in different situations.)

Staff should be down at the children’s level and either sitting watching or supporting. Not talking over their play but scaffolding their learning, staff grouped together chatting isn’t on.

As an ex-nursery teacher, I wholly disagree that staff should always be down at the children's level, supporting their play

The character of children's play is markedly different when an adult is directly involved. Scaffolding means being available and attentive, often at a discreet distance, in order to give input/support if and when it is needed. Working with young children in a free-play environment is as much about stepping back as it is about stepping in.

It is scary when they start nursery/preschool and start playing independently, experimenting with more robust activities and yes, acquiring minor injuries, conflicts etc. But it is essential to their development that they are allowed to do so. The nursery staff cannot and should not be leaping in to take away any item that could possibly cause a scratch or bruise, nor should they be breathing down the children's necks controlling and directing their play. That is what small-group and carpet times are for - free play is free play. It's how young children learn.