To find this lady kicking off at nursery staff a bit much?

[ColonelHaiti]

My child goes to a good nursery. It's a chain. They have had issues, as we all have, with sickness and covid but kept going really well. Today I was waiting to be let in and one of the staff said they didn't have enough staff for the kids outside to come in and it would be 5 minutes. My little one was happy playing outside for 5 mins. Another mother royally kicked off though asking staff to close the blinds as its not fair her child sees other children playing while she's outside (said child didn't seem arsed), why is she paying ? Where are the staff etc?

I get she was pissed off but to kick off on the nursery staff who are there I thought was a bit steep. The nursery has kept open all through the pandemic with very little disruption.

5 minutes isn't much in the grand scheme of things, but I would be annoyed to be kept waiting during time I was paying for childcare, especially if I was trying to get to work.

I am not sure who was where and what the actual issue was. Can you clarify?

She was completely within her rights to be angry and let them know. I find that over-worked, underpaid nursery staff who have worked through a pandemic and risked getting covid respond really well to being shouted at for being short-staffed.

Well done to her. I didn't vote for brexit only to be told I can't yell at the people I trust to take care of my kids.

Maybe she was in a hurry.

Nursery fees are expensive, I’d be irritated too if there weren’t enough staff to let me collect my child, and I had to wait outside in the cold until they sorted it out. People pay for staffing ratios, I’d expect them to use agency staff if some are off.

I'm assuming none of you will pay for that time? Where were the staff? It's pretty crap tbh. What if you had to get to work? How did they know how long those staff would be?

Until you see it for yourself it can be hard to believe the way some parents, carers speak to Early Years and Primary staff. IMO far more leaders should be clearly enforcing zero tolerance procedures. Also I'd be extremely a dry at an adult being allowed to behave like this in the vicinity of little ones. Disgusting. I'd complain about her and then the staff have an approach with her.

There are shortages atm re Covid!!!

She was BU to kick off at nursery staff but if that was me I'd have been fuming too/ I need to drop my DC off on the dot else I miss my train- I have leeway of about 3 minutes to do drop off.

I don't pay £££ to still be late for work so would expect an apology from the nursery management.

I'd never be rude to people (was she rude?) but equally it must have sounded very odd, keeping kids waiting outside because there weren't the staff to let them in yet.

So she was kicking off because her child could see other children playing inside, whilst he wasn’t inside playing with them…but imminently would be, for the next 7 or 8 hours? I mean I’d be a bit annoyed if it was making me late for work, but I’d just keep quiet. There is no way I’d kick off at the nursery staff (absolute saints in my book!) but her reason for getting angry is really odd

I don’t think it’s ever ok to kick off at nursery staff, who do an incredibly hard job for nowhere near enough pay so YANBU.

That said, she’s entitled to be annoyed that her child couldn’t go into nursery during the time she has paid for, just not entitled to be rude to people about it. My nursery still won’t let parents inside and we have to wait outside for someone to come and get the children. It can take 5-10 minutes and it is incredibly frustrating waiting with a baby and a toddler in the rain or cold.

If she'd explained timescales for public transport calmly and kindly and been refused support for the service she'd paid for I could understand her getting a bit shirty.

But being arsed because her kid can see others playing is just pure preciousness that won't earn her any favours if she needs them from staff.

I work in a school and 97% of parents have been totally understanding throughout this when we've had outbreaks and struggles.

The other 3% would have had my sympathy if the complaints hadn't been things that didn't just inconvenience them but actually had an impact on them.

Completely wrong to kick off.

However I must admit that is something I find frustrating about nursery. I am often standing holding my child for a while in the cold while they try to get children in and then stood in the cold outside while they get him ready to go home.

Not their fault but it is frustrating when I’m running late!

Something must have happened that morning that was unavoidable.
Nursery will not be insured to take in children if they are under ratio due to a staff member being delayed by 5 minutes.

Yes, she is paying. Yes she might have been in a hurry.
What would she be saying if the children had gone inside under ratio and there'd been an accident?

Some people just seem to have zero tolerance for anything.

If I was in a hurry, 5 mins could be the difference to getting to work on time, could mean missing a bus/train. Complaining her kid could see inside was ridiculous though

She's NBU to be annoyed. Loads of parents have to drop and run so they can get to work on time.

She is BU to shout at the staff, though. It's not their fault other people are unwell or running late.

It is annoying to be made to wait but sometimes, shit happens. Loads of nurseries, and schools, are struggling with staff absence at the moment and are having to rely on agency staff (yay for me as a supply teacher) and shouting, yelling and kicking off isn't going to change things.

They may well have been waiting for bank or agency staff to arrive and, speaking from experience, if they only got the call at say 7 or 7.30a.m. it can take a while to get there.

Yes, in a private nursery you're paying for the childcare, but you're also paying for them to keep your children safe and they can't do that if they don't have enough staff.

Our lovely wee nursery has had to close for 10 days because so many staff are having to isolate after a Covid outbreak. Staffing is a real issue and has been through the whole pandemic, especially for smaller nurseries who don't have much in the way of contingencies.

If your timings are really that tight then that's unfortunate, but I don't think it's realistic to never have to queue when we are still living under Covid restrictions.

If it was a one off then it’s just one of those things. If it was happening all the time I’d complain. What about when parents get delayed/running late and the nursery staff have to wait beyond their working hours for them to pick up. It works both ways. Shit happens sometimes, yes it’s annoying but it’s life!!

The nursery would have been slated either way, if they had let the kids in without the correct staff to child ratio, and if something had happened to 1 of the children within that time the nursery would have still got a disgruntled parent.

I'd need to know the reason for the delay? Poor management ( hasn't arranged proper cover), nursery staff running late due to traffic etc?

Nurseries have to stick to their ratios.

@sofakingcool

I'd need to know the reason for the delay? Poor management ( hasn't arranged proper cover), nursery staff running late due to traffic etc?

Nurseries have to stick to their ratios.

'Nurseries have to stick to their ratios'

This came out from the DfE on 13th Jan.

Not at the moment they don't.

Well considering they charge per min late for pick up I kind of see a parents side to this.

It's 5 minutes are all the angry parents for real? Staff levels are up and down and creches are changing accordingly. Our creche opens half an hour later and closes 45 mins earlier since the pandemic started. A couple of weeks ago they had to change the opening time to an extra half hour later for a week due to staffing issues. It completely didn't suit our working set up but we had to adjust and be glad that it was being adjusted in order to enable all rooms to remain open rather than shut one down.