To be annoyed with this mum at nursery induction?

[rosewool]

Dd2 had her nursery induction morning today and another little girl was having hers at the same time.

The other little girl's mother had brought her little sister who was about 18m along too.
Not problem in itself. I know you can't always get childcare. I had ds2 with me as well though luckily he is not mobile yet so can't get into too much mischief.

The girls got take part in activity with their group then have free play with them for a little while. Through this entire time the younger girl was running wild. Disrupting the activity, grabbing things off other children during the free play, flinging toys about and screaming and shouting. All while her mother sat doing bugger all except smiling contentedly and trying to sneak pictures when she thought the staff weren't looking.

It was incredibly selfish behaviour on the mother's part and I'm think the staff should have asked her to either get control of her daughter or leave and reschedule for another day when she could get childcare.

I'm surprised at some of the replies you are getting.

She should have taken the 18 month old out, or made efforts to keep more control. I'd have thought that staff could have politely asked her to do so.

Hmmm, OP I kind of think you deserve the light teasing you are getting on here. I imagine the child wasn't as disruptive as you are saying or else the staff would have said something.

Haha - 18month old being disruptive at a daycare....... best call in the waaahmbulance and crowd controllers before someone gets hurt.

OP I'm with you. The experience was designed for new nursery children and not toddlers. It's hardly representative of normal every day usage for the 3yos.

If it had been a problem for the staff, I'm sure they would have said so. It won't have been the first time an over excited younger sibling will have gatecrashed an induction session.

Don't look down on people who don't meet your high standards. You may have missed a future friend for all uou know.

I rather think the gate crasher's DM should have let her own DC some space and left the toddler elsewhere.
I get that childcare was most likely unavailable for the toddler but the DM should have respected the purpose of being there.

Perhaps the nursery could have afforded a side room for younger siblings

School nursery TA here, have had this happen. At induction we are as welcoming and understanding as possible, did the staff not say anything to the 18 month old? I have found myself following younger siblings around and say "Georgie please don't throw that, kind hands etc" in my best sing song voice. Induction is a tricky time, if we asked the parents to remove younger siblings the older child may kick off at the fact their parent is leaving the room which creates more of a drama and unsettles both the new child and the others children more than a rambunctious younger sibling who won't be in nursery tomorrow. We have to take the long game view sometimes!

I take my ds to drop off and pick up his sister from preschool. We have a half hour walk to get there where he is stuck in the buggy. As soon as we get in the cloakroom and I help his sister put up her coat and change her shoes he will run about. I have to keep a hold of him while I take her in otherwise he would run riot and want to join in . He is 2. A lot of kids that age do run riot and the parent should have made an attempt to reign her daughter in. However, if it didn't impact your child don't give it a second thought!

I think it was a bit rude.
If the induction is for 3-5 year olds then yes it would be reasonable to expect a little noise or running from a curious younger sibling, but that also should go hand in hand with the parent actually doing something to stop the induction being disrupted (eg walk with the child around the room, maybe use a toy to distract and entertain). It's the sitting back and doing nothing that would mildly annoy me.

Let it go.

Teachers were probably rolling their eyes too, but life is too short to be anything but mildly irritated by this

Wow rude responses.
They may well be teachers. I am a teacher and taught nursery last year.
Induction is tricky and thankfully op's daughter was ok but a screaming child could scare a slightly older child on their first day.
Your children are your responsibility if they are making a nuisance you should deal with them. What on earth has society come to that asking someone to parent is now a problem? OP is not saying she is perfect but she sounds a bit better than the one breaking the photo policy whilst letting her younger one run amok!

If this is you on induction day, I pity the poor nursery staff.

Forget about it...it doesn't matter

This I am afraid . Welcome to shit stain that is Other People

😂 18 month old running round a nursery filled with new toys and new humans. Whatever next.

Come on, OP. The photo thing is obviously not acceptable.

the staff should have intervened

But they didn’t. This is telling. We have the OP’s version of events, but staff not intervening suggests the situation wasn’t as bad as is being made out. They are early years workers. They would have knowledge of how to intervene without picking a fight with the mum.

Or minty the staff in a 3-5 provision were busy trying to do their induction for the appropriate children so didn't have the time or desire to parent someone else's child as they do nothing.

I don't get involved parening younger siblings on secondary parents' or open evenings. That's their parents' job. I'm busy doing my job, and that isn't telling other people's children not to run around shouting. I'm not sure why early years staff should be expected to step in any more than primary or secondary staff: they're not there to parent.