to think this nursery is the very embodiment of gentrification in London?

[roundaboutsroundabouts]

I won't name the group of nurseries as I don't know if that's allowed (is it?) but I've just seen them referenced on instagram by a scandi toy brand. They are all in vair gentrified hipster parts of London and the fees are fcking EXTORTIONATE - £90 a day for the under-threes. I know that isn't unusual in London (although in my much cheaper part of London I only pay £55 a day). It holds a "curated" "programme" of monthly "events" (including pilates). The children get a daily smoothie - tomorrow's is beetroot, banana, ginger, berry, lemon and hemp. It describes itself as "design-led" and it's all vair tasteful scandi wooden toys in neutral colours. Design led?! Why does a NURSERY need to be "design-led"?!

You just know that everyone who sends their child there is going to have an ombre "lob", wear clothes from Arket, carry a fjallraven kanken backpack, own a bugaboo or a babyzen yoyo, dress said children in varying sludge colours from Mini Rodini, and have linen bedding in their Victorian Terraced house with white painted floorboards and scandi style planters.

I am BVU I know. But it is so irritating. I grew up in London, the child of an immigrant, and I feel like it's just an endless line of artisan coffee shops and overpriced farmers' markets these days.

I worked in a nursery like that, it's all nonsense and not better than the other ones. The kids did ballet, french, yoga, and sport lesson's. The kids hated all the structure and just wanted to run around, ride bikes, play dress ups and eat play dough like the kids at every other nursery. Don't waste your money!!

I feel like it's just an endless line of artisan coffee shops and overpriced farmers' markets these days.

And what's wrong with that? Would you prefer an endless line of chainstores?

Off to check out Arket

Wooden toys are great until a toddler hurls a Grimms block at someone's head or vomits over the wobbel board. Wood is porous, heavy and hard to clean, I'd be wary of a nursery with all wooden toys!

Pilates made me laugh! How do you get a class of 0-4s to sit long enough to follow instructions? I take my 4 year old to kids yoga but it's more aerial yoga (swinging from hammocks) than sitting in poses!

Smoothies I approve of (if they actually drink them!)

Mini Rodini is one of the creepiest looking brands out there (and I love most high end Scandi). It's the eyes on the animals and the dolls print that makes me shudder. Like the illustrations from those creepy reading schemes in the 80s/90s!

They are just symptomatic of a demographic whereby everyone has the same stuff and looks the same.

This is true of a lot of demographics to be fair!

It is, but the irritation with stupid hipster artisan curated design led demographic is that they are so sure they're original and unique.
No, love, you're ubiquitous. And dull.

Anyone else find Mini Rodini creepy?

Of course,this was in the days,when little children were not taken to a nursery all day long, and we could all stay happily at home!!

And yet you still grew up to make passive aggressive comments that also miss the point of the thread, so maybe our poor unhappy nursery-raised dcs will be ok even without wooden toys...

Def did not start this thread to have a pop at working parents. I am one myself.

Never seen Mini Rodini before, I live in Boden/Joules land.

It’s terrifying.

at days when we all played happily at home. Working class women have always needed to work. In the 1940s a nursery was opened in our town for all the children of women who worked in the munitions factory.

Onestep - terrifying, badly designed and north of £30 per item. I don't get it.

The Scandinavian brands are nice incl the adults brands OP. There is a lot of white in the Mini Rodini that doesn’t suit pale skin. But just so you know OP, the Scandinavian brands are not considered special anymore. The desired clothes are now the independent children’s shops that Istagram influencers promote. 😀

I'm with you op it sounds wanky as fuck

It's good that we have choices

"We" being those who can afford it, of course.

Dear God that clown dress is the stuff of nightmares!

To the poster who found it depressing that kids are in “these places” full time, my experience is that the vast majority of kids at my son’s nursery are not full time- maybe 3 or 4 days. Also, for all their wankiness, hipster type parents are especially good at flexible working so do lots of early pickups, late drop offs, half days and arrangements that allow Dad to work part time as well as Mum.

Nurseries are upping fees to cover the gap between the ‘free’ 30 hours and what the gvt gives them to cover this - and the ratios of Carer:child is higher for younger children anyway.

Basically the children have a nice snack, do some activities (jumping around and dancing) and play. They don’t care if it’s a guava smoothie, ballet rambert and mini Picasso. They will still come home dirty, tired and carrying some masterpiece they have created.

Yanbu op. Also.. How the fuck does anyone pay those prices? ? When mine were at nursery I didn't earn close to 90 quid a day. But apparently that's cheap now?

Anyway, I'm with you about London now. I have family there in zone 2 areas and it's so weird. There are bog standard council blocks turned into million quid luxury apartments. Where the fuck are the poorer people allowed to live? How do they manage to work around their kids with those nursery prices??
I used to love London. Even the seedy aspects. There were really grim parts, and they needed a clean up, but not this..this complete emptying out of genuine diversity and soul to very replaced with overpriced identikit branding.
It's really depressing. I used to dream about retiring in London in a flat near the river. I wouldn't now even if I could afford it.

I have not seen any kids wearing those horrendous mini rodini clothes. Are these popular?

I would have thought you’d see more mini boden and frugi at a fancy nursery

Occasionally spotted here in SE London green, not popular.

God I love that Mini Rosini stuff. The moon jacket they do is amazing!

*Rodini

Yes it's ridiculous, but it's all about the hipster parents wanting to be with their tribes. With similarly named children all wearing the same , while they are all the same too. While they live in their enclaves where it now costs £1.5m to buy a bog standard 3 bed terrace.

Surely everyone knows that it's not the wooden toys, chia smoothies and mini-rodini that makes a good nursery? My kids went to the most lovely (oversubscribed) nursery in pretty ramshackle premises to start with. It was gorgeous - no formal classes, lovely staff and activities

The worse thing is the level of poverty that currently exists in London. With children going hungry and parents unable to pay their rent. Unable to feed their chidlren. This is getting worse and these wanky places are just widening the divide between the haves and have nots.

The clown dress is terrifying

and (prepares to get shot down) I think 1 on 1 care is infinitely preferable for under 3s. A 12 hour day there for a baby? For that money you could have a lovely childminder or nanny share. And have your baby looked after in your own home.